A European Dilemma: Racism and the Politics of Memory in Postwar Europe

Jacob Boersema, New York University

Between 1945 and 2001, the fight against racism in Europe was centrally shaped by the collective memory of the World War II. In this paper, I argue that in this period, the commemoration of WWII lead in various European countries to a broad antiracist consensus, supported by educational, commemorative, and judicial institutions. This paper takes the Netherlands as a case study and analyzes how specific groups were able to politicize institutions and the memory of WWII to sanction racist acts, expressions, and organizations. I will specifically focus on the politics of three institutions: 1) The national places of memory, with a specific focus on the Anne Frank House and the Anne Frank Foundation; 2) the national commemoration of Remembrance Day; and 3) The Dutch law, in particular the criminalization of hate speech. Consequently, I will demonstrate how the extreme-right since the 1970s has worked to undo this antiracist consensus organized around the commemoration of WWII. For the Netherlands, I will specifically focus on the murder of the politician Pim Fortuyn as a crucial turning point in Dutch society that brought an end to the antiracism consensus.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 72. Race and the Long Shadow of European Nationalism