Le débat inachevé des historiens français sur les « lois mémorielles » et la pénalisation du négationnisme : retour sur une décennie de controverse

• Main Author: Boris Adjemian
• Format: Article
• Language: fra
• Published: Bibliothèque Nubar de l'UGAB 2012-12-01
• Series: Études Arméniennes Contemporaines
• Subjects: genocides; memory laws; denial; Boyer law; Gayssot law; Taubira law
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/eac/416

This article goes back over the controversies about law and memory, particularly the ones relating to the criminalization of denial, which have divided French historians from the early 2000’s onwards. Discussing the respective positions of French historian associations such as Liberté pour l’Histoire (Freedom for History) and the CVUH (Committee of vigilance on the public uses of history), the article argues that the notion of “lois mémorielles” (memory laws), popularized in the same period mainly by opponents to any law relating to questions of history, should be avoided in order to clarify the debate. In the meantime, the article underlines that an active research policy on the question of genocides, rather than news law, could help efficiently fighting denial.