The communist torturers of Eastern Europe

Moran, John P.

doi:10.1016/0967-067x(94)90032-9

Cited by 39 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…However, the election to parliament of former Communists in 1993 renewed the focus on the socialist past. Public support for lustration (the vetting of public officials for involvement in the socialist-era security services) throughout the 1990s demonstrated that attitudes towards the socialist past remained significant (Moran, 1994;Szczerbiak, 2002;Williams et al, 2003). However, notwithstanding current moves by the Kaczyn′ski Administration to create legislation which will allow the potential punishment of former secret service officers and army officers associated with the introduction of martial law in 1981, no Polish government of any political persuasion has ever brought such legislation into being.…”

Section: Poland's Socialist Past In the Presentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This omission potentially limits our understanding of postsocialist urban identity formation given that postsocialist societies have acknowledged and struggled to come to terms with their socialist (and other) 'unwelcome pasts' in various ways (e.g. Torpey, 1993;Moran, 1994;Welsh, 1996;Verdery, 1999;GrzymaÂa-Busse, 2002;Szczerbiak, 2002;Adler, 2005). Postsocialist identity formation involves conflict over the past at a range of scales and is characterized by a 'veritable orgy of historical revisionism' (Verdery, 1999: 112).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Socialist Past and Postsocialist Urban Identity in Central and Eastern Europe

Young

Kaczmarek

2008

European Urban and Regional Studies

133

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Cities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are creating new urban identities under conditions of postsocialist transformation, Europeanization and globalization. Discourses about postsocialist urban identity frequently attempt to 'Europeanize' these cities' identity and to obscure elements of the 'unwanted past', particularly the socialist, Soviet and Russian pasts. However, those pasts can return to disrupt dominant narratives of postsocialist urban identity.This article analyses how the past of socialism and relationships with Russia and the Soviet Union are treated in the construction of new urban identities in postsocialist CEE, particularly in the case of Lódz′, Poland. After outlining the treatment of the socialist past in Polish society and politics, the article analyses the contested construction of a new identity for Lódz′. The analysis focuses on the construction of a past multicultural 'European' 'Golden Age' for the city to create a new identity for it, and how that identity is contested and disrupted by the re-emergence of the city's socialist past and the history of its relations with Russia and the Soviet Union. The article concludes by outlining the broader implications of the case-study for the understanding of postsocialist urban identity formation.

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Section: Poland's Socialist Past In the Presentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Socialist Past and Postsocialist Urban Identity in Central and Eastern Europe

Young

Kaczmarek

2008

European Urban and Regional Studies

133

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“…After all, forgiveness and vengefulness are emotions located within the human psyche that are often relieved through cathartic behavior'. 77 We would like to suggest that the 'pressure cooker' is an analogy that continues to provide an excellent point of departure -and actually allows us to bring together the best aspects of each of these approaches. As explained above, exit or voice, or a combination of the two, in the communist period ADJUDICATION IN THE NEWLY INDEPENDENT BALTIC STATES provide release valves in the post-communist period.…”

Section: The 'Pressure Cooker' Approachmentioning

confidence: 98%

Justice or Politics? Criminal, Civil and Political Adjudication in the Newly Independent Baltic States

Jaskovska

Moran

2006

Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics

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“…a few years later, John Moran argued that the forms that post-communist transitional justice was taking depended to a large extent on what the relationship of the ruling communists had been toward the opposition and political émigrés. 59 He noted that the softer former regime was, the more moderate the new elites' actions proved to be after its fall, and the more repressive a regime, the more radical the reckoning. although his thesis was logical, his examples were not very convincing, as he himself admitted that it was Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria whose regimes had been "harsh."…”

Section: Implementation's Scope and Pacementioning

confidence: 99%

Lustration: A Post-Communist Phenomenon

Paczkowski

2023

East European Politics and Societies: and Cultures

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The phenomenon of transitional justice appears when authoritarian regimes transform into democracies—a topic that has been studied for many years. One main focus has been the question of the responsibility of the former ruling elite and their subordinates, and in particular, criminal responsibility. After the collapse of communism in Europe, secret police informers were perceived as sharing responsibility, alongside the regime’s functionaries. The first steps toward bringing them to justice were taken in March 1990 in Czechoslovakia. The process was called “lustration,” harking back to an ancient tradition of cleansing newborns of evil. In the jargon of the Czechoslovak security apparatus, “lustrace” meant checking an individual’s secret police records. The best known example of lustration took place in Germany, but the basic idea was carried out in all post-communist Central European countries. This kind of transitional justice was not associated with criminal responsibility, and—except in Poland—the courts were not involved in lustration, which was conceived of as a purely administrative procedure. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, only the Baltic states adopted lustration legislation; in other post-Soviet states, such initiatives failed. A similar situation emerged when Yugoslavia disintegrated, where the ethnic wars overshadowed society’s memories of communist wrongdoing. Lustration was unique to post-communist states and was not seen in any other transitional context.

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The communist torturers of Eastern Europe

Cited by 39 publications

References 1 publication

The Socialist Past and Postsocialist Urban Identity in Central and Eastern Europe

The Socialist Past and Postsocialist Urban Identity in Central and Eastern Europe

Justice or Politics? Criminal, Civil and Political Adjudication in the Newly Independent Baltic States

Lustration: A Post-Communist Phenomenon

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