Declarations of forgiveness and remorse in European politics

This article examines the historical background, proliferation, and later internationalization of public declarations of forgiveness and remorse, first made in Europe a few decades after the end World War II. The author suggests that these declarations should be understood as a political practice, and bases her claim on three premises: (1) after 1945, politicians began apologizing not only for their own crimes but mainly for those perpetrated by the communities they represented; (2) these declarations implied a tacit acceptance of responsibility of both the group that declares its remorse and of the group that accepts and possibly forgives the former for its past crimes; (3) apart from representing a shared collective moral responsibility, declarations of forgiveness and remorse imply the continuity of a nation (or of other kinds of human collectivities). These three premises apply if declarations of forgiveness and remorse are not banal and conventional, but function as a political ritual. The author discusses the main controversies relating to these declarations, such as the problem of collective responsibility or the neglect of the victims of past crimes, and concludes that, despite their flaws, authentic declarations of forgiveness and remorse have important moral and political consequences.