Vikerkaar
Eurozine
Vikerkaar
2007-02-14
Summary of Vikerkaar 1-2/2007
The special double issue of Vikerkaar is devoted to the topic of the use and abuse of history by politics. Most of the essays deal with the relationship between past and present in the case of Estonia and France. Among the contributors are outstanding French historians such as Jacques Revel, Gérard Noiriel, and Nicholas Offenstadt, analyzing public history debates in France and describing the principles of the Watch of the Public Use of History (Comité de vigilance fase aux usages publics de l'histoire), established in 2005. Their essays are accompanied by contributions from Estonian historians and political scientists. Among the questions discussed are: Should Russia apologize to Estonia? How did the notion of the Estonian Republic's legal continuity and restoration emerge? How should Estonian history be explained to the foreigners? Jean-Pierre Minaudier bridges the Estonian and French perspective by comparing the different ways in which the end of World War II is commemorated in France, Estonia, and Russia.