Ruins of the Second World War, archeology and memory

Abstract

The text refers to a neglected category of monuments from Romania, namely the Second World War blockhouses built on the Black Sea shore against a possible invasion by the Soviet Union. Starting from the premise that the archaeological vestiges constitute the “material memory” of the past (Olivier 2008), I argue that the Second World War blockhouses from Romania are ignored because of the memories they contain – memories that can not be used in “heroic” narratives about the recent past and unconfortable for the socio-political projects of the present.