ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the mobilizing function of memory that forms the foundation for the manipulation of social memory. Identity built upon a common norm for remembrance transforms memory into a regulatory mechanism. In such a way, collective memory becomes an organized, 'normative' structure that forms part of the web of collective identity, affirming it with the help of 'the past' as an argument. The psychosocial facet of the war veterans' memory becomes fully apparent in its third aspect, which may be called 'memory as interior monologue'. In terms of 'collective identity', there also exists the notion of collective trauma or 'wounded' collective memory. The interpretation of 'bereavement' in the case of collective trauma can entail 'bereavement' tied to loss and grief. The term 'debts of remembrance' is one of the most discussed and the most polemical among discourses on memory and, as such, it is one of the key parts of the veterans' identity.
