From Dissidence to Heroism: Constructing an Ideal Post-Communist Identity in the Czech Republic

Post-Communist memory politics has occupied a highly disputed symbolic position ever since the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. This article presents the case of Czech student leaders of the revolution, especially Monika Pajerová (since 2002 Monika MacDonagh-Pajerová), who co-organized the 17 November 1989 demonstration that initiated the fall of the Communist regime. It focuses on the social and political movement "Thank You and Goodbye!" ("Děkujeme, odejděte!") organized by the same students in 1999. The article analyzes this particular moment as a turning point in post-Communist development: the students' genuine concerns and their sincere analysis of the democrats' own shortcomings in and after 1989 created the background for a new ideology of anti-Communist remembrance that would become prevalent in the Czech public sphere in the 2010s. The post-Communist regime's refusal to integrate the Communist period as a legitimate part of national history prevented the building of an appeased democratic society. It was the original sin of the post-Communist regime, one that would create the need to rewrite the national script concerning Communist history.