Abstract
This chapter argues that the ‘syndrome of 1940’ (the set of symptoms of the traumatic effects of the defeat of 1940) is less visible than the well-known Vichy syndrome, because the painful memories of the defeat have been repressed. Moreover, the defeat of 1940 has never been commemorated by the French state. And yet the memory surfaces as the ever-present evidence of the humiliation felt by the French people. Will the new academic consensus on the causes of the military defeat temper this sense of humiliation? Will it heal the syndrome of 1940?
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Patrick Finney (2011) Remembering the Road to World War Two: International History, National Identity, Collective Memory (London: Routledge), 179.
- 2.
Robert Frank (2014) La hantise du déclin: La France de 1914 à 2014 (Paris: Belin), 203–221; Henry Rousso (1991) The Vichy Syndrome: History and Memory in France Since 1944 (Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press).
- 3.
See also Eric Conan and Henry Rousso (1998) Vichy: An Ever Present Past (Hanover, NH and London: University Press of New England).
- 4.
Richard J. Golsan (2006) ‘The Legacy of World War II: Mapping the Discourse of Memory’, in Richard Ned Lebow, Wulf Kansteiner, and Claudio Fogu (eds.), The Politics of Memory in Postwar Europe (Durham and London: Duke University Press), 73–101.
- 5.
Gilles Vergnon and Yves Santamaria (eds.) (2015) Le syndrome de 1940: Un trou noir mémoriel? (Paris: Riveneuve).
- 6.
Rpbert J. Young (1996) France and the Origins of the Second World War (Basingstoke: Macmillan), 42–43.
- 7.
Cited in Rousso, The Vichy Syndrome, 279.
- 8.
Stanley Hoffmann (1998) ‘The Trauma of 1940: A Disaster and Its Traces’, in Joel Blatt (ed.) The French Defeat of 1940: Reassessments (Providence and Oxford: Berghahn), 355–359.
- 9.
Robert Gildea (2009) ‘Eternal France: Crisis and National Self-Perception in France 1870–2005’, in Susana Carvalho and François Gemenne (eds.), Nations and Their Histories: Constructions and Representations (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan), 140.
- 10.
Frank , La Hantise, 203–221.
- 11.
Yves Santamaria , ‘France, où est ta défaite? Actualité de Mai-juin 1940 du GPRF à Georges Pompidou 1944–1974’, in Vergnon and Santamaria , Le syndrome de 1940, 117–134.
- 12.
Frank , La Hantise, 203–221.
- 13.
Gilles Vergnon, ‘“Nous sommes le 9 mai 1940”: Anamnèses récentes de la défaite de Mai-Juin 1940 (1980–2010)’, in Vergnon, Santamaria , Le syndrome de 1940, 135–154.
- 14.
Serge Barcellinin, ‘Les associations d’anciens combattants de 1940’, in Vergnon, Santamaria , Le syndrome de 1940, 165–194.
- 15.
Gilles Ragache (2010) La fin de la campagne de France: les combats oubliés de l’Armée du Centre 15 juin-25 juin 1940 (Paris: Economica), VII–VIII.
- 16.
Quoted in Julian Jackson (2003) The Fall of France: The Nazi Invasion of 1940 (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 229.
- 17.
Geoff Eley (1997) ‘Foreword’, in Martin Evans and Ken Lunn (eds.), War and Memory in the Twentieth Century (Oxford: Berg), ix.
- 18.
Martin S. Alexander (1992) The Republic in Danger: General Maurice Gamelin and the Politics of French Defence 1933–1940 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 378.
- 19.
Jay Winter and Emmanuel Sivan (eds.) (1999) War and Remembrance in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 1, 8.
- 20.
Finney , Remembering the Road, 14–15; Stefan Berger, ‘The Comparative History of National Historiographies in Europe: Some Methodological Reflections and Preliminary Results’, in Carvalho, Gemenne, Nations and Their Histories, 32.
- 21.
John Breuilly , ‘Nationalism and the Making of National Pasts’, in Carvalho and Gemenne. Nations and Their Histories, 21.
- 22.
Jacques Belle (2007) La Défaite française: un désastre évitable 1: Le 16 mai 1940: il fallait rester en Belgique (Paris: Economica), IX.
- 23.
Maurice Vaïsse (2015) ‘Conclusions: Un trou mémoriel?’, in Vergnon, Santamaria , Le syndrome de 1940, 297–301.
Bibliography
Alexander M. (1992) The Republic in Danger: General Maurice and the Politics of French Defence 1933–1940 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Belle J. (2007/2014) La Défaite française: un désastre évitable, volume 1 Le 16 mai 1940: il fallait rester en Belgique; volume 2 Le 16 juin 1940: Non à l’armistice! (Paris: Economica).
Blatt J. (ed.) (1998) The French Defeat of 1940: Reassessments (Providence and Oxford: Berghahn).
Carvalho S. and F. Gemenne (eds.) (2009) Nations and Their Histories: Constructions and Representations (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan).
Conan E. and H. Rousso (1998) Vichy: An Ever Present Past (Hanover, NH and London: University Press of New England).
Evans M. and K. Lunn (eds.) (1997) War and Memory in the Twentieth Century (Oxford: Berg).
Finney P. (2011) Remembering the Road to World War Two: International History, National Identity, Collective Memory (London: Routledge).
Frank R. (2014) La hantise du déclin: La France de 1914 à 2014 (Paris: Belin).
Jackson J. (2003) The Fall of France: The Nazi Invasion of 1940 (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Lebow R., W. Kansteiner, and C. Fogu (eds.) (2006) The Politics of Memory in Postwar Europe (Durham and London: Duke University Press).
Ragache G. (2010) La Fin de la Campagne de France: les combats oubliés de l’Armée du Centre 15 juin-25 juin 1940 (Paris: Economica).
Rousso H. (1986) Le Syndrome de Vichy (Paris: Seuil).
Rousso H. (1991) The Vichy Syndrome: History and Memory in France Since 1944 (Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press).
Vergnon, Gilles and Yves Santamaria (eds.) (2015) Le syndrome de 1940: Un trou noir mémoriel? (Paris: Riveneuve).
Winter J. and E. Sivan (eds.) (1999) War and Remembrance in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Young R. (1996) France and the Origins of the Second World War (Basingstoke: Macmillan).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Carswell, R. (2019). Memory and Memorialisation. In: The Fall of France in the Second World War. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03955-4_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03955-4_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-03954-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-03955-4
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)