As Ernest Renan noted, history is not so much about collective memory, but first of all about forgetting. He defined the nation as: “… a group of people united by a common hatred of their neighbours and a shared misunderstanding of their past.”
As found here:
http://www.socialistsanddemocrats.eu/gpes/media3/documents/2856_EN_politics_past_en_090603.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Renan
February 17 - 1600 - Giordano Bruno is burnt alive by the catholic church. Aquinas : "much more reason is there for heretics, as soon as they are convicted of heresy, to be not only excommunicated but even put to death."
Are you sure it's Renan? According to Wikipedia: "Karl Deutsch (in Nationalism and its alternatives) suggested that a nation is 'a group of people united by a mistaken view about the past and a hatred of their neighbours.' This phrase is frequently, but mistakenly, attributed to Renan himself."
I'm just quoting that PDF. If Wikipedia says that's a common mistake, then they obviously know more about it.
I wonder what alternative Deutsch offers in his "Nationalism and its alternatives".
Oh, here is a review of it.
http://www.roadtopeace.org/whatcanwedo.php?itemid=101
Which includes the quote.