Ghosts of Marx – Forgetting and Remembering Labor History and German Heritage in Czechia

Abstract

This article examines the dynamics of historical memory in the former German-speaking industrial center of Liberec/Reichenberg, Czechia, from the postwar period to the present. The analysis focuses on two sites: the pre-1989 tourist and public memory project, Path of the Labor Movement, which celebrated the city’s pre-war leftist traditions, and the former villa of a German-speaking entrepreneurial family, whose legacy became recognized after 1989. The article contests the prevailing view that German history in postwar Czechoslovakia was solely suppressed before 1989 and subsequently rediscovered. It demonstrates that the memory of the labor movement remained visible under socialism, as it corresponded with official memory politics. After 1989, this history diminished in public space, while the legacy of capitalist industrialization received increased attention. Utilizing the concept of hauntology, the article explores how different sites and layers of memory become visible or invisible in public space, further developing Jacques Derrida's idea of how the memory of the communist project generates affects and tensions.