<p>The mobilization of the collective past is an important resource for civil actors to shape symbolic frameworks of their societies and foster collective solidarity by overcoming “difficult pasts.” Nevertheless, not every social actor maintains civil solidarity. This paper deals with the backlash undermining the temporal framework of the civil sphere, its exacerbation of collective traumas, and the stimulation of a feeling of crisis that erodes the civil sphere’s center. Specifically, I examine whether and how mnemonic narratives employed by the German and Italian backlash stimulated the crisis surrounding the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The findings suggest that, on the one hand, reopening the wounds of the past, the German backlash provoked an acute sense of crisis and exacerbated social polarization in the German civil sphere, which may trigger its inversion expressed in the substitution of frontlash democratic coding with backlash anticivil imitation. On the other hand, by resorting to mnemonic narration, the Italian backlash attempted to minimize the significance of the Russian invasion, antagonizing the Italian state for ignoring domestic issues. This comparative study, therefore, evidenced the different uses of “a difficult past” by the political backlash to stimulate the erosion of the civil sphere.</p>