Collaborator in spite of himself: How children and grandchildren perceive their ancestor’s collaboration with the Germans during the Second World War
(2021) Memory Studies Association (MSA) fifth annual conference — Location: online
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- Abstract
- In the wake of the Second World War, Belgium celebrated the end of four long years of German Occupation. But alongside these celebrations, many demanded retribution against those who decided to collaborate with the enemy. The official repression that followed led to 0.64% of the population receiving sentences for collaboration. 75 years after the war, the dark past of the collaboration still haunts certain families, especially within the French-speaking community of Belgium. In our study, we interviewed five families to explore how children and grand-children of collaborators perceive their family past. We examined 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 family historical past when it is revealed or when it has remained taboo for many years? Our qualitative analysis focused on three themes: interpersonal relationships, narratives of the family past and justifications for collaboration. From these analyses, we found that the relationship between collaborators and their children plays a particularly important role in the way the narrative of the collaborative past is approached, both in terms of knowledge related to the family past and the justification for the collaborator's actions. Finally, we also consider the role of silence and the consequences of revealing a family past on the “wrong side of history”.
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Cordonnier, A. (2021). Collaborator in spite of himself: How children and grandchildren perceive their ancestor’s collaboration with the Germans during the Second World War. Memory Studies Association (MSA) fifth annual conference, online. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/23617