简介:Thedynamicsofcollectiverememberingareexaminedbyanalyzingwhathappenswhena'blankspot'inhistoryisfilledwithinformationthathadpreviouslynotbeenavailableorpubliclyacknowledged.TakingRussianaccountsofthesecretprotocolsoftheMolotov-RibbentropPactof1939asacasestudy,itisarguedthat'schematicnarrativetemplates'thatshapedeepcollectivememorygiverisetoatendencytomaintainthismemoryandhelpitovercomethe'narrativerift'thatoccurswhenembarrassingepisodesfromthepastarepubliclyacknowledged.Schematicnarrativetemplatesaresetforthasunderlyingstrongconservativeforcesthatresistchangeincollectivememoryatadeeplevel.Itissuggestedthatdebatesgroundedinformalhistorymayhelpovercomethisresistancetochangebutthatsucheffortswillbelimitedaslongastheforcesofdeepcollectivememoryarenotrecognized.