EUROPE INSIGHT
The bright future of memory
Olivier Wieviorka professor at the École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay , author of La mémoire désunie . Le souvenir politique des années sombres , de la Libération à nos jours ( Paris , Le Seuil , Points-Histoire , 2010 ).
The memory of the Second World War clearly remains very much alive . To give just one example , the conflict triggered in Ukraine on 24 February 2022 by Vladimir Putin explicitly evoked the ghosts of the Great Patriotic War , with the master of the Kremlin aiming to “ denazify ” his neighbour .
The significance of memory-related issues in today ’ s world results first of all from the harsh experiences of the people living between 1939 and 1945 ( or as far back as 1937 , if we include the Marco Polo Bridge incident and the Japanese conquest of China ). The Second World War is indeed characterised by incredible violence unleashed on the world . An unprecedented phenomenon , this violence primarily struck civilians , victims of the extermination undertaken by the Nazis , the enslavement of millions of workers in Asia and Europe , the merciless repression imposed by totalitarian regimes and massive bombing by the Axis and Allied Powers . This war was also first and foremost framed as one of nationalism . Instead of fighting in the name of Marx or Lenin , the communists in both Russia and China put a damper on their red dogma and chose to exalt the nation , as confirmed by Stalin ’ s famous speech of 3 July 1941 . Therefore , in their intimate circles , the survivors of the great ordeal and their descendants hold on to an experienced memory of the Second World War that is passed down to future generations intact or distorted . Some memories , notes the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami “ refuse to sink into oblivion , no matter how much time has passed and regardless of the fate that life has in store for us . These
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Observing Memories Issue 7