The Dynamics of Trauma, History and Memory: 'Memories' of the Massacre of Oradour-sur- Glane in Alsace

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I offer a project which seeks to investigate 'memories' of the Massacre of Oradour in Alsace. Scholars of French history have engaged with the case study of Oradour in a contemporary context of highly politicised memory-activism that has characterised the field since the 1990s.They have largely situated their works at the national level and endorse state-sanctioned commemoration of the site of the martyred village of Oradour as an 'official' lieu de mémoire. This project aims to shift the emphasis in the current literature on Oradour from the context of 'official' versus 'vernacular' narratives into a broader framework that seeks to engage with memory as 'ad-hoc' and 'multi- dimensional'. This will allow me to explore 'memory' gaps in this work that has 'leap-frogged' the pre-massacre relations between Alsace and Oradour (1940 evacuation trajectories) and their post-war relations. My project seeks to mobilise a range of source materials, engaging with research techniques from the humanities and social sciences. National histories tend to be black and white: who are the nation's 'winners' and losers'? If it is appropriate at all to speak of 'national memory' or 'collective remembrance', it manifests itself in public commemoration, which tends to occlude or marginalise other memories. So, instead of imagining one collective 'psyche' represented by the state, for the marginalised 'Alsatian' experience to emerge, this project aims to engage with social actors, their relations, their 'memories' at local and family level, their forms of expression, lobbying and interaction at the level of the Alsatian region.