ABSTRACT

MUSEUM OF COMMUNISM HORRORS  IN ROMANIA: PUBLIC DISCOURSE, MUSEOGRAPHY AND EXHIBITION NARRATIVES

The article starts from observations regarding the question of constituting a historical, historiographical, cultural memory of the communist / totalitarian period in Romania and Eastern Europe, widely debated in the Romanian and international public space, and which led to reflections on the preservation, restoration, archiving, documenting the recent past. In this sense, the article considers the establishment of the Museum of the Horrors of Communism in Romania (M.O.C.R.), a national museum belonging to the Ministry of Culture, and analyzes its presence and actions in the public space. M.O.C.R. assumes an active role, through numerous events, exhibitions and discussions, for the critical understanding of recent history, paying attention to the victims and witnesses of the communist period, whose testimonies become heritage, as in a memorial-museum. The research highlights the orientation towards new museum strategies, the collaboration with other museum institutions, the way of approaching the relationship with the beneficiaries / public, the exhibition narratives chosen by this museum, which reintroduce into the social and educational body important historical discourses for understanding the often traumatic traces of the recent past, but also the possibilities of building a better future for current generations.

Keywords memorial studies, museology, communism, museum education, memorial-museums.

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