Filozofija i drustvo 2012 Volume 23, Issue 3, Pages: 56-77
https://doi.org/10.2298/FID1203056M
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On the role of the president of the state in the process of the reconciliation with past: French experience
Milidrag Predrag (Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju, Beograd)
The article analyzes the role of the presidents of French Fifth Republic in
the process of the French reconciliation with its Vichy past, i.e. with
collaboration and participation in the Final solution of Jewish question in
Europe during Second World War. It is analyzed De Gaulle’s creation of
“resistancialist myth”; Mitterrand’s Pre-War as well as War past, his
friendship with R. Bousquet and his refusal to speak at the Commemoration in
1992; Chirac’s speech in which he admitted collective responsibility of
France and Frenchmen. In the final chapter, on the basis of the French
experience, some conclusions have been drawn which could be relevant for
Serbia today. These are the most important ones: the building of the myth
immediately following a traumatic period is an unavoidable phase; neither the
political left nor right are a priori a positive factor in the process of the
reconciliation with the past; the president of the state must have a “vision
of the statesman”; the explicit verbal recognition of the responsibility is
necessary.
Keywords: De Gaulle, Mitterrand, Chirac, Vichy, Srebrenica, former Yugoslavia wars, resistancialist myth, collective responsibility
Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 179049