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War, Remembrance, And Katýn:
How Public Memory Sites Affirm National Identity, Adele Partington

History and Political Science | Senior Theses

The nation of Poland had a well-established national identity based on its culture, religion, language, and history prior to its occupation by the USSR, but this identity was suppressed in the sixty years of Soviet control from 1939 to 1989. After achieving their independence, Poles reexamined their history and identity, in addition to choosing which aspects of Soviet history and identity to keep or do away with. This thesis examines the relationship between public memory sites in or about Poland and the affirmation of the Polish national identity after Polish independence from the Soviet Union in 1989. Building on the …

False Idol: The Memory Of Andrew Johnson And Reconstruction In Greeneville, Tennessee 1869-2022, Zachary A. Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The memory of Andrew Johnson in Greeneville has progressed through three phases. The first phase began during Johnson’s post-presidential career when he sought national office to demonstrate his vindication. After Johnson died the first phase continued through the efforts of his daughters and local Unionists who sought to strengthen the myth of monolithic Unionism and use Johnson to promote reconciliation and to shield the region from federal intervention in the racial hierarchy. The second phase in the construction of Johnson’s memory began in 1908 when Northerners began to unite with white Southerners in white supremacy. East Tennesseans then celebrated the …

The New Monumental Era: Daniel Webster And The Commemoration Of Compromise In The Age Of Disunion, 1853-1865, Michael James Larmann

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Professional Paper 1:

This professional paper is an in-depth analysis of a statue of Daniel Webster erected in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1859. Daniel Webster was a congressman for Massachusetts who became a controversial figure after he spoke in support of the Fugitive Slave Law as part of the Compromise of 1850. This paper analyzes the Daniel Webster statue and argues that the fractured politics of Union politicized public commemoration in the late antebellum period after the Compromise of 1850. This paper furthermore analyzes one of the first debates surrounding the public commemoration of a controversial historical actor with close ties …

Contested Commemoration: The Relationship Between Politics And The Memorialization Of The Second World War In Polish Literature, Cinema, And Museums (1945-Present), Alexandria Joyner

Senior Independent Study Theses

This study examines the relationship between politics and the memory of the Second World War in Polish literature, cinema, and museums from 1945-Present. I argue that the memory of the Second World War has changed radically over the last seventy- five years as the Polish government, in both the communist and post-communist periods, pursued a politics of memory. I build this argument first by identifying three political turning points that caused the communist government to confront and reevaluate the narrative they promoted about the war: 1945, 1956, and 1967. I include a fourth turning point, 1989, to show how post-communist …

Plantain Stain, Loreli Mojica

Senior Projects Spring 2018

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

Manipulated Museum History And Silenced Memories Of Aggression: Historical Revisionism And Japanese Government Censorship Of Peace Museums, Benjamin P. Birdwhistell

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The Japanese government has a vested interest in either avoiding discussion of its war-torn past or arguing for a revisionist take. The need to play up Japanese victimization over Japanese aggression during World War II has led to many museums having their exhibits censored or revised to fit this narrative goal. During the 1990’s, Japan’s national discourse was more open to discussions of war crimes and the damage caused by their aggression. This in turn led to the creation of many “peace museums” that are intended to discuss and confront this history as frankly as possible. At the beginning of …

La Muerte, La Memoria Y La Filosofía Existencial En La Literatura Testimonial Pos-Dictatorial De Primo Levi, Jorge Semprún Y Jacobo Timerman, Andrew Mcnair

Senior Theses and Projects

What effect does the ubiquity of death in a traumatic experience have on an individual's memory and soul, and how is this manifested in one's written testimony? Through the analysis of their philosophical introspection, the testimonies of Primo Levi's The Drowned and the Saved, Jorge Semprún's Literature or Life, and Jacobo Timerman's Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number meditate on the atrocities they experienced during Levi and Semprún's incarceration under the Nazi regime in Europe between 1942 and 1945, and Timerman's imprisonment under the regime of Jorge Rafael Videla in Argentina between 1976 and 1983. The …

“A Remarkable Instance”: The Christmas Truce And Its Role In The Contemporaneous Narrative Of The First World War, Theresa Blom Crocker

Theses and Dissertations--History

The orthodox narrative of the First World War, which maintains that the conflict was futile, unnecessary and wasteful, continues to dominate historical representations of the war. Attempts by revisionist historians to dispute this interpretation have made little impact on Britain’s collective memory of the conflict. The Christmas truce has come to represent the frustration and anger that soldiers felt towards the meaningless war they had been trapped into fighting. However, the Christmas truce, which at the time it occurred was seen as an event of minimal importance, was not an act of defiance, but one which arose from the unprecedented …

Uncivil War: Memory And Identity In The Reconstruction Of The Civil Rights Movement., Joanne Sarah Barclay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Memory is constructed to solidify a certain version of the past in the collective identity. History and memory occupy a controversial role in the New South, with battles over the legacy of the Civil War and the reassertion of Confederate symbols in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement's challenge to the status quo.

Memory of the Civil Rights Movement is entering public conscious through cultural mediums such as films and museums, as well as through politically contentious debates over the continued display of the Confederate battle flag and the creation of a federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King …