Compounded historical trauma and cultural restitution in international relations

Abstract

This article develops the concept of compounded historical trauma to analytically distinguish a single traumatic incident from a succession of interrelated traumatic events that took place over an extended period. Focusing on the compounded trauma of World War II and communist repression in Central and Eastern Europe, specifically Russia, Poland, and Serbia, I illustrate the enduring legacy of this complex trauma on the region’s contemporary foreign policy by examining a specific diplomatic issue: the restitution of Nazi-looted art still displayed across the region’s public museums. The issue of cultural restitution became newly salient in the 2000s, when international norms about looted art return developed and institutionalized. New claims for restitution of Nazi-looted art arrived at these museums’ doors, rekindling memories of the compounded historical trauma of WWII, the Holocaust, and communist repression. While the response to these demands was uneven across the region, in this article, I focus on one particular response rooted in post-traumatic victimhood resentment, to demonstrate the effects of compounded historical trauma on contemporary foreign policy and diplomatic practice. I illustrate the argument with short examples of contemporary cultural restitution policies in the three states.