Remembering the Long Second World War in Europe

Abstract

If any further proof were needed, European memories of World War Two since 1945 prove that remembrance, in both its private and public forms, constitutes a powerful historical force in its own right, able to shape opinions, actions and events. Almost without exception, the memory of that terrible conflict has haunted the continent. Far from being the inert prerogative of witnesses and survivors, it has formed bonds and assumed new, shared identities; often sanitised, it has served governments well, and yet at times it has mastered them, rediscovering itself raw and untreated. Taking on unexpected meanings, it has adapted to new generations of Europeans who had no memory of the war itself, or had only a second- or third-hand one. In its infinite incarnations, throughout its long lulls and sudden bursts onto European political and cultural agendas, remembrance has engendered countless narratives of the past that have shown remarkable ability in adjusting to local contexts, from the polished national narratives of textbooks and monuments to half-forgotten stories around oxidised bronze plaques in village squares.