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Which Commemorative Models Help? A Case Study from Post-Yugoslavia

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Book cover Replicating Atonement

Part of the book series: Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies ((PMMS))

Abstract

Nießer scrutinizes the idea that a specific (national) model of dealing with the past helps also in other contexts. Grounded in ethnographic research on the RECOM initiative to establish a regional truth commission, she contrasts the “German way of remembering” with the institutional model of a truth commission. Through her post-Yugoslav case study, Nießer shows how treating Germany as a role model for dealing with past crimes rests on a fallacy that blends one country’s experience with international human rights discourse. The technical language of transitional justice is better suited to implementation as a model. However, the case of the RECOM initiative also illustrates that treating transitional justice as a model ready for implementation is also more problematic than its toolbox-style vocabulary suggests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, Regensburg, Germany

    Jacqueline Nießer

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  1. Jacqueline Nießer
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Correspondence to Jacqueline Nießer .

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  1. Einstein Forum, Potsdam, Germany

    Mischa Gabowitsch

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Nießer, J. (2017). Which Commemorative Models Help? A Case Study from Post-Yugoslavia. In: Gabowitsch, M. (eds) Replicating Atonement . Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65027-2_6

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