Narratives of War: Remembering and Chronicling Battle in Twentieth-Century Europe (Memory and Narrative)

Narratives of War considers the way war and battle are remembered and narrated across space and time in Europe in the twentieth century. The book reflects on how narratives are generated and deployed, and on their function as coping mechanisms, means of survival, commemorative gestures, historical records and evidence. The contributions address such issues as the tension and discrepancy between memory and the official chronicling of war, the relationship between various individuals’ versions of war narratives and the ways in which events are brought together to serve varied functions for the narrators and their audiences. Drawing upon the two World Wars, the Spanish Civil War and the ex-Yugoslav wars, and considering narrative genres that include film, schoolbooks, novels, oral history, archives, official documents, personal testimony and memoirs, readers are introduced to a range of narrative forms and examples that highlight the complexity of narrative in relation to war. Approached from a multidisciplinary perspective, and taken together, analysis of these narratives contributes to our understanding of the causes, experience, dynamics and consequences of war, making it the ideal book for those interested in twentieth-century war history and the history of memory and narrative. Narratives Of War Considers The Way War And Battle Are Remembered And Narrated Across Space And Time In Europe In The Twentieth Century. The Book Reflects On How Narratives Are Generated And Deployed, And Their Function As Coping Mechanisms, Means Of Survival, Commemorative Gestures, Historical Records, And Evidence With Reference To A Variety Of Wars And Narratives Genres. Approached From A Multidisciplinary Perspective, And Taken Together, Analysis Of These Narratives Contributes To Our Understanding Of The Causes, Experience, Dynamics, And Consequences Of War, Making It The Ideal Book For Those Interested In Twentieth-century Military History And Memory And History-- A Tale Of Two Battles: Narrating Verdun And The Somme, 1916 / John Horne -- The Stories The First World War Inherited: Adaptations Of Napoleonic Veterans' Memoirs, 1814-1914 / Matilda Greig -- The Archive As Narrator? Narratives Of German Enemy Citizens In The Netherlands After 1945 / Marieke Oprel -- Of Triumph And Defeat: World War Ii And Its Historians In Post-war Germany / Christina Morina -- The Imagery Of War: Screening The Battlefield In The Twentieth Century / Frank Van Vree -- The War Books Controversy Revisited: First World War Novels And Veteran Memory / Dunja Dusanic -- War And Peace As A Paradoxical Coherence: How The European Union Uses The Remembrance Of The Great War To Construct European Identities / Peter Pichler -- History Wars In School Textbooks? The Massacres In Volhynia And Eastern Galicia In Polish History Textbooks Since 1989 / Sylwia Bobryk -- I Was Hurt And You Were Hurt Too: The Role Of Religion And Competing Narratives In The Reconciliation Process In Bosnia And Herzegovina / Marieke Zoodsma -- Hints Of Heroism, Traces Of Trauma: Trauma And Narrative Structure In Interviews With Dutch And English International Brigade Volunteers Of The Spanish Civil War / Tim Scheffe -- Digital Survival? Online Interview Portals And The Re-contextualization Of Holocaust Testimonies / Susan Hogervorst -- Remembering The Sternlager Of Bergen-belsen: Anecdotes, Humour And Poetry As Survival Strategies / Evelien Gans. Edited By Nanci Adler, Remco Ensel And Michael Wintle. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 6 List of Figures 9 Acknowledgements 10 Contributors 11 PART I: Narrative and the Story of War 16 1 Narratives of War in the Twentieth Century: An Introduction 18 2 A Tale of Two Battles: Narrating Verdun and the Somme, 1916 33 PART II: Constructing War Narratives 50 3 The Stories the First World War Inherited: Adaptations of Peninsular War Veterans’ Memoirs, 1814–1914 52 4 The Archive as Narrator? Narratives of German ‘Enemy Citizens’ in the Netherlands after 1945 66 5 Of Triumph and Defeat: World War II and its Historians in Post-war Germany 79 6 The Imagery of War: Screening the Battlee fi ld in the Twentieth Century 96 PART III: The Development and Deployment of War Narratives 114 7 The War Books Controversy Revisited: First World War Novels and Veteran Memory 116 8 War and Peace as a ‘Paradoxical Coherence’: How the European Union Uses the Remembrance of the Great War to Construct European Identities 131 9 History Wars in School Textbooks? The Massacres in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia in Polish History Textbooks since 1989 142 10 ‘I was Hurt and You were Hurt too’: The Role of Religion and Competing Narratives in the Reconciliation Process in Bosnia and Herzegovina 160 PART IV: Testimonies and Survivalist Narratives 178 11 Hints of Heroism, Traces of Trauma: Trauma and Narrative Structure in Interviews with Dutch and English International Brigade Volunteers of the Spanish Civil War 180 12 Digital Survival? Online Interview Portals and the Re-Contextualization of Holocaust Testimonies 195 13 Remembering the Sternlager of Bergen-Belsen: Anecdotes, Humour and Poetry as Survival Strategies 205 PART V: Conclusion 220 14 Twentieth-Century Narratives of War: Conclusions 222 Index 236 Narratives of War considers the way war and battle are remembered and narrated across space and time in Europe in the twentieth century. Multidisciplinary and using a range of examples, it is the ideal book for those interested in 20th-century military history and memory and history.