Open AccessDe zoektocht naar het midden - Nieuwe perspectieven op de herinnering aan de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Vlaanderen en Duitsland
Author(s) -
Jan Lensen
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
internationale neerlandistiek
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2214-5729
pISSN - 1876-9071
DOI - 10.5117/in2014.2.lens
Subject(s) - flemish , narrative , blame , german , silence , humanities , spanish civil war , sociology , history , art , art history , literature , political science , law , aesthetics , psychology , social psychology , archaeology
This essay examines contemporary rewritings of World War II memory narratives. Drawing on the examples of Flughunde (1995) by German author Marcel Beyer and Marcel (1999) by Flemish author Erwin Mortier, I analyse the ways in which both authors address the complex processes of the transfer of guilt and perpetratorship from one generation to the next, which have marked public discourses in both national collectives in the aftermath of the war. This analysis shows how both authors challenge such habitual transfer, instead insisting on critical distance, empathic witnessing, and narrative integration. In this manner, they enable a fresh and productive approach of the past that moves beyond guilty silence, assignation of blame, or even calls for amnesty – this stance notably sets them apart from previous writings on the war.