The paper seeks to improve the conceptualization of a wide range of transitional justice measures used in the post-communist region. For this we further refine and elaborate on a typological matrix that has originally been offered by Claus Offe and Ulrike Poppe, yet has not received sufficient attention so far. Our suggested model differentiates between two dimensions of justice: whether the measures taken are on the one hand legal/individualist vs. symbolic/collective, and on the other in relation to either perpetrators or victims. With this we are able to conceptually chart the whole variety of truth and justice measures in one single comprehensive matrix. Looking from a comparative perspective, we suggest that this will yield valuable insight into possible emerging more systemic patterns across the matrix caused by the interplay of political dynamics of individual justice measures. The paper tests this supposition comparatively on the three “most likely”-cases of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. However, it aims at providing a tool applicable also to other cases of post-communist transitional justice.
