Historical Inequalities in Commemoration: The Imperial War Graves Commission and the Indian Dead during and following the First World War

该项目将首次对IWGC对待一战中死去的印第安人的方式进行研究。自1917年成立以来，IWGC/CWGC一直以其在纪念活动中的平等承诺而自豪。不仅在他们的坟墓和纪念碑上没有军衔的区别，而且在殖民地、自治领和英国大都市的死者之间也没有区别。他们都是作为大英帝国的成员而死的，帝国通过IWGC，将平等地纪念他们。然而，电视纪录片《被遗忘的：英国被遗忘的战争英雄》（C4:2019）声称，IWGC并不总是符合其成立标准，凯尼恩报告（1918）将其总结为“所有人，无论他们的军衔或公民生活中的地位如何，在他们的坟墓里都应该得到平等对待”。《被遗忘的人》表明，东非成千上万的殖民地死者没有得到名字的纪念，许多埋葬他们尸体的墓地可能已被遗弃。因此，帝国的意识形态似乎塑造了纪念活动，将非洲军队和劳工与白人英国士兵在死亡和生活中分开。作为回应，CWGC成立了一个委员会，调查第一次世界大战后全球历史纪念不平等现象，并于2021年4月发表了《审查历史纪念不平等现象特别委员会报告》。报告发现，在一战中死去的45000 - 54000人（主要是印第安人和非洲人）受到了不平等的对待——一些人被集体安葬在纪念碑上，而不是葬在单独的坟墓里，还有一些人（被记录为失踪）的名字被记录在登记册上，而不是刻在石头上。此外，特别委员会估计，有11.6万至35万死者可能根本没有得到纪念。在某些情况下，在非洲、中东和印度，帝国意识形态被允许影响IWGC的运作，死者的“文明状态”往往决定了他们在死亡和纪念活动中的待遇。《报告》还发现，近年来，在发现纪念活动中的不平等现象时，总会纠正这些问题，但“虽然发现了问题，并悄悄地纠正了问题，但可以说，总会并没有去寻找问题。”委员会的建议包括：继续寻找未被纪念的死者，进一步了解这些“艰难的历史”，并对其保持透明；将恢复的名字刻在实物纪念碑上；考虑数字纪念碑；以及开展参与和教育计划。与在纪念活动中代表性不足的社区密切合作（Connelly和Noakes为CWGC的参与和教育团队提供建议）。该《批评性发展报告》将扩展特别委员会的工作，特别委员会的工作重点是第一次世界大战之后IWGC在非洲和中东的工作。它将利用CWGC的档案，国家档案馆的资料，大英图书馆的印度办公室，墓地和新教堂的记录来研究西线和其他地方对印度死者的纪念处理。第一次世界大战结束后，西线是IWGC工作的重点，大约4653名没有坟墓的印度士兵和劳工被纪念在法国新教堂的印度纪念碑上。印度帝国派往西线的14万人中有8550多人阵亡。然而，印度军队为欧洲以外的战区提供了另外六支远征军，对这些部队死者的处理将提供与西线死者的处理进行比较的来源。

The project will provide the first study of the IWGC's treatment of the Indian dead of the Great War. Since its creation in 1917 the IWGC/CWGC has prided itself on its commitment to equality in commemoration. Not only was there no distinction of military rank in their graves and memorials, there was also no distinction between the dead of the colonies, the dominions and the British metropole. All had died as members of the British Empire, and the Empire, through the IWGC, would commemorate them all equally. However, the television documentary The Unremembered: Britain's Forgotten War Heroes (C4:2019) claimed that the IWGC had not always lived up to its founding standards, summarized in the Kenyon Report (1918) as 'all, whatever their military rank or position in civil life, should have equal treatment in their graves'. The Unremembered demonstrated that many thousands of the colonial dead in east Africa had not been commemorated by name and that many of the cemeteries that contained their bodies may have been abandoned. Imperial ideologies thus appeared to have shaped commemoration, separating African troops and labourers from the white British soldiers in death as in life.In response, the CWGC formed a committee to investigate global historical inequalities in commemoration after the Great War, publishing the Report of the Special Committee to review historical inequalities in commemoration in April 2021. The Report found that between 45,000-54,000 (primarily Indian and African) dead of the Great War had been treated unequally - some commemorated collectively on memorials rather than in individual graves, and others (recorded as missing) named in registers rather than in stone. Additionally, the Special Committee estimated that between 116,000 and 350,000 dead may not have been commemorated at all. In some instances, across Africa, the Middle East and India, imperial ideologies were allowed to shape the operations of the IWGC, with the perceived 'state of civilisation' of the dead often determining their treatment in death and commemoration. The Report also found that in recent years when the CWGC uncovered inequalities in commemoration it had corrected these, but that 'despite identifying problems and quietly putting them right, it is fair to say that the CWGC has not gone looking for them.' Among its recommendations was the suggestion that the CWGC should continue to search for the non-commemorated dead, seek to further understand and be transparent about these 'difficult histories', that recovered names should be inscribed on physical memorials, that digital memorials should be considered, and that the CWGC should engage in a programme of engagement and education, working closely with communities under-represented in commemoration (Connelly and Noakes have advised the engagement and education team at the CWGC).This CDA will extend the work of the Special Committee, which focused on the work of the IWGC across Africa and the Middle East in the Great War's aftermath. It will draw on the archives of the CWGC, material in the National Archives, the Indian Office at the British Library and the cemetery and records at Neuve Chapelle to examine the commemorative treatment of the Indian dead on the Western Front and elsewhere. The Western Front was the focus of the IWGC's work in the aftermath of the Great War, and some 4,653 Indian troops and labourers who have no known grave are commemorated on the Indian memorial at Neuve Chapelle, France. Over 8,550 of the 140,000 men sent by Imperial India to the Western Front were killed. However, the Indian Army provided another six expeditionary forces for theatres outside Europe, and treatment of the dead of these units will provide the sources for comparison with the treatment of those who died on the Western Front.