Reconstructing the past in a state-mandated historical memory institute: the case of Albania.

Legitimisation strategies of post-Communist regimes are interlinked with practices of addressing their non-democratic past. Specific state-mandated institutes emerged in post-Communist countries to create an institutionalised historical memory of the Communist dictatorship. The institutional model of a historical memory institute is characterised by organisational hierarchies, layered institutional practices, and bureaucratic features. This model was implemented in most countries, including Albania. However, the Institute for the Study of the Crimes and Consequences of Communism ('The Institute') in Albania exhibits a different practice of historical reconstruction. The main questions asked by this article are: What has conditioned the distinct approach the Albanian Institute had adopted in its reconstruction of the past? And how can the institutionalisation of a particular social memory in a state-mandated institution be explained? The research is based on ethnographic fieldwork at the Institute. To understand the specific practice of historical reconstruction, the data collected includes semi-structured interviews with leading heads of the Institute, and collected testimonies. Discourse analysis is used to interpret the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]