Making and contesting far right sites of memory. A case study on Romania

Abstract

Among the strategies followed by far right groups for normalising their messages of intolerance in contemporary Europe, sites of memory play a pivotal role. Adopting an actor-centred and instrumentalist perspective of memory work and memory politics, the article considers sites of memory as products of the framing and staging of the past by the memory entrepreneurs, leading figures within the community of remembrance who, mastering the art of memorialisation, strive to establish their revisionist history within the state-endorsed memory politics. The far right memory entrepreneurs spatialise their memory work in sites of memory that downplay the history of violence of their group and present its heroic and patriotic side. The degree of success in contesting such sites shows whether the memory entrepreneurs have succeeded in normalising their messages. The article analyses the making and the contestation of a site of memory established by the far right in post-communist in Romania.

Political violence in far‐right memory: Fratelli d'Italia's remembrance of the Primavalle arson

“…The installation of the plaque, and reactions by Meloni, Rauti and Marsella point to a phenomenon already identified by John Foot (2009), namely, the claiming of physical space by the far‐right. This constitutes a key element in the process of far‐right mainstreaming, which provides political actors a way to (re)write history on a more permanent basis and embed politicised memory as a part of everyday urban landscapes (Zavatti, 2021). FdI's urgent desire to have the plaque installed can be read and understood through this perspective.…”

Memorias poscomunistas, entre lo nacional y lo transnacional: enfoques historiográficos y paisajes simbólicos

“…Se erige en el lugar en que fueron ejecutados Corneliu Codreanu y otros legionarios en 1938, y, sorteando la problemática histórica de aquellas muertes (inicio de la dictadura real de Carol II), las trastoca en quintaesencia de martirio anticomunista. 47 Tâncăbeşti se ha convertido en núcleo simbólico de sectores de la extrema derecha rumana. Sin embargo, más allá de su conexión concreta con la Guardia de Hierro, su discurso emocional se inscribe en unos parámetros más amplios y difusos, nutridos por la exaltación épica de toda forma de resistencia y por el mito del "Siglo de Oro", la simplificada y selectiva idealización nacionalista de la Rumanía de entreguerras.…”