Memoricide is the destruction of the memory, extermination of the past of targeted people. It also refers to destruction of the traces (such as religious buildings or schools) that might recall the former presence of those considered undesirable.
Memoricide is used in support of ethnic cleansing. Since memoricide refers to intentional attempts to erase human memory about something, it usually takes the form of destruction of physical property. The term was coined by Croatian doctor Mirko Grmek in a text published in Le Figaro on 19 December 1991.
Allegations of memoricide
According to some accounts memoricide was employed by Greece toward Macedonians of Slavic origin.
The dissident historian Ilan Pappe deployed the concept of cultural memoricide as systematic attempt of post-1948 Israel in relation to Palestine.
Grmek used the term to describe activities of the rebel Serb forces in Croatia during the first year of the Croatian independence war.
See also
References
- 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.
- ^ 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
- 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.