Historians, Public History, and Transitional Justice: Baltic Experiences

Abstract

How does public history correlate with issues of transitional justice and democratization? What are the roles and functions of professional historians during revolutionary moments and in the building of democratic culture and the pursuit of accountability and justice? On the basis of examples from three former Soviet republics, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania during the past three decades, the essay reflects on these and other questions. It stresses the need for de-centralizing public engagement with the past and cautions against trends across the Central and Eastern European region to link processes of historical knowledge production with claims for justice and redress.