Memorial Ambivalences in Postcommunist Romania: Generational Attitudes towards the Symbolic Legacy of Communism

Mihai Stelian Rusu,Alin Croitoru

doi:10.3390/soc11030099

Abstract

After the demise of state socialism, public space became an issue of contention that occupied an important place within societies’ efforts to come to terms with the recent past. Extant scholarship documented extensively how postcommunist societies in Central and Eastern Europe have reconfigured the public space by removing the symbolic presence of the former regime (e.g., monuments and statues, but also place- and street names). However, there is a scarcity of research done on exploring the reception of these broad changes brought to the public statuary and urban nomenclature. In this study, we aim to contribute to this nascent strand of literature by investigating the generational differences in social attitudes towards the symbolic transformation of public space in postcommunist Romania. Data collected through a national web-survey conducted in February 2021 (n = 1156) revealed significant intergenerational differences regarding the removal of monuments and the renaming of streets. In particular, higher approval of such memory work was found among the generations born during communism in comparison to the postcommunist generation. Taking stock of these generational differences, as well as the factors underpinning them, contributes to a better understanding of how ordinary people relate to the politics of memory enacted in transforming societies.

Highlights

Statues and monuments are the material embodiments of political power
We present an overview of the postcommunist reconfigurations occurred in Romania in terms of street name changes and the removal of public monuments
The overthrow of the communist regime in Romania was followed by a significant The overthrow of the communist regime inincluding

Summary

Introduction

Statues and monuments are the material embodiments of political power. Displayed ostensibly in public space as political objects and memorial artefacts, they commemorate the past, materialize ideology, and legitimate the present. As material lieux de mémoire, monuments politicize public space and underpin the status quo [1] It is, no surprise that their demolition has become an iconic feature of political transformation and regime change. The practice has been employed recently in the context of the contestation of the racial and colonial past in the United Kingdom and the United States [2], this was nowhere more evident than in the Central and Eastern Europeans’ struggle against the communist regimes In those politically charged moments, the demolition of communist monuments erupted spontaneously in spectacular choreographies of performative power and came to define the fall of communism throughout the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region

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