ABSTRACT
The chapter tackles the process of historical revisionism and its materialization in right-wing populist/nationalist commemoration in the Slovenian context. The central thread is the analysis of two major monuments and discursive formations that have been formed in the last three decades: firstly, the dominant ideology of ‘national reconciliation’ aimed to heal the wounds of the Slovenian nation by equating local fascists and partisan antifascists in their victimhood during World War II (Ljubljana’s reconciliation monument). Secondly, it is argued that national reconciliation paved a path to the rehabilitation of (local) fascism and facilitated a range of openly profascist monuments in recent years (the Home Guard memorial in Grahovo). This memorial revisionism – from reconciliation with fascists to the rehabilitation of fascists – was shrouded in a celebration of (nationalist) victimhood that not only condemned war, but also equated communist violence and partisan antifascist struggle during World War II with fascist violence. In this respect, the trope of anti-totalitarian ideology is emptied of any critique of fascism. The chapter closes with a short analysis of anti-totalitarianism’s return to the heart of the EU by considering the case of the Pan-European monument in the center of Brussels. This monumental crown will commemorate all victims of totalitarian regimes – fascist, Nazi, and communist – and belongs to an established trend in current EU memory: the shift from the commemoration of victory over fascism to the criminalization of communist crimes.
