title: Daughters' stories: family memory and generational amnesia.
abstract: After World War II, most Bulgarian Jews emigrated legally to Israel. Those who stayed had to take part in the building of socialism and integrate in a monolithic "socialist nation." Thereby they had to "forget" their ethnic identity ("aided by the state in various ways) and to become "Homo politicus" rather than "Homo ethnicus." Since 1990, a revival of Jewish identity has begun in Bulgaria. Here I explore how the women of three generations from the same family reinvent their Jewish identity in their life stories. Drawing on this particular case, I suggest an approach to the question of the interplay of individual and collective memory. I focus on family and generation as different types of collectivities influencing individual memories and self-actualizations.
authors.affiliation: Univ. of Sofia
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Koleva
mesh_terms: D000647:Amnesia / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history / Q000523:psychology; D002031:Bulgaria / Q000208:ethnology; D003469:Culture; D005192:Family Health / Q000208:ethnology; D005195:Family Relations / Q000208:ethnology; D049673:History, 20th Century; D016901:Intergenerational Relations / Q000208:ethnology; D007557:Israel / Q000208:ethnology; D007585:Jews / Q000193:education / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D008568:Memory; D011056:Political Systems / Q000266:history; D012922:Social Change / Q000266:history; D047789:World War II