Contested Heritage, Controversial Museums: The Burden of Socialism in the Former Soviet Bloc

This project investigates how post-socialist societies in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union grapple with the material and symbolic remains of the socialist past, focusing on museums and memorial parks that reinterpret, commodify, or erase the legacy of communism. Institutions such as Moscow’s Fallen Monument Park, Lithuania’s Grūtas Park, Budapest’s House of Terror Museum, and Warsaw’s Museum of Life under Communism transform ideological relics into tourist attractions, sites of mourning, or spaces for critical reflection. By examining their curatorial strategies, public reception, and political contexts, the project asks how memory, nostalgia, and controversy intersect in shaping post-socialist identities.

Image