In reference to the main objective of the project, the aim of this first volume is the description and understanding of the Europeanization of memory and the construction of European heritage in the Swedish and Polish context on the national, regional and local level. Attention is paid to both top-down and bottom-up processes at play in this context. Top-down processes apply to the memory of which the state is the depository, guardian and promoter. Under the influence of Europeanization, it is once again attempting to interpret the past and this can lead sometimes – although not always – to resignation from nationalistic, monolithic and ethnocentric standpoints. Furthermore, top-down processes depend on the activity of European institutions which shape the vision of a common European memory, heritage and identity. The second operates on a bottom-up basis and its subject are societies and local institutions, as well as actors in civil society. It is a horizontal model for negotiating the past which is decentralized, pluralistic and partially transnational.