The Main Areas of the State of Israel Politics of Memory Research in Modern Historical Studies

Abstract

The main areas of modern historical researches, the subject of which is the formation and implementation of the politics of memory of the State of Israel are analyzed in the paper. The paper deals with the works of both foreign and Ukrainian authors. Due to the peculiarities of the subject of research, considerable attention is paid to the works of Israeli historians. The works devoted to the origins of the Israeli politics of memory are analyzed separately. They show the formation of the politics of memory and highlight the main matters, events of the history of the State of Israel and the views of various scholars on the formation of the so-called nationwide narrative – the interpretation of the events in Israeli history. The majority of works devoted to this problem belong to Israeli researchers. Some historical facts of the formation of Israel’s politics of memory can also be found in the research works of Swedish and German researchers.

The areas of contemporary historical researches on the politics of memory of the State of Israel are divided according to the studies of certain displays of politics of memory in the life of the state. Among them are the educational area, the area of interstate and international relations and the public area.

Researches in the field of education are represented by a series of works in which issues related to the Holocaust, Arab-Israeli conflicts and other memorable events in the textbooks on the history of Israel and in the field of secondary education in general are analyzed.

The area of interstate and international relations is also represented by a number of works of foreign authors, which analyze the influence of the politics of memory on the formation of relations between countries after the Second World War. The vast majority of researches are the works on Germany-Israel relations, as a special type of relationship, based on a nationwide sense of guilt on Germany’s part. There are also papers on the analysis of relations between Israel and the world community concerning the Holocaust and Arab-Israeli conflicts.

Another important field of research is the social sphere. The works devoted to the question of the influence of the politics of memory on society as a whole, reveal the mechanisms of implementing the politics of memory into society and the essence of commemorative events within the Israeli community, as a result of the implementation of this politics. The perception of the past events as a part of the politics of memory on media materials in contemporary Israeli society is also analyzed.

Thus, the politics of memory of the State of Israel is represented by various spheres of research: educational sphere, sphere of interstate and international relations, social sphere. Separately, the researches on the formation of the Israeli politics of memory should be mentioned. However, there is still no logically structured research, which would have thoroughly analyzed and unite these spheres.

The objective of the research was to provide a thorough analysis of the existing historical researches on the politics of memory of the State of Israel for further research of this issue. Historical research on Israel’s politics of memory was divided into spheres according to the criterion of research in modern historical studies of various aspects of the politics of memory implementation into the state spheres: the sphere of education, the sphere of international relations and the public sphere.