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Ideological body snatchers: a former Lenin statue bearing the head of Ion Luca Caragiale, a Romanian writer, in front of the National Theatre in Bucharest (Photo: Romania Libera)

Erasing the past – how to deal with Communist kitsch?

Eastern European countries have shown widely different approaches in dealing with the embarrassing heritage of the official art of the former Communist regimes. Some, like Romania, Poland and Estonia, have tried to erase everything, forcefully achieving a collective amnesia. Others, like Germany, Hungary and Lithuania, have banked on the tourist potential of Communist kitsch.

Tourists coming across the massive twin-statues of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the heart of former East B...

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.

Ideological body snatchers: a former Lenin statue bearing the head of Ion Luca Caragiale, a Romanian writer, in front of the National Theatre in Bucharest (Photo: Romania Libera)

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.

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