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Dealing with the memory of the communist secret police : the Czech case
| The opening of secret police archives is an indispensable – albeit not sufficient – condition to a sound societal debate on a past dictatorial regime where secret played a crucial role. But the timing of this opening and the conditions in which it takes place are equally important : the « when » and the « how » the former Czechoslovak secret police (Státní bezpečnost or StB) files were made available to the wider Czech public have interfered with a conflictual memory of the communist period in this country. They have shown the difficulty in streamlining a social atmosphere which has been poisoned for two decades by a chaotic collective reflection which has mostly disregarded individuals and their feelings, has often been malicious and petty and has been marked by repeated mediatical scandals. This presentation will reflect on these issues on the basis of the recently revealed « scandal » concerning the Czech-French writer Milan Kundera.
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