A Flight to Fame, to Oblivion.

This paper investigates a case study of memory transformation. It looks at an 80-year sequence of complex interactions by which a single tragedy, the transatlantic flight and deadly crash in Germany (now Poland) of two American-Lithuanian pilots, which occurred 17 July 1933, was turned into a lasting phenomenon, a powerful myth (re)shaped by competing memory regimes. A general discussion on memory management and the cultural politics related to this event correlates with the topical issues of the ongoing search for a new conception, or the sense of history as a tool for configuring the future of Lithuania, as well as of some other Eastern European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]