Reshaping Identity through “Official Memories”. The Case of Romania during the Postwar Years of Stalinism (1948-1956)

Abstract

The control over mind and identity is a basic feature of a totalitarian regime. The Communist regime in Romania embarked on a lengthy process of rebuilding the national identity according to its own political standards and goals. This article examines the ways in which the Communist regime in Romania tried to erase certain events and cultural aspects from the Romanian collective memory in order to replace them with standards and principles of Soviet origin. In order to achieve its aim, the regime employed vast institutional and propagandistic instruments, meant to penetrate public consciousness and reshape national identity.