Memoricide is the destruction of the memory, extermination of the past of targeted people.[1] It also refers to destruction of the traces (such as religious buildings or schools) that might recall the former presence of those considered undesirable.[2]
Memoricide is used in support of ethnic cleansing.[3] Since memoricide refers to intentional attempts to erase human memory about something, it usually takes the form of destruction of physical property.[4] The term was coined by Croatian doctor Mirko Grmek in a text published in Le Figaro on 19 December 1991.[5]
Allegations of memoricide
editAccording to some accounts memoricide was employed by Greece toward Macedonians of Slavic origin.[6]
The dissident[7] historian Ilan Pappe deployed the concept of cultural memoricide as systematic attempt of post-1948 Israel in relation to Palestine.[8]
Grmek used the term to describe activities of the rebel Serb forces in Croatia during the first year of the Croatian independence war.[5]
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ Anić & Goldstein (2007), p. 846: "memoricid m (gen. jd memoricida) pol. uništavanje sjećanja, zatiranje prošlosti nekog naroda"
- ^ Jones (2010), p. 1.
- ^ Pavlaković, Pauković & Raos (2012), p. 235: "Surely, committing memoricide is a way to contribute to ethnic cleansing."
- ^ Porteous & Smith (2001), p. 9.
- ^ a b Sémelin & Hoffman (2007), p. 404.
- ^ MRGI (1994), p. 94.
- ^ Rivera-Pagán (2015), p. 113.
- ^ Masalha (2014), p. 148: "In The Ethnic Cleaning of Palestine the concept of cultural memoricide is deployed by historian Ilan Pappe, where he highlights the systematic scholarly, political and military attempt in post-1948 Israel to de-Arabize and "ecologicide" the Palestinian terrain, ...."
Sources
edit- Pavlaković, Vjeran; Pauković, Davor; Raos, Višeslav (1 September 2012). Confronting the Past: European Experiences. CPI/PSRC. ISBN 978-953-7022-26-6.
- Anić, Vladimir; Goldstein, Ivo (2007). Rječnik stranih riječi [Dictionary of foreign words] (in Croatian). Novi Liber. ISBN 978-953-6045-49-5.
- Porteous, Douglas; Smith, Sandra E. (17 October 2001). Domicide: The Global Destruction Of Home. McGill-Queen's Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-2257-2.
- Jones, Adam (13 September 2010). Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-93796-5.
- Masalha, Nur (20 October 2014). The Zionist Bible: Biblical Precedent, Colonialism and the Erasure of Memory. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-54465-4.
- Rivera-Pagán, Luis N. (30 April 2015). Essays from the Margins. The Lutterworth Press. ISBN 978-0-7188-9400-9.
- Sémelin, Jacques; Hoffman, Stanley (2007). Purify and Destroy: The Political Uses of Massacre and Genocide. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-14282-3.
- MRGI (1994). Minority Rights Group International Report. The Group. ISBN 9781897693407.