It is no coincidence that the memory of crimes in which not external forces, but your own state is to blame, is called the 'difficult past'. Recognizing one's own responsibility without shifting it to external or internal enemies, time and circumstances is incredibly difficult psychologically, politically and legally. Only at first glance it seems that there are many examples of such voluntary rethinking, and Russia is the only country of its kind that cannot cope with its past. In reality, according to the researcher of memorial culture N. Epple, when it comes to the immediate successors of the criminals and the living political reality, such precedents still do not exist. Even the textbook exemplary example of Germany, in his opinion, cannot be considered an unconditional success. The book is devoted to the comparison of domestic study of the past with the experience of other countries - Germany, Spain, Argentina, Poland, South Africa, Japan - in order to outline the general principl