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Modern military history, inspired by social and cultural historical approaches, increasingly puts the national histories of the Second World War to the test. New questions and methods are focusing on aspects of war and violence that have long been neglected. What shaped people’s experiences and memories? What differences and what similarities existed in Eastern and Western Europe? How did the political framework influence the individual and the collective interpretations of the war? Finally, what are the benefits of Europeanizing the history of the Second World War? Experts from Belgium, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, and Russia discuss these and other questions in this comprehensive volume.
CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC BOOK OF THE YEAR 2011
“This stimulating, wide-ranging collection deftly combines national and European perspectives, which makes it especially valuable for the study of the post-Cold War era and the new Europe. Historians of memory in particular will find it useful, but so will others interested more generally in postwar European history. Highly recommended.” · Choice
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations
Chapter 1. A New Perspective on the War
Henry Rousso
Chapter 2. Conceptualizing the Occupations of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands (1933–1944)
Benoît Majerus
Chapter 3. The Role of the War in National Societies: The Examples of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands
Chantal Kesteloot
Chapter 4. Myths and Realities of the “People’s War” in Britain
John Ramsden
Chapter 5. “We Can Take It!” Britain and the Memory of the Home front in the Second World War
Mark Connelly
Chapter 6. Experience and Memory: The Second World War in Poland
Piotr Madajczyk
Chapter 7. Remembering and Researching the War: The Soviet and Russian Experience
Sergei Kudryashov
Chapter 8. Bombing and Land War in Italy: Military Strategy, Reactions, and Collective Memory
Gabriella Gribaudi
Chapter 9. Italy as Occupier in the Balkans: Remembrances and War Crimes after 1945
Filippo Focardi
Chapter 10. Brest under Bombardment (1940–1944): Being in War
Pierre Le Goïc
Chapter 11. Experiences of War, Memories of War, and Political Behavior: The Example of the French Communist Party
Philippe Buton
Chapter 12. The Air War, the Public, and Cycles of Memory
Dietmar Süß
Chapter 13. The Long Shadows of the Second World War: The Impact of Experiences and Memories of War on West German Societies
Axel Schildt
Chapter 14. The War in Postwar Society: The Role of the Second World War in Public and Private Spheres in the Soviet Occupation Zone and Early GDR
Dorothee Wierling
Chapter 15. Violence and Victimhood: Looking Back at the World Wars in Europe
Richard Bessel
Chapter 16. The Meanings of the Second World War in Contemporary European History
Jörg Echternkamp and Stefan Martens
Notes on Contributors
Selected Bibliography
Index