Darstellungen von Endphaseverbrechen in Literatur und Film aus Österreich aus vergangenheitspolitischer Perspektive

Johanna Jiranek
2012 unpublished
By bringing together theoretical approaches of memory studies and politics of the past, the depictions of final phase crimes in Austrian literature and film, exemplified by the 'Mühlviertler Hasenjagd', are examined in this paper. Those crimes were committed with the help of the local population during the final phase of Second World War. Since remembering them would have challenged the 'victim thesis' that predominated the official discourse until the 1980s, they represented a specific gap in
more » ... ustrian local and national memory. The question is asked if the cultural representations provide counter-narratives to the official discourse of the past or if they perpetuate it. What is therefore their function in cultural memory? Most of the works were published or released in the 1980s and 90s by authors and a director of the post-war generation. By either constructing a traumatic victims' memory, a perpetrator narrative or concentrating on the resistance, they show the different choices people had. All of them challenge the 'victim thesis' and therefore function as a critical reminder of the past.
doi:10.25365/thesis.18390 fatcat:laa2sr7huvcjxos743wmi54mxi