WARSAW -- In France, May 10 is a day to commemorate the abolition of slavery. Jan. 27 is the day we remember the Holocaust, through the commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz.

In a few days, there will be ceremonies to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the revision of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus' conviction on charges of espionage in a trial that tore the country apart.

France in particular, but also Europe in general, seems to be in a mood for remembering and repenting. It all looks as if the need to integrate communities within nations, to reconcile them with their past in order to unite them around a common identity and therefore a common project for the future, has replaced Europe's now-completed mission of reconciling old enemies like Germany and France.