What exactly is remembering "correctly?" The question posed by French historian Pierre Nora captured the essence of the ensuing discussion entitled "Divided Memory" dealing with developing a European memory culture. During the fourth Sunday matinee lecture of this "Let's talk about Europe" series organized by Allianz Cultural Foundation together with the Bavarian State Theater and the Süddeutsche Zeitung at Munich's Residenztheater, the discussion partners constantly returned to this issue of "Mémoire juste."

Could a European memory culture, that is a shared European memory of history, help to define a European identity? And how do we develop this shared memory culture? The participants in this discussion were Pierre Nora, professor at the "Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales" in Paris, political sciences specialist Gesine Schwan, President of the Viadrina European University, and Polish historian and publisher Robert Traba.

Nora himself coined one of the key terms in the debate when he compiled his "Lieux de Mémoire" (sites of memory) series over 20 years ago.  "Lieux de Mémoire" is a multi-volume series in which Nora draws on people's memories to investigate France's past, analyzing cities, people, rituals, ceremonies and other tangible or symbolic "sites."

In his opening statement, Nora pointed out how difficult it was to apply the term he originally formulated to reflect on France's history to the European situation, explaining that one of the prerequisites of shared memories of historical events is a feeling of unity, which has yet to evolve in Europe. Shared sites of memory for Europeans, he continued, are often linked to conflicts and wars. These in turn give rise to different feelings for each nationality, for example guilt or sorrow, as evidenced by sites of memory such as Verdun or Auschwitz.

By contrast, Gesine Schwan believes that dealing with historical conflicts by sharing memories of them offers an opportunity for reconciliation. She stressed how important it is for Europe to develop its own memory culture, especially when it comes to remembering events that are painful or have become taboo.

Robert Traba was far more cautious, believing the objective of a European memory culture was to allow a "polyphony of memories." He would like to see greater sensitivity toward the memories other cultures have of specific events.

The discussion between Gesine Schwan and Robert Traba lead on to the challenging issue of how Germans and Poles remember historical events. Gesine Schwan is the German government's appointed coordinator for German-Polish relations, while the history of German-Polish relations is a key focus of Robert Traba's academic work. Traba is also Chair of the well-known Borussia Cultural Community Association, formed to address the multi-faceted cultural and identity issues concerning the regions of Warmia and Mazury.

Schwan warned against "remembering wrongly," that is repressing historical culpability or failure and ultimately making remembering those events taboo. She contrasted this dangerous attitude with the immense personal commitment of people from both countries who have joined forces in their endeavor to ensure the upkeep of graves and historical sites. This achieves far more than official reconciliation gestures made by politicians, said Schwan.

The discussion partners agreed that Europe cannot create a viable European identity by simply isolating itself from external adversaries or other cultures, because if the adversary disappeared, then the newly developed sense of cohesion would also collapse.  Rather, the way to achieve a European memory culture is to achieve a shared memory of historical events that transcends all national memories.

However, there is a long way to go before this becomes reality.