Dealing with the Past

Članak analizira proces suočavanja s prošlošću pokušavajaći odgovoriti na tri pitanja – što znači suočavanje s prošlošću, kako to učiniti i zašto. Nakon objašnjenja samog pojma, kao primjer zemlje koja je provela sveobuhvatan i uspješan proces suočavanja s prošlošću analizira se Njemačka. Pokušavajući odgovoriti na pitanje zašto se suočavamo s prošlošću, autorica intervjuira Vesnu Teršelič, voditeljicu Documente – Centra za suočavanje s prošlošću, Vesnu Alaburić, odvjetnicu, i Teresu Forcades, benediktinku koja se suočavanjem s prošlošću bavi u svojoj zemlji, Španjolskoj, koja se krajem sedamdesetih godina prošlog stoljeća odlučila za politiku zaborava. Iskustvo Njemačke i Španjolske pokazuje da je suočavanje s prošlošću neizostavan dio ozdravljenja svake države nakon sukoba, ali i to da je riječ o procesu koji se ne može ukalupiti, već da je za svaku zemlju potreban jedinstveni tailor-made koncept. Uspješnost procesa ovisi o tome dolazi li potreba za njim iznutra (od samog naroda), o tome koliko su instrumenti tranzicijske pravde prožeti kulturom naroda te o podršci nacionalnih političkih elita, crkve, medija, znanstvenog kruga i civilnog društva.The article analyses the process of dealing with the past by trying to answer three questions: what it means to deal with the past, how and why to do it. After the explanation of the term itself, there follows the analysis of the process of dealing with the past in Germany as an example of a country that faced the past most thoroughly and successfully. In order to answer the question why to deal with the past, the author interviewed Vesna Teršelič, the director of Documenta – Centre for dealing with the past, the lawyer Vesna Alaburić and Teresa Forcades, a Benedictine nun actively involved with dealing with the past in her own country, Spain, which at the end of the seventies chose not to deal with Franco’s era. The experiences of Germany and Spain show that dealing with the past is an integral part of a country’s healing process after conflict. However, the article also shows that dealing with the past is a process that cannot be applied to all countries in the same way but that for each country a specific, tailor made approach is required. The success of the process depends on whether the need to deal with the past comes from the inside (the people themselves), whether the instruments of transitional justice integrate the country’s culture, and whether the whole process is supported by the political elite, the church, the media, the scientific circles and the civil society