The politics of national reconciliation: Memory and institutions in German‐Czech relations since 1989

In 1997 the parliaments of both Germany and the Czech Republic ratified a joint declaration on reconciliation. The political conflict surrounding the agreement illustrates how collective memory influences and shapes ethnic relations. The path by which memories are institutionalized determines how they reenter politics. Although the purpose of the declaration was to clear the air and pave the way for a new era in ethnic relations in the region, Germans and Czechs with access to institutional resources who opposed specific passages in the declaration succeeded in impeding its passage and ultimately in watering down its meaning.