Apart from the concept of “multidirectional memory”, the practices presented here were inspired by a few other concepts from the field of memory studies.
“Rescue history” is a concept proposed by a Polish historian Ewa Domańska, inspired by works of an Israeli thinker Ariella Azoulay. It describes the engaged, socially and ecologically responsible practices of civic society, academia and grass-root initiatives aimed at discovering, discussing and commemorating the past in order to save the future. In simple terms, all practices presented and discussed in this Playbook are concerned with the past, but future-oriented and aimed at tackling both historical as well as contemporary issues and challenges.
When defining inclusivity, which is another important aspect of the Playbook, it draws on the UNESCO Faro Convention (2005) that introduces the concept of “heritage community” – as a community of different stakeholders. The aim of the Playbook is to promote an integrated approach, in which different actors (including those that are not connected with a particular type of heritage through ethnicity or cultural background but are simply willing to take responsibility for it) are eligible to take action and be included in the remembrance process.
Sustainability is understood as the capacity to maintain or improve the state and availability of desirable materials or conditions over the long term. It integrates two aspects: ecology and community. It draws on research being done as part of the “environmental history of the Holocaust” that brings our attention to nature as a witness and an archive that should be carefully studied and protected. This approach effectively proposes a new language of commemoration that is environmentally friendly and sustainable. It also aligns with a perspective proposed in the New European Bauhaus. Another aspect of our sustainable approach is the emphasis of the project on local engagement and capacity building.
“Epistemic Justices” are understood as justice in access to knowledge, in contrast to the situations when certain topics are excluded and/or silenced as well as to situations of systematic distortion or misrepresentation of truth. In this project epistemic justice is aimed at helping communities to confront the truth about the difficult legacy of violence and multiple exclusion.
“Sensitive legacy” is a term introduced by Philipp Schorch to describe collections, objects, as well as human remains or heritage sites that are emotionally, politically, or ethically charged due to the circumstances of their acquisition, historical use, or cultural significance—particularly when linked to colonial violence, dispossession, or trauma. These legacies require handling not just through scholarly analysis, but through affective, embodied, and relational engagement, recognizing their ongoing impact on descendant communities.
This “intersectional approach” proposed in the Playbook is an attempt to facilitate building a more equal, pluralistic, diverse and just world, incorporating the various difficult legacies into the shared European memory culture. Intersectionality is understood as the study of overlapping or intersecting social identities and related systems of oppression, domination, or discrimination.