ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the abuses and uses of history from the eighteenth century to 1989 as witnessed in both Central and South-eastern Europe, each with its own peculiarities. One could enumerate all kinds of other uses and abuses of history made manifest in commemorations during the period of imperial rule. A commemorative play written on the occasion of the 1898 jubilee is particularly instructive. Although not performed until much later, due to the mourning period commencing with the assassination of the Empress Elisabeth that autumn, it nonetheless sheds special light on the uses and abuses of history – as well as a degree of self-censorship – by those in high places in the Austro-Hungarian government. The cultures of remembrance of the East Central European states since 1989, and the specific uses and abuses of history by their governments, have been largely determined by the long nineteenth century, the interwar period, and World War II.
