ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the processes by which collective remembering of conflict’s past affects the course of current conflicts. Memory of collective violence that has been experienced in the past often burdens the present conflict with aggressive forms of in-group favoritism, a duty of retaliation, generalized hatred, and makes the current situation appear as a repetition of previous violent conflicts. Recently, there have been many examples where the collective remembering of historical warfare, like the Field of Blackbirds near Kosovo, became a tool for fueling civil war and a justification for a current conflict. Emotionally loaded collective memory (CM) of past conflicts, wars in particular, can make it virtually impossible to negotiate a compromise solution, by sewing seeds of fear and mistrust (Bar-Tal, 1998, 2007). This chapter briefly summarizes what CM is, and describes factors related to the creation, maintenance and reactivation of collective memories of past conflicts. Then, it discusses societal beliefs or social representations of past warfare, focusing on the World Wars and various civil wars, elaborating how different forms of representing past warfare reinforce or weaken proconflict attitudes. Finally, processes of collective remembering that can help to overcome intense violent past conflicts, such as changes in war representations and transitional justice rituals like truth and reconciliation commissions, are examined.
