Growing up in the Shadow of a Nazi Collaborator
(2023) Narrative Identity conference — Location: Lille, France
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- Abstract
- Family narratives can become an important part of someone’s identity, but they can also be questioned, transformed, ignored, or even rejected. One way or another, they are rarely insignificant as their influence can model relationships and change attitudes, particularly when these memories are historically relevant. In our study, we conducted semi-structured interviewed with five French-speaking Belgian families with a father or a grand-father who collaborated during the Second World War. We examine two main questions. In the absence of strong cultural narratives, can we still find some form of communicative transmission of these historical memories within families? And what are the consequences of this transmission (or absence of) for the family members? Our qualitative analysis focuses on three themes: interpersonal relationships, narratives of the family past and justifications of the collaboration. From these analyses, it emerges that the relationship between the collaborator and his child plays a particularly important role in the way the narrative is approached, both in terms of knowledge related to the family past and the justification surrounding the collaborator's actions. Finally, we also discuss the role of silence and the consequence of the revelation of a family past set on the “wrong side of history”.
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Cordonnier, A. (2023). Growing up in the Shadow of a Nazi Collaborator. Narrative Identity conference, Lille, France. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/29011