Memory relations: cross-border collaboration between mnemonic actors in Germany, Central and Eastern Europe, and the MENA region

This article explores the cross-border collaborations of two German institutions focused on memory of communist repression. It combines quantitative network analysis with qualitative narrative research. The article demonstrates how networks created by the two institutions are divided into “memory regions” and the structurally influential position of (Western) German actors. The institutions construct an apparently subaltern “Eastern” region in their engagement within Europe. In contrast, in co-operations with actors in the MENA region, they narrate themselves as the agents of a progressive “Western” mode of memory, from which the non-European partners should learn. This suggests that cross-border co-operations can be used to perpetuate unequal power structures in global memory activism.