European Historians and History Educators between Memory Wars and Criminal Laws

This presentation will focus on a recent "Framework decision" on the fight against racism and xenophobia adopted by the Council of the European Union, which arose great concern among historians and experts of history teaching because it risks striking a blow against the research freedom. Indeed, this legislative initiative aims to extend to all EU member states the criminal prosecution not only of racist statements, including the denial of the Holocaust, but also of the denial of all crimes against  humanity. The list of the historical events, which belong to this definition, is open and will be set up by  Parliaments or by national and international judicial courts. Unlike the Holocaust denial, the issue is here not the denial of an event, but the denial of its definition as crime against humanity.

I will analyze the origin of this Framework decision in the broader context of the laws and of the politics of memory in many European states, especially of France with its lois mémorielles, and discuss the consequences seen from the angle of History education and potential textbook or curriculum conflicts  in the future.