Newsletter

Memorial to the Martyrs of Deportation

A site, a text and a voice to pass on the memory of deportees

Officially unveiled on 12 April 1962 by the then French president, Charles de Gaulle, the Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation reflects certain characteristic aspects of concentration camp life: imprisonment, oppression, the impossibility of escape and, in the words of its architect, Georges-Henri Pingusson, “the long ordeal of degradation, debasement and extermination.”

- Télécharger la plaquette -
Find out all the little tales

The Chateau of Joux sends its regards

Part of the Franco-Prussian War commemorations

An outstanding testament to how military architecture developed over ten centuries, the Chateau of Joux was continually reorganised, fortified and used. As a military fortress, it played an important role in armed conflicts, including the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71).

Find out all the little tales

The Franco-Turkish conflict in Cilicia

Share

French troops salute General Dufieux, Adana (Cilicia), 1921. © Service Historique de la Défense

 

Following the First World War, France, anxious to extend its influence in the Middle East, obtained a League of Nations mandate for part of Cilicia, a region of southern Turkey.

French memorials in Switzerland

Share

Section of the panoramic painting representing the Bourbaki Army in Switzerland, Édouard Castres, 1881-85. Musée de Lucerne.
Section of the panoramic painting representing the Bourbaki Army in Switzerland, Édouard Castres, 1881-85. Musée de Lucerne.

 

France and Switzerland have a long, shared military history, but the two countries forged a particularly close bond in the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War.

Treating the war-wounded

Share

Contents

    Summary

    SUBJECT: Military medicine

    MISSION: Treating physical and mental trauma

    PARTIES INVOLVED: Army health service, army hospitals, army medics

    How the wounded are treated on the battlefield since the Franco-Prussian war in 1870 to the most recent interventions has changed extensively, both from an organisational perspective to the ways in which treatment, and what treatment, is administered by health care specialists in the army. In this sense, it has increased the chances of survival of each and every soldier.

    By the end of the Franco-Prussian war, in 1871, the final toll of deaths and casualties among the French troops was almost the same between the number of war-wounded (130,000), the number killed (140,000) and those who died from disease (about 300,000, illness and frostbite combined). The huge defeat and toll sounded the death knell on the treatments administered to the war-wounded until then.

    The health service, reliant both on the leadership and the supply corps, was in fact not yet considered a service in its own right. As such, the battlefield was a hotchpotch of army medical corps units, aid societies under the authority of the Red Cross and hospitals further into the country. While the principle of rapid evacuation of the war-wounded was advocated by some medical staff, backed by lessons learned during the American Civil War and the Crimean War, how combat played out determined whether this would be possible or not. Under direct enemy threat, the primary caregivers were in danger of being killed or captured such as happened during the retreat to Metz or the Battle of Saint-Privat. Indeed, up until the surrender of Sedan, the doctors stayed on the ground, doing whatever they could to dress the war-wounded lying on the battlefield, becoming as much targets as the troops themselves.

    The difficult birth of an autonomous health service post 1870

    Treatment administered to the war-wounded was long thwarted by the problems of fighting infection along with the dearth of sterilised bandages, antisepsis during operations as well as morphine, in the army medic’s bag.  But the medical world was above all pointing out, until the end of the 19th century, the failings of logistics and links between the different parts of the chain. The Société de Secours aux Blessés Mlitaires, the original name of the French Red Cross, spent months roaming about in 1870, unable to provide the services it was there to, due to a lack of clear orders from the leadership or the supply corps.

    Upon the signing of the Treaty of Frankfurt that formalised France’s defeat, on 10 May 1871, a reorganisation of the French army and its health service became a necessity. Drawing lessons from the tragic events of the conflict, the French Academy of Medicine recommended in 1873 establishing an independent health service, which was enshrined by the law of March 1882 and completed by the law of 1 July 1889. Management of the health service was assigned to the medical corps, both in wartime and peacetime, and the medical training was entrusted to the medical authorities.

     

    poste secours Somme

    Temporary first-aid post set up by the Red Cross during the Battle of the Somme, 1916. © TopFoto / Roger-Viollet

     

    Lessons from World War I

    The Franco-Prussian war and more recently the French medical interventions during the First Balkan War (1912-1913) provided inspiration to the medical profession. Before the start of WWI, the primary caregivers were obliged to provide emergency care by ‘wrapping up’ the injured before evacuating them away from the front to sites where surgeons could carry out operations. Matters changed when the conflict broke out in 1914.

    Following the new wave of violent combat that occurred, surgical ambulances were stationed as close as possible to the battlefield, from around September or October, to start treating the war-wounded as quickly as possible. The health service was run in a rather makeshift way in the first weeks of war as nothing had prepared the medical staff for the onslaught of casualties and dead coming in or the gravity of the physical injuries. The speed at which surgery took place was paramount in order to try and stave off infection and haemorrhagic shock. This was the intention behind the rather controversial amputation technique, known as the ‘sliced sausage’ method, practised by French surgeon Victor Pauchet in the first weeks of war. This consisted of cutting the limb at the point at which the injury occurred. The flesh surrounding the wound was kept and the skin and muscle flaps used to form a solid stump.

    The great debacle of 1940

    In May-June 1940, the dazzling speed of the advancing German troops during the Battle of France destroyed any organisation already put in place, meaning that the first medical structures set up were unable to function as planned. Various facilities had been installed to accept the war-wounded from the front, such as first-aid posts and advanced surgical units, before they could be evacuated to a hospital away from the front. Scarcely after being provided, the surgical ambulances were forced to pack up and go home. From 15 May, just five days after the start of the German invasion, the entire system planned by the health service was forced back

     

    blessé 1940

    An injured French soldier being treated, France, 1940. © André Zucca/BHVP/Roger-Viollet

     

    During wartime, the military authorities were responsible for dictating the intervention methods and protocols for medical staff, the conditions for removing bodies and the first-aid to administer in the immediacy of the battlefield.  The lightening speed of the German invasion was one reason that led to the dislocation of the French army and its health service.

    The health service became part of the general sense of confusion that pervaded the war, depicted for instance by the image of medical vehicles depositing the war-wounded wherever they could when driving away from the front. Overwhelmed by these events, the health service executive often had to leave it to individuals taking their own initiatives, like the case of one doctor working from a hospital in Zuydcoote, in the north of France, which had received over 4,000 war-wounded including 600 brought in on 2 June 1940 alone, and who resolved to stay put while awaiting the arrival of German troops.

    The health service’s efforts during the wars of national liberation

    The themes of makeshift organisation and difficulty leaving the combat zone were repeated during the Indochina and Algerian wars, as if any ‘lessons’ learned during earlier conflicts had simply been forgotten.

    When the French Expeditionary Force landed in Indochina in 1946-1947, the health service was extremely low on resources, which meant that they struggled to transport the wounded to the surgical units in Saigon or Hanoi. As was the case during WWI, the main concern was the need to evacuate victims as soon as possible to start treatment just as quickly.

    But until the end of the conflict, the humble stretcher was the primary form of evacuation to transfer injured soldiers to the battalion’s first-aid post or the medical vehicle’s collection point. An exhausting operation for the carriers, forced to plod through jungle or paddy fields, and dangerous for the wounded whose pain and injury were only aggravated during transfer. A perilous mission too for the party protecting the carriers. Rigid stretchers were gradually replaced by lightweight folding stretchers made of aluminium, although hammocks and fishing nets were also commonly employed.

     

    blessés Indochine

    War-wounded evacuated during the Indochina War, 1954. © Roger-Viollet

     

    The major innovation in terms of evacuation technology was the use of aviation from the early 1950s when conflicts became more and more international. This allowed the injured to be evacuated from a combat zone by air and be transported to proper hospitals, where they could be operated on. Widely used by the American military during the Korean War, helicopters appeared in the skies above Indochina around 1949-1950. This mode of transport radically altered the primary evacuations made and the recovery of the wounded from hard-to-reach sites. The helicopter provided a useful aid to medical staff, offering an alternative to the exhausting, long and dangerous carrying of stretchers. However, from what we can make out from the images, evacuations of the wounded using this type of transport was a rare and exceptional occurrence due to the difficult terrain.

    In Algeria, the combat methods employed, involving disrupting and attacking remote army posts, in addition to the extreme geographic conditions (steep mountains, sites hard to access) made it very difficult for the primary medics to go about their work and evacuate the war-wounded. The use of air evacuation with a broader range of aircraft including heavyweight Sikorsky helicopters to more lightweight helicopters facilitating the work of the stretcher services to the first-aid post also made it possible to perform an initial triage as well as more remote evacuations. A wounded person could be under the surgeon’s knife one to six hours after being injured.

    On the ground, it was the nurse’s job to treat the wounded by performing first aid. The battalion medic would be working from an infirmary often set up in a prefab structure. The conditions were extremely basic but the surgical units did not experience the same development as seen during previous conflicts since there were already facilities for the war-wounded in local hospitals or in towns and cities such as Algiers, Blida, Médéa, Oran, Tlemcen, Constantine, Sétif and Philippeville.

    Recent developments

    France’s engagement in Afghanistan prompted the health service operating from the battlefield to further hone its specialisation. Treatment was given at different points: medicalisation on the front at the first-aid post, surgical specialisation on the front at the surgical unit and medical evacuations by air as soon as possible. 

    The introduction of a medical data collection register today allows us to study the medical treatment administered to the war-wounded on the different ranges of trauma observed, the cause of death at every step leading to questions regarding whether any deaths were ‘avoidable’. This line of thinking is a continuation of the research carried out in the US in the seventies. At the time, the surgeon Maughon had examined the autopsy results of 2,600 American soldiers who died in Vietnam, motivated by the idea that they might be able to do more on the battlefield to prevent death, in particular following bleeding out. By analysing the causes of death of casualties on the battlefield, they thought they might be able to increase the survival rate of the war-wounded. Other studies carried out during the same war showed that 40% of those killed during combat died bloodless following haemorrhages that could have been more effectively treated in situ. One report concluded that the swift and effective control of haemorrhages was crucial for survival. Similarly, thirty years later, an analysis of autopsies performed on American soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan revealed that about 80% of victims had injuries that would have been survivable, but they died of bleeding out. Among these injuries, about 20% were injuries to the neck, the axillary region and the groin. Death by haemorrhage could occur within minutes following physical injury. Consequently, rapid treatment of any bleeding point became a crucial concern.

     

    blessé 1991

    On the battlefield, a doctor from the 3rd Marine Infantry Regiment treats an Iraqi soldier with head and arm injuries, 1991.
    © Michel Riehl/ECPAD/Défense

     

    These important observations urged the American medical authorities to prioritise research into new haemostatic agents. Given the urgency of the situation, they settled not on the ‘ideal’ agent but the ‘best available’ one, namely HemCon (a bandage that had proven effective for stopping severely bleeding wounds and even severe arterial bleeding) for the American army and QuikClot (a granulate shown to be effective for treating deep vascular wounds) for the navy and marines.

    A new doctrine

    Besides the work that went into introducing new haemostatic agents, the whole area of ‘damage control’ was put under the microscope. Popularised in the early 1990s, damage control encompasses all of the measures taken to control a situation on or around the battlefield. The initial studies carried out focused on penetrating abdominal traumas, combining visceral and vascular wounds. They demonstrated the different rates of survival depending on the resuscitation methods employed, ranging from an 11% survival rate using a standard surgical approach to 77% when a damage control procedure was applied. This rate shot up to 90% in 2001 by the same medical team. American surgeon Holcomb worked at refining the concept through the approach known as ‘damage control resuscitation’. This consisted of the surgeon performing only the bare minimum of surgical interventions in a very short operating time to stop bleeding and prevent infection. Priority was therefore given to restoring normal physiology rather than anatomical integrity, as reflected in the return to the use of the tourniquet.

     

    stage Lorient

    Medicalisation in hostile environments training (MEDICHOS) in Lorient. Real-life conditions treating a mass influx of wounded people assembled in a triage
    and treatment zone before they can be evacuated.  
    © R. Connan/DICOD

     

    Modern tourniquets do not aggravate the risk of amputation or permanent disability. The wounded patient themselves, one of their crew or the medic accompanying the combat group are all given first-aid training including how to apply a temporary tourniquet. Employed in combat zones by British and American troops, tactical tourniquets provide fast and more effective control of bleeding than any other techniques and contribute to reducing the fatal consequences of blood loss.

    The latter has also been made possible by transfusions performed from the outset of injury.  The process consists of first resuscitating the wounded patient using a hypertonic saline solution to restore a pulse or consciousness to then transport the living victim to the first medical facility where other treatments are administered (red blood cells, plasma, platelets, etc.), to control the state of shock.  All of the resuscitation procedures developed in recent years in Iraq and Afghanistan explain the extremely high rate of survival in the various epidemiological surveys conducted and among those with facial injuries in particular

    A return to ‘normal’ life?

    In this sense, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan brought the soldiers’ extraordinary capacity for survival into relief. The statistics confirmed the trend. The chances of survival on the battlefield during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were higher than in any other previous conflict. According to a study by American surgeon Matthew S. Goldberg carried out between March 2003 to January 2007, 90.4% of wounded service people survived compared to 86.5% in Vietnam. The difference between the two rates may seem modest, but when translated into numbers of lives saved, it is phenomenal.

    The capacities for survival on the battlefield may evoke a relative sense of invincibility among survivors, in particular those who return home with disabilities. After all, don’t we have the Invictus Games organised for wounded service men and women from every nation? In the games, people who have lost a limb or who have nothing from the torso down compete, moving about just as nimbly as able-bodied athletes.

     

    Invictus games

    The French delegation arriving at the Invictus Games opening ceremony. During the third edition, from 23 to 30 September 2017, 30 wounded service men and women, serving and veterans, and civilians from the Ministry of the Armed Forces took part in the competitions in Toronto, Canada. © A. Thomas-Trophime/DICOD

     

    Treatments administered by medics, especially in the time immediately following injury, have given service men and women new hope when their anatomical disabilities would have been fatal in previous conflicts. With the use of highly sophisticated prostheses for limbs and reconstructive surgery for facial trauma, medicine now has a host of tools at its disposal to give wounded service people a functioning body. Thanks to medical advances, they can now live a life almost as ‘normal’ as if the war had not removed a part of their body.

    Treatment of the wounded today also encompasses mental trauma. Following on from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) added to the DSM-III (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, third revision) in 1980, based on various psychiatric disorders observed among Vietnam war vets, TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) has emerged more recently. TBI refers to brain trauma caused by exposure to explosive blasts from improvised explosive devices (IED). TBI is the signature diagnosis in the British/American medical discourse from operations in Afghanistan and Iraq (OIF/OEF) although it has not completely stamped out PTSD. Based on estimates, between 13% and 17% of service men and women have received this diagnosis. Over 25% of service men and women are diagnosed with a combination of PTSD and TBI. It is worth pointing out that despite the best efforts of the American army in terms of preventing and understanding disorders related to these diagnoses as well as implementing facilities and new procedures designed to reduce the impact of mental disorders, success remains low. Clearly return to civilian life in peacetime is a harsh reality for those who have experienced the violence of war.  What also disturbs the historian in all this is the silence of French psychiatrists regarding the matter, both during and after the war in Afghanistan. There is very little material on the French experience in Afghanistan and, more broadly, the most recent international interventions.

    Author

    Sophie Delaporte - Senior lecturer, qualified to direct research (HDR), UPJV-CHSSC

    Articles of the review

    Musée du Service de Santé des Armées

    Share

    The Debat collection at the MSSA. © Musée du Service de santé des armées

    Luc Aigle, head physician

    Share


    ‘100 years of the “Gueules Cassées”’

    Share

    © UBFT

    Grant application

    Share

    On 1 January 2022, the Directorate for Remembrance, Culture and Archives (DMCA) put in place a “one-stop shop” for grants for remembrance projects relating to contemporary conflicts in which France has participated, enabling applications to be submitted online. Any organisation with a SIRET number may submit an application using a single submission form.

    23 November 1944: the Liberation of Strasbourg

    Share

    On 6 June 1944, the Allies landed on the Normandy coastline and the liberation of France began.

    On 1 August, the men and vehicles of the French 2nd Armoured Division (2nd DB), in turn, set foot on the Normandy soil. In the command of General Leclerc, but incorporated in General Patton’s Third US Army, the division played an active part in the fighting to liberate Normandy, before marching on Paris. If the Americans regarded the French capital as a secondary objective and initially wanted to go round it, the symbolic importance of its liberation by French soldiers was not lost on Leclerc and de Gaulle, who managed to convince Eisenhower and took the initiative of directing their tanks towards the city. With the arrival of Leclerc’s tanks, Paris was liberated on 25 August. The following day, de Gaulle and Leclerc rode down the Champs-Élysées to the cheers of a jubilant crowd.

    The war was not yet over, however, and large areas of the country remained under enemy control. The Germans may have been beaten in the West, but the East was still under Nazi domination. Bolstered by his success, Leclerc and his tanks headed for Alsace. After crossing the Vosges mountains, the French engaged in fierce fighting to take out the last German defences and retake Strasbourg three months later, on 23 November. The “Oath of Kufra” had been honoured.

    Watch a film on the Oath of Kufra and General Leclerc’s epic story

     

    Remembrance in France and Germany
    Receive the magazineReceive the magazine by email or by post

    Remembrance in France and Germany

    1. The issues
    2. The remembrances
    3. The practices
    4. From remembrance to reconciliation
    5. Bibliography / Resources
    Flip the review in pdf

    Parcourir la revue en ligne sur tous vos supports numériques.

    Bibliography / Resources

    Bibliography / Resources

     

    1. The issues

     

    The birth and development of remembrance policy

     

    In France

    BOURSIER Jean-Yves (dir.), Musées de guerre et mémoriaux : politiques de la mémoire, Paris, Maison des sciences de l’homme, 2005, 257 pages.

    CASTAGNEZ Noëlle et ALLORANT Pierre (dir.), Mémoire des guerres, Le Centre-Val de Loire de Jeanne d’Arc à Jean Zay, Rennes, Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2015, 350 pages.

    DALISSON Rémi, Les guerres et la mémoire, Paris, CNRS éditions, 2013, 334 pages.

    DALISSON Rémi, Célébrer la Nation. Histoire des fêtes nationales en France, Paris, Nouveau Monde, 2009, 400 pages.

    MARTIN Philippe et SIMIZ Stefano (dir.), L’empreinte de la guerre, Actes du colloque de Nancy, Lavauzelle, 2006, 560 pages.

    MICHEL Johann, Gouverner les mémoires. Les politiques mémorielles en France, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 2010, 224 pages.

    WIEWIORKA Olivier, La mémoire désunie. Le souvenir politique des années sombres, de la Libération à nos jours, Paris, Seuil, 2010, 320 pages.

     

    In Germany

    CAMARADE Hélène, "Le mémorial des Stolpersteine. Histoire, enjeux et phénomènes d’appropriation à l’ère de l’essoufflement de la commémoration", dans Allemagne d'aujourd'hui, vol. 225, no. 3, 2018, pages 69-86.

    ECHTERNKAMP Jörg, "Une culture militaire du souvenir en pleine évolution. La tradition et le souvenir des soldats morts comme mesure de l’intégration de l’armée dans la société", dans Allemagne d'aujourd'hui, vol. 235, no. 1, 2021, pages 234-247.

    FISCHER Fritz (trad. Geneviève MIGEON et Henri THIES), Les buts de guerre de l’Allemagne impériale (1914-1918), Paris, Éditions de Trévise, 1970, 653 pages.

    FROST KENNAN George, The Decline of Bismarck’s European Order. Franco-Russian Relations, 1875-1890, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1979, 466 pages.

    GEORGET Jean-Louis et al. « Introduction », "La Bundeswehr entre géopolitique et débats de société", dans Allemagne d'aujourd'hui, vol. 235, no. 1, 2021, pages 3-8.

    GRUNENBERG Nina, Die Wundertäter. Netzwerke der deutschen Wirtschaft 1942 bis 1966, München, Siedler Verlag, 2007, 318 seiten.

    HARTOG François, Régimes d'historicité. Présentisme et expériences du temps, Paris, Le Seuil, 2003, 272 pages.

    HETTLING Manfred, "Militärisches Ehrenmal oder politisches Denkmal ? Repräsentationen des toten Soldaten in der Bundesrepublik", im Herfried Münkler u. Jens Hacke (éds.), Wege zur Bundesrepublik. Politische Mythen, kollektive Selbstbilder, gesellschaftliche Identitätspräsentation, Francfort-sur-le-Main, Campus, 2009, seiten 131-152.

    THAMER Hans-Ulrich, "Eine Ausstellung und ihre Folgen. Impulse der Wehrmachtsausstellung“ für die historische Forschung", im Ulrich Bielefeld, Heinz Bude, Bernd Greiner, (éds.): Gesellschaft – Gewalt – Vertrauen. Jan Philipp Reemtsma zum 60. Geburtstag. Hambourg, Hamburger Edition, 2012, seiten 489-503.

    ZUNINO Bérénice, Die Mobilmachung der Kinder im Ersten Weltkrieg. Kriegskultur und illustrierte Kriegskinderliteratur im Deutschen Kaiserreich (1911-1918), Berlin, Peter Lang, 2019, 322 seiten.

    Remembrance speech of Richard von Weizsäcker, president of the Federal Republic of Germany, 8 May 1985, in which he lists the different groups of military and civilian victims: https://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Down 

     

    A specific Franco-German issue: Alsace-Moselle

     

    GRANDHOMME Jean-Noël (dir.), "Exposer la guerre dans une région de l’entre-deux. Cent-cinquante ans de conflit franco-allemand (1792-1945) dans les musées d’Alsace-Moselle", dans Annales de l’Est, no. 2, 2016, pages 1-214.

    GRANDHOMME Jean-Noël et GRANDHOMME Francis, Les Alsaciens-Lorrains dans la Grande Guerre, Strasbourg, La Nuée bleue, 2013, 512 pages.

    KIDD William, Les Monuments aux morts mosellans, Metz, Éditions Serpenoise, 1999, 171 pages.

    JALABERT Laurence, MARCOWITZ Reiner et WEINRICH Arndt, La longue mémoire de la Grande Guerre. Regards croisés franco-allemands de 1918 à nos jours, Villeneuve-d’Ascq, Presses universitaires du Septentrion, 2017, 236 pages.

    RAPHAËL Freddy et HERBERICH-MARX Geneviève, Mémoire de pierre, mémoire de papier. La mise en scène du passé en Alsace, Strasbourg, Presses universitaires de Strasbourg, 2002, 256 pages.

    ROTH François, Alsace-Lorraine. Histoire d’un "Pays perdu" de 1870 à nos jours, Nancy, Éditions Place Stanislas, 2010, 200 pages.

    SCHNITZLER Bernadette, HAEGEL Olivier et GRANDHOMME Jean-Noël, Mourir pour la Patrie ? Les monuments aux morts d’Alsace-Moselle, Lieux Dits – Région Grand Est, Lyon-Strasbourg, 2016, 112 pages.

     

    2. The remembrances

     

    Remembrance of the Great War

     

    BECKER Annette, "Der Kult der Erinnerung nach dem Großen Krieg", in Reinhart Koselleck und Michael Jeismann (Hg.), Der politische Totenkult. Kriegerdenkmäler in der Moderne, München, 1994, seiten 315-324.

    BEHRENBECK Sabine, Der Kult um die toten Helden. Nationalsozialistische Mythen, Riten und Symbole 1923 bis 1945, Vierow, SH-Verlag, 1996, 688 seiten.

    DAVID Franck, Comprendre le monument aux morts. Lieu du souvenir, lieu de mémoire, lieu d´histoire, Talmont Saint Hilaire, Éditions Codex, 2013, 130 pages.

    JEISMANN Michael und WESTHEIDER Rolf, "Bürger und Soldaten. Deutsche und französische Kriegerdenkmäler zum Ersten Weltkrieg", im Gewalt, Kriegstod, Erinnerung. Die unausweichliche Wiederkehr des Verdrängten, Hamburg, 1988 (Geschichtswerkstatt Heft 16), seiten 6-15.

    KAISER Alexandra, Von Helden und Opfern. Eine Geschichte des Volkstrauertags, Frankfurt am Main, Campus Verlag, 2010, 462 seiten.

    KOSELLECK Reinhart, "Kriegerdenkmale als Identitätsstiftungen der Überlebenden", im Odo Marquard und Karlheinz Stierle (Hg.), Identität, München, 1979, seiten 255-276.

    KRUMEICH Gerd, "denkmäler zwischen mahnmal und schandmal", im Clemens von Looz-Corswarem/Jörg Engelbrecht (Hg.), Krieg und Frieden in Düsseldorf. Sichtbare Zeichen der Vergangenheit, Düsseldorf, 2004, seiten 219-238.

    KRUMEICH Gerd, Entretien "De chaque côté du Rhin" avec Antoine Prost, dans Géo Histoire, no. 13, février-mars 2016, pages 24-27.

    LÖFFELBEIN Nils, Ehrenbürger der Nation. Die Kriegsbeschädigten des Ersten Weltkriegs in Politik und Propaganda des Nationalsozialismus, Essen, Klartext Verlag, 2013, 494 seiten.

    OFFENSTADT Nicolas, 14-18 Aujourd’hui, La Grande Guerre dans la France contemporaine, Paris, Odile Jacob (Éditions), 2010, 200 pages.

    PROST Antoine, "Les Monuments aux Morts. Culte républicain ? Culte civique ? Culte patriotique ?", dans Pierre Nora (dir.), Les Lieux de Mémoire, Tome 1, Paris, Gallimard, 1984, pages 195-225.

    PROST Antoine, Les Anciens combattants et la Société française 1914-1939, Tome 3 Mentalités et idéologies, Paris, Presses de la fondation nationale des sciences politiques, 1977, 268 pages.

    SAEHRENDT Christian, Der Stellungskrieg der Denkmäler. Kriegerdenkmäler im Berlin der Zwischenkriegszeit (1919 – 1939), Bonn, Dietz Verlag, 2004, 205 seiten.

    THAMER Hans-Ulrich, "Von der Monumentalisierung zur Verdrängung der Geschichte. Nationalsozialistische Denkmalspolitik und die Entnazifizierung von Denkmälern nach 1945", im Winfried Speitkamp (Hg.), Denkmalsturz. Zur Konfliktgeschichte politischer Symbolik, Göttingen, 1997, seiten 109-136.

    WERTH German, Verdun. Die Schlacht und der Mythos, Bergisch Gladbach, Lübbe, 1979, 416 seiten.

    WINTER Jay et PROST Antoine, Penser la Grande Guerre, Paris, Seuil, 2004, 340 pages.

     

    Obsessive remembrance of the Second World War?

     

    In Germany

    ECHTERNKAMP Jörg, Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung (dir.), "Verbrechen der Wehrmacht. Dimensionen des Vernichtungskrieges 1941 – 1944", Ausstellungskatalog (3e éd.), Hambourg, 2021, 749 seiten.

    ECHTERNKAMP Jörg, Postwar Soldiers. Historical Controversies and West-German Democratization, 1945-1955, New-York, Berghahn Books, 2020, 570 pages.

    ECHTERNKAMP Jörg, "Défaites victorieuses? Donner sens à l'effondrement du IIIe Reich en Allemagne, de la Seconde Guerre mondiale à la chute du Mur", dans Corine Defrance, Catherine Horel, François-Xavier Nérard (dir.), Vaincus ! Histoires de défaites. Europe, XIX-XXe siècles, Paris, Nouveau Monde éditions, 2016, pages 149-168.

     

    The place of women in French national remembrance

     

    BEAUVALET Scarlett, DUPRAT Annie, LE BRAS-CHOPARD Armelle, SINEAU Mariette et THÉBAUD Françoise, Femmes et République, Paris, La Documentation française, 2021, 264 pages.

    DERMENJIAN Geneviève, JAMI Irène, ROUQUIER Annie et THÉBAUD Françoise (dir.), La place des femmes dans l’histoire. Une histoire mixte, Paris, Belin, 2010, 416 pages.

    THÉBAUD Françoise, Écrire l’histoire des femmes et du genre, Lyon, ENS Éditions, 2007, 313 pages.

    France Mémoire : https://www.institutdefrance.fr/commemorations-nationales/

    HF Île-de-France : http://hf-idf.org/le-matrimoine/

     

    Remembrance of colonisation and decolonisation

     

    AUS POLITIK UND ZEITGESCHICHTE (APUZ 40-42/2019) in Deutsche Kolonialgeschichte. Mise au point récente sur la question par des spécialistes pour la Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, consultable en ligne et téléchargeable gratuitement : https://www.bpb.de/shop/zeitschriften/apuz/297608/deutsche-kolonialgeschichte

    BECHHAUS-GERST Marianne und ZELLER joachim, Deutschland postkolonial ? Die Gegenwart der imperialen Vergangenheit, Berlin, Metropol-Verlag, 2018, 579 seiten.

    BOMMARIUS christian, Rudolf Manga Bell. Un bon allemand, Paris, Présence Africaine, 2021, 192 pages.

    COCK (de) Laurence, Dans la classe de l’homme blanc ; l’enseignement du fait colonial en France des années 1980 à nos jours, Lyon, Presses universitaires de Lyon, 2018, 320 pages.

    CONRAD Sebastien, Deutsche Kolonialgeschichte (3. Auflage, Originalausgabe). Verlag C.H. Beck, 2016, 128 seiten.

    DEUTSCHES HISTORISCHES MUSEUM, Deutscher Kolonialismus : Fragmente seiner Geschichte und Gegenwart, Berlin, Theiss Verlag, 2016, 336 seiten.

    GEMEAUX (de) Christine, "Le Reich et l’Allemagne à l’âge des empires coloniaux et de l’impérialisme européen (1871-1919)", dans Amaury Lorin et Christelle Taraud, Nouvelle histoire des colonisations européennes (XIXe-XXe siècles) : Sociétés, cultures, politiques, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 2013, 244 pages.

    IKELLÉ-MATIBA Jean, Cette Afrique-là !, Paris, Présence Africaine, 1963 (rééd. 1997), 249 pages.

    JENNI Alexis, L’art français de la guerre, Paris, Gallimard, 2011, 640 pages.

    KRACHT Christian, Imperium, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2012, 256 pages.

    STORA Benjamin, NORA Pierre et LACROIX Alexis, Mémoires coloniales, Montrouge, Bayard Culture, 2021, 96 pages.

    SUREMAIN (de) Marie-Albane, DULUCQ Sophie et LAMBERT David, Enseigner les colonisations et les décolonisations, Canopé éditions, 2016, 277 pages.

    TERKESSIDIS Mark, Wessen Erinnerung zählt ? Koloniale Vergangenheit und Rassismus heute, Hamburg, Hoffmann und Campe, 2019, 224 seiten.

    TIMM Uwe, Morenga, München, dtv, 1978, 445 pages.

    ZIMMERER Jürgen und BECHHAUS-GERST, Kein Platz an der Sonne : Erinnerungsorte der deutschen Kolonialgeschichte, Frankfurt am Main, Campus Verlag, 2013, 524 seiten.

     

    Remembrance of overseas operations

     

    In Germany

    BERNAU Nikolaus, "Erinnerung: Jungs Firmendenkmal", in Berliner Zeitung, 1er août 2007, seiten 25.

    BIEHL Heiko, "Zwischen Bündnistreue und militärischer Zurückhaltung. Die strategische Kultur der Bundesrepublik", im Werkner Ines-Jacqueline und Haspel Michael (dir.), Bündnissolidarität und ihre friedensethischen Kontroversen, Wiesbaden, Springer VS, 2019, seiten 37-58.

    FELDMANN Klaus, Tod und Gesellschaft. Sozialwissenschaftliche. Thanatologie im Überblick, Wiesbaden, Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2004, 284 seiten.

    HELMECKE Chris, "Gefallen und verwundet im Kampf. Deutsche Soldaten im Karfreitagsgefecht", im Militärgeschichte. Zeitschrift für politische Bildung, no. 2, 2010, 284 seiten.

    HETTLING Manfred und ECHTERNKAMP Jörg (dir.), Bedingt erinnerungsbereit. Soldatengedenken in der Bundesrepublik, Göttingen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008, 176 seiten.

    JESSEN Jens, "Soldatenleben. Ehrenmal der Bundeswehr", im Die ZEIT, 10 septembre 2009, seiten 47.

    KÖHLER, HORST (2005) : Einsatz für Freiheit und Sicherheit. Rede von Bundespräsident Horst Köhler bei der Kommandeurtagung der Bundeswehr am 10. Oktober 2005 in Bonn http://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Reden/DE/Horst-Koehler/Reden/2005/10/20051010_Rede_Anlage.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2

    LEONHARD Nina, "Towards a new German military identity ? Change and continuity of military representations of self and other(s) in Germany", in Critical Military Studies, vol. 5, no. 4, 2019, pages 304-321.

    LEONHARD Nina, "Les relations civils-militaires en Allemagne entre "posthéroïsme" et poids du passé : le monument aux morts de la Bundeswehr", dans Année sociologique, vol. 62, no. 2, 2011, pages 431-451.

    MANNITZ Sabine, "Zwischen Ehrenmal und Friedwald : Offene Fragen des militärischen Totengedenkens in Deutschland", im HSFK-Standpunkte, no. 8, Frankfurt/Main, Hessische Stiftung Friedens- und Konfliktforschung, 2014, seiten 9.

    MÜNKLER Herfried und FISCHER Karsten, "Nothing to die or kill for…" – berlegungen zu einer politischen Theorie des Opfers », im Leviathan, vol. 28, no. 3, 2000, seiten 343-362.

    SEIFFERT Anja, "Generation Einsatz", im Politik und Zeitgeschichte, vol. 63, no. 44, 2013, seiten 11-16.

    TOMFORDE Maren, "Neue Militärkultur(en). Wie verändert sich die Bundeswehr durch die Auslandseinsätze", im Maja Apelt (dir.), Forschungsthema Militär, Wiesbaden, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2010, seiten 193-219.
    Traditionserlass (2018) : Die Tradition der Bundeswehr. Richtlinien zum Traditionsverständnis und zur Traditionspflege. Berlin : Bundesministerium der Verteidigung (BMVg) https://www.bmvg.de/de/aktuelles/der-neuetraditionserlass-23232

     

    3. The practices

     

    Teaching and passing on the Great War to young people

     

    BENDICK Rainer, "Enseigner la Grande Guerre en France et en Allemagne : Le différend franco-allemand sur la guerre a disparu – les malentendus persistent.", dans La Grande Guerre des manuels scolaires, Actes du colloque de Montpellier, 5 et 6 décembre 2014. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01243677 (en ligne depuis 2015).

    BENDICK Rainer, "Les répercussions actuelles de l’enseignement de la Première Guerre mondiale en Allemagne de 1900 à 1945.", dans Rémy Cazals et Caroline Barrera (dir.), Enseigner la Grande Guerre. Actes du colloque Abbaye-Ecole de Sorèze, Portet-sur-Garonne, 2018, pages 18-25.

    BENDICK Rainer, "Les sépultures militaires comme lieux d’apprentissage : du deuil individuel à la mise en garde contre l’aveuglement patriotique et nationaliste.", dans Michèle Verdelhan Bourgade et Sylvie Desachy (dir.), 1918 : tourner la page ?, Montpellier, 2021.

    LAFON Alexandre, "Changer le paradigme commémoratif en direction des plus jeunes : la voie internationale suivie par les commémorations du centenaire de la Grande Guerre", dans L’espace politique, numéro spécial "Commémorer dans un monde global : géopolitique de la commémoration" (à paraître – 2021).

    LAFON Alexandre, Le centenaire à l’École. Un laboratoire pédagogique, Mission du centenaire/Réseau Canopé, 2019, 176 pages.

    LAFON Alexandre, La France de la Première Guerre mondiale, Paris, Armand Colin, 2016, 192 pages.

     

    4. From remembrance to reconciliation

     

    A history of Franco-German reconciliation

     

    BEYER Henry, Robert Schuman. L’Europe par la réconciliation franco-allemande, Lausanne, Fondation Jean Monnet pour l’Europe & Centre de recherches européennes de Lausanne, 1986, 271 pages.

    Cahiers d’Histoire, "La réconciliation franco-allemande. Les outils de la mémoire" (dossier), n° 100, janvier-mars 2007.

    COLIN Nicole et DEMESMAY Claire (dir.), Franco-German Relations Seen from Abroad. Post-war Reconciliation in International Perspectives, Cham, Springer, 2021, 241 pages.

    DEFRANCE Corine et PFEIL Ulrich (dir.), Le traité de l’Élysée et les relations franco-allemandes. 1945-1963-2003, Paris, CNRS Histoire, 2005, 272 pages.

    FUHRER Armin, HASS Norman, Eine Freundschaft für Europa: Der lange Weg zum Élysée-Vertrag, München, Olzog, 2013, 320 seiten.

    GUEREND Jean-Pierre, L’Abbé Franz Stock. Précurseur de la réconciliation franco-allemande et de l’unité de l’Europe, Paris, Éditons Le Livre Ouvert, 2008, 64 pages.

    JALABERT Laurence, MARCOWITZ Reiner et WEINRICH Arndt, La longue mémoire de la Grande Guerre. Regards croisés franco-allemands de 1918 à nos jours, Villeneuve-d’Ascq, Presses universitaires du Septentrion, 2017, 236 pages.

    JULIEN Élise, Paris Berlin. La mémoire de la guerre, 1914-1933, Rennes, Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2010, 410 pages.

    MARTENS Stephan, L’urgence européenne. Éloge de l’engagement franco-allemand, Pessac, Presses universitaires de Bordeaux, 2021, 128 pages.

    MARTENS Stephan (dir.), La France, l’Allemagne et la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Quelles mémoires ?, Pessac, Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, 2007, 289 pages.

    MIARD-DELACROIX Hélène et WIRSCHING Andreas, Ennemis héréditaires ? Un dialogue franco-allemand, Paris, Fayard, 2020, 216 pages.

    ROVAN Joseph, "L’Allemagne de demain sera la mesure de nos mérites", dans Esprit, octobre 1945, p. 529-540.

    WEINREICH Thomas, "Deutsch-französische Erbfeindschaft » und « deutsch-französische Freundschaft", im Von tief wurzelnden Konflikten hin zu freundschaftlicher Nähe, München, GRIN, 2019.

     

    Shared remembrance of the Second World War

     

    BAUERKÄMPER Arnd, "La mémoire du national-socialisme en Allemagne. L’exemple de Berlin", Allemagne d’aujourd’hui, 2017/3 n° 221, pages 180 à 192.

    ROSOUX Valérie, "La réconciliation franco-allemande : crédibilité et exemplarité d’un "couple à toute épreuve" ?", Les cahiers d'histoire. Revue d'histoire critique (100), p. 23-26.

    WAHL Alfred, La seconde histoire du nazisme dans l’Allemagne fédérale depuis 1945, Paris, Armand Colin, 2006.

     

    European “bearers of memory”

     

    BUNDESZENTRALE FÜR POLITISCHE BILDUNG ET AUTRES (Éditeur) : Wegweiser zur Erinnerung. Informatio-nen für Jugendprojekte in Gedenkstätten der NS-Verfolgung in Deutschland, Polen und Tschechien, Bonn 2013. Téléchargement partiel (DE) : https://www.bpb.de/shop/buecher/schriftenreihe/153945/wegweiser-zur-erinnerung

    CULLIN Michel, "Das Unbegreifliche begreifen und vermitteln. Zur Erinnerungsarbeit im Deutsch-Französischen Jugendwerk", im Claudia Lenz, Jens Schmidt et Oliver (von) Wrochem, Europäische Perspektiven auf die NS-Vergangenheit, Hambourg, Erinnerungskulturen im Dialog, 2002, seiten 61-66.

    DELORI Mathias, La réconciliation franco-allemande par la jeunesse (1875-2015). La généalogie, l’événement, l’histoire, Bruxelles, Peter Lang, 2016, 280 pages.

    Deutsch-Französisches Jugendwerk (éditeur) : L’histoire et la mémoire dans les rencontres internationales de jeunes. Vademecum pédagogique, 2015. Téléchargement (FR) : https://www.ofaj.org/resources/flipbooks/l-histoire-et-la-memoire-dans-les-rencontres-internationales-de-jeunes/2/index.html

    EBERLE Annette, "Zur Integration von historischer Bildung und Menschenrechts- und Demo-kratielernen", im Paul Ciupke, Guido Hitze, Alfons Kenkmann, Astrid Wolters, Gedenkstättenarbeit und Erinnerungskultur. Ein deutsch-polnischer Aus-tausch, Essen, Wysok Wiesław, 2014, seiten 295-304.

    GARDNER FELDMAN Lily, Germany's foreign policy of reconciliation. From enmity to amity, New York, Lanham Boulder, 2012, 412 pages.

    GARDNER FELDMAN Lily, "Germany's Reconciliation with France, Israel, Poland and the Czech Republic" », in Die Friedens-Warte 4, 1999, pages 477-490.

    OLBERDING Julie Cencula and OLBERDING Douglas J., ""Ripple Effects" in Youth Peacebuilding and Exchange Programs: Measuring Impacts Beyond Direct Participants" in International Studies Perspectives 1, Oxford University Press, 2010, pages 75–91.

    SUSZKIEWICZ Katarzyna, "Museums 'In Situ' as Places of Reconciliation. Youth Meetings and Educational Activities at Former Concentration and Death Camps", in Politeja 1, 2018, pages 145–166.

    VOLKSBUND DEUTSCHE KRIEGSGRÄBERFÜRSORGE E.V. (Éditeur) : Sprechen über Geschichte und Erin-nerung. Erster und Zweiter Weltkrieg / Parler de l'histoire et de la mémoire. Première et Deuxième Guerre mondiale, Kassel 2016. Téléchargement (FR+DE) : https://www.volksbund.de/aktuell/mediathek/detail/publikation-sprechen-ueber-geschichte-und-erinnerung-erster-und-zweiter-weltkrieg

    From remembrance to reconciliation

    From remembrance to reconciliation

    Links: Konrad Adenauer und General de Gaulle gedenken des Großen Krieges in Reims, 8. Juli 1962. © ullstein - Schirner X/Roger-Viollet. Rechts: Der französische Veteran Léon Gautier und der deutsche Veteran Johannes Borner umarmen sich zum Zeichen der Versöhnung anlässlich des 70. Jahrestags der Landung in der Normandie, 6. Juni 2014. © Ian Langsdon/AFP

    In terms of rhetoric and in the form of symbolic gestures, Franco-German relations since 1945 have always seen a strong emphasis on diplomatically unifying acts of historic commemoration, demonstrated as early as 9 May 1950 by Robert Schuman’s speech, which linked the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community to the memory of the two world wars. The meetings between General de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer, François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl, François Hollande and Joachim Gauck or, more recently, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel at Rethondes in 2018 have shown how commemorating is first and foremost about celebrating peace together. More than reconciliation between two countries, these important moments reflect the coming-together of two nations around a shared history. The 150th anniversary of the Franco-Prussian War, the First World War centenary and the shared Second World War commemorations prompted much enthusiasm from the public. Through the educational projects and exchanges they entailed, they also made French and German young people the European heirs of remembrance.

    The Franco-German Youth Office (FGYO)

    Share

    “Youth for Peace – Global tools, local action” youth conference, Paris, November 2019. © Julien Mazoyer

    Anne Tallineau and Tobias Bütow are, respectively, the French general secretary and German general secretary of the Franco-German Youth Office (FGYO). Since 1963, the FGYO has had the goal of fostering relations between the young people of the two countries, aimed at improving mutual understanding. This takes the form of projects and exchanges linked to languages, culture or ecology. Since its founding, the FGYO has also been involved in remembrance, aimed at strengthening Franco-German friendship.

     

    The common language of cartoons

    Share

    La magie de Noël (“The magic of Christmas”) by Ariane Toussaint and Léonard Pasty, first prize, independent entrants – high school, in the 4th Bulles de Mémoire competition, 2017-18. © ONAC-VG

    For ten years now, the Bulles de Mémoire (“Memory Bubbles”) competition has made cartoons a medium for historical knowledge and a tool for passing on memory in the hands of school pupils. Exported to Germany, the competition now offers French and German youngsters an insight into the values and memories they have in common.

    European “bearers of memory”

    Share

    A German high-school student acts as a guide for his classmates at the Struthof site. © CERD-Struthof

    Wars are often born out of mutual representations, feelings of reciprocal hate and the desire for revenge between populations, rationales to which young people are particularly susceptible. In an attempt to contain them, after the end of the Second World War the French and West German governments put in place an ambitious reconciliation policy centred on youth exchanges. The policy has been in place ever since, and today embraces a European perspective.

    Struthof, a Franco-German site

    Share

    Paintings from the “Fraternity” project (2018). © CERD-Struthof

    The first transnational site to obtain the European Heritage Label, Struthof seems like the ultimate Franco-German remembrance site. But despite being the focus of countless educational initiatives, the site has yet to become established as a shared commemorative space for French and Germans.

    Shared remembrance of the Second World War

    Share

    Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel commemorate the Armistice of 11 November at Compiègne, in the carriage where it was signed, 10 November 2018. © Soazig de la Moissonnière/Présidence de la République

    If the First World War centenary was quite clearly a Franco-German commemoration, this not so self-evident when it came to the Second World War. After several decades of hesitant gestures, France and Germany gave concrete expression to their reconciliation, namely with the remembrance of 6 June.

    The Historial Franco-Allemand, Hartmannswillerkopf

    Share

    The Historial Franco-Allemand, Hartmannswillerkopf. © AAA-IllProd

    Jean Klinkert looks back at the history of this remembrance site and the origins of the bilateral initiative to create a Franco-German history museum. He takes stock of the site’s first four years of existence (it opened for the centenary), with a special focus on young people.

     

    A Franco-German centenary?

    Share

    The Day of National Mourning ceremony in Germany, with Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, Berlin, 18 November 2018. © Abdulhamid Hosbas/AFP

    The unprecedented commemorations of the First World War centenary saw a flurry of Franco-German events. If France seemed to be the driving force behind the centenary, its partner across the Rhine was happy to go along with it, mobilising institutional and cultural networks to make the commemorations a Franco-German event.