published in Hoepken, Wolfgang. (2007). Between civic identity and nationalism: History textbooks in east-central and southeastern Europe, in: Sabrina P. Ramet, Davorka Matic: Democrativ Transition in Croatia. Value Transformation, Education & Media, 2007, pp. 163-192.
The end of communism and the breakup of the Soviet empire meant as much fundamental change for education and textbooks as for the political system or the economy. The "revolutions" of the 1990s not only offered the former socialist states the opportunity for a revision of biased textbook narratives full of ideological stereotypes, for the lifting of taboos, and for more plural patterns of historical interpretations. They also opened the door to a change from a traditional, largely knowledge- based concept of history teaching to a more contemporary, skilland value- oriented one, based on interactive learning and developing the student's creativity. It was a totally different understanding of what history teaching should be all about, which became possible after the end of communist rule: from history teaching that by and large was transmitting a fixed and indisputable identity, legitimizing the official ideology and the political order, to an understanding of history teaching as a tool for developing a self- reflected identity, critical of one's own past, and immune to the misuse and manipulation of history. All the postcommunist countries-at least in their rhetoric-quickly committed themselves to this substantially "Western" understanding of history teaching. Reforming history teaching, which in most countries began almost immediately after communist rule had ended, therefore took the form of a diffusion of Western models, much as in institution building or the transition to a market economy, with little input from concepts developed within the region itself. Fifteen years after the annus mirabilis of 1989, the changes in history textbooks and history teaching are looking as ambivalent as the political and the economic transition in general.
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