PUBLICATIONS
July 2000 Issue
The Geographical Review
July 2000, Vol. 90 (3), pp. 301-344
HUNGARY AFTER 1989: INSCRIBING A NEW PAST ON PLACE
KENNETH E. FOOTE, ATTILA TÓTH, and ANETT ÁRVAY
Keywords: Communism, contested places,Hungary, memorials,
monuments.
ABSTRACT:
Since the fall of the Communist government in 1989, Hungary's political monuments
and historical shrines have undergone great change. Although popular attention focused
on the removal of overtly political monuments, new shrines were also created, and
forgotten memorials were restored. In a departure from earlier political eras, decisions
about contested places are issuing from local authorities and private citizens, rather than
from the central government. The result is a sometimes subtle rearrangement of public memorials
and shrines that interprets the national past by drawing symbolic and spatial parallels
between some historical events while rejecting connections among others. The
meanings of events and places, particularly those linked to twentieth-century wartime and
civil upheavals, remain contested.
Keywords: Communism, contested places,Hungary, memorials,
monuments.
ABSTRACT:
Since the fall of the Communist government in 1989, Hungary's political monuments and historical shrines have undergone great change. Although popular attention focused on the removal of overtly political monuments, new shrines were also created, and forgotten memorials were restored. In a departure from earlier political eras, decisions about contested places are issuing from local authorities and private citizens, rather than from the central government. The result is a sometimes subtle rearrangement of public memorials and shrines that interprets the national past by drawing symbolic and spatial parallels between some historical events while rejecting connections among others. The meanings of events and places, particularly those linked to twentieth-century wartime and civil upheavals, remain contested.