1848: Memory and Oblivion in Europe

How have the various countries of Europe addressed their 1848 revolutions over the course of the last 150 years? Contributions from France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Poland, Denmark, and Norway follow the ever-changing history of remembering and forgetting a historical event whose impulses, experiences and perceptions more than any other previous episode suggest a European character. The revolutions of 1848 present an ideal comparative case study of the cultures of memory, where the European, national, local as well as political and social expectations and memories fuse and compete with each other. This collection of essays focuses on the question of how historical consciousness functions as well as examining which factors influence it and to what degree it is subject to a country’s political vacillations.