Nico Wouters
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- Nico Wouters - Between 1944and2019,thehistoryoftheGermanoccupation ofBelgiumduringtheSecondWorldWarhasbeenanobjectof political mobilization,a source for collective memory construc- tion,amoralyardstick,aeldfullofacademicopportunitiesanda sourceforcommercialgain.Belgianhistorianshavebeenauthori- tativegatekeepersofthepast,activeparticipantsinvolatilecultural processesorfrustratedbystandersonthesidelinesofpublicmem- ories.ThisarticletacklesBelgianhistoriographyandhistoriansof theSecondWorldWaragainsttheirchangingsocietalbackdrop. Itdoesnotgiveanexhaustivebibliographicaloverviewnoraholis- ticanalysisofpublicmemoriesbutratheranimpressionisticbirds eyeviewon75yearsofwritingthehistoryoftheSecondWorld WarinBelgium. seemed to apply the patriotic narrative tropes of the First World War (WWI) national suffering and sacrice, military heroism and victory to therecentGermanoccupation6.Thatthiswasnot an unwise approach was proven by the projects The single mostfrequentlyused term to describe broadpoliticalandprivatesupport7.Greenlighted the legacy of the Second World War (WWII) in by the ministry of Education, all political parties Belgium is probably divided. This mostly indi- (excepttheCommunistParty)supportedtheprop- catesthefailureofanyactor,theBelgianstatemost osition of law for this new national World Wars notably,tocreateanythingresemblingadominant InstituteinJanuary1945.Thetextwassteepedin nationalnarrativebasedontheexperienceofNazi aninclusive patriotism,with theoverarching aim occupation.The Dutch with a state sponsored ofcivicnationaleducation.Afteranoverwhelming WWIIinstitutecreatedasearlyasMay1945are approvalquiteauniquedisplayofunityamong often presented as Belgiums counter example2. Catholicsandseculars,FlemishandFrancophones, Nevertheless,BelgiumalmostfollowedtheDutch progressiveandconservativesthegovernmenton model. Shortly before the liberation, the Brussels 18May1945conrmedthedecision. historianSuzanneTassier(clandestinely)calledfor the creation of a Belgian World War Museum Thisdecisivenessprovedshort-lived.In1946,the andthisideawassupportedbyhercolleaguesat governmentrefusedtoapprovethisnewmuseums the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)3.Thatthis funding,citingbudgetaryreasons.InatypicalBel- new national institute would merge both World gianmodelofdecision-making,theinstitutewas Warsmadehistoricalsensebutwasmostlyastra- putinLimboforseveralyears,givingitampletime tegic choice4. A viable national institute had to towitherawaybyitselfbeforethe(semi-)ofcial transcendpoliticallydivisiveclaimsforexample decisiontopulltheplugwastakeninJuly19538. ofsomeresistancemovementsandneededtobe inclusiveandvagueenoughtogetpoliticalsupport The main reason behind this quick reversal in for an idea that clearly came from leftist secular 1945wastheemergingRoyalAffair,theexplo- circlesinBrussels.Inshort:itneededtheunifying sive political crisis that turned supporters of the legitimacyoftheFirstWorldWarspatrioticlegacy5. newmuseumintoercepoliticalopponentsover- Indeed,thenationalpoliticalelitein1945simply night.Butthiswasnottheonlyreason.Theexpe- 1. TheeditingofthisarticlewasnancedbytheUniversityofLiège(Unité de recherche Traverses). Iamalsoindebted tothecommentsmadeonadraftofthisarticleby(inalphabeticalorder)KoenAerts,FrancisBalace,BrunoBenvindo, BrunoDeWever,ChantalKesteloot,CatherineLanneau,DirkLuytenandEtienneVerhoeyen. 2. TheDutchinitiative-theRijksinstituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie(StateInstituteforWarDocumentation)wasfollowed byGermanyin1950withtheDeutsches Institut für die Geschichte der national-sozialistische Zeit, andinFrancein1951with its Comité d’Histoire de la Deuxième Guerre Mondiale.’ 3. Suzanne TaSSier, LhistoiredelaGuerreMondiale.PourunMuséedelaGuerreMondialeetunOfcedeDocumentation contemporaine, Bruxelles,1944.AmongotherstheyoungPirennisthistorianJeanStengersandthemoreestablished Georges Smets, director of the Institut de Sociologie Solvay,wereearlysupporters. 4. ItwasalsobasedonanexistinginstitutestudyingtheFirstWorldWar,thatpublishedthe‘Revue belge des livres, documents et archives de la guerre 1914-1918’ between1924-1953. 5. Marnix Beyen, Oorlog en Verleden. Nationale geschiedenis in België en Nederland, 1938 -1947,Amsterdam,2002,p.246-251. 6. Emergingcommemorativepracticeswouldquicklyechoandreinforcethis.Thetraditionalnarrativeofnationalheroism andsacricewas,inaslightlymodernizedform,appliedtoWWIIinschooltextbooksuntilthe1950s.elS WiTTe, Voor vrede, democratie, wereldburgerschap en Europa : Belgische historici en de naoorlogse politiek-ideologische projecten (1944-1956), Kapellen,2009.(Reference:p.247). 7. Marnix Beyen, Oorlog en verleden (…), p.251. 8. Foryears,visitorscouldvisittheExposition permanente de documents relatifs à l’histoire de BelgiqueonWednesdaysand Saturdaystoviewsomearchivaldocuments.PhiliP Van Den heuVel, Geschiedenis van een Federale Wetenschappelijke Instelling : Het Sudie- en Documentatiecentrum Oorlog en Hedendaagse Maatschappij,UnpublishedMA-Thesis,UGent,2010(p.21-32). rienceofWWIIhadfurther weakenedthe foun- governance and remained integrated in existing dations of the Belgian nation-project9.The new administrations.Assets of abolished collaboration institutewasalsowoefullyunderprepared.Where administrations including their archives were in the Netherlands the creation of the RIOD in putunderstate-sequester.Theyweretiedtonan- May 1945 had been the result of difcult pre- cialretributions,sotheseassetsandarchivescould paratory talks between major Dutch academics, staythereformanyyears15.TheBelgianstatealso thisnewBelgianinstitutesimplylackedsufcient created(orexpanded)awholesetofnewadmini- academic consensus10.Mostnotably,therelation- strations, services and commissions after the shipwiththisupstartinstitutionandboththeState liberation to manage reconstruction and com- Archives as well as the well-established Royal pensateforwardamages,topunishandsanction ArmyMuseumhadremainedtooambiguous. collaborators and war criminals (through military courts),tosearchformissingpersonsandtorepatri- As pre-war elites returned as post-war elites, ateBelgiansabroad,toofferofcialrecognitionfor their inability to transcend the traditional divides resistanceghtersandfortherestitutionofwarvic- returnedaswell.Usingtheresistanceasabasisfor tims.AmongothersweretheBelgianWarCrimes a renewed national narrative was unattainable11. Commission (BCWC, created on 21 Decem- The Belgian state applied its traditional non-in- ber 1944), the Central Service for War Crimes terventionist mode of government to history and (SCWC)and the BelgianCommissariatforRepa- memorypolicy,meaningitdelegatedresponsibility triation(June1944)whichwouldquicklybecome tointermediatebodiescreatingasoon-to-befrag- the Ministry for War Victims16. This transitional mented eld of separate memory communities12. governance collected a mass of occupation-ar- Afterthebotchedattempttocreateanewnational chivesbut also creatednew archives themselves. institute in 1945,the RoyalAffair also effectively Forsome issues suchas missingpersons this destroyedanypoliticalwilltoengagethestatein data-collectionwouldcontinuefordecades. grandWWIIprogrammesformanyyears13. AnationalWorldWarsInstitutecreatedin1945 The many (semi-)state structures created during mighthaveservedasacentralgatheringpointfor theoccupationwereabolishedbythedecree-law these essential WWII archives. As Belgiums rst of5May194414.Manyarchivesofoccupation-ad- archivallawwasonlyvotedin1955,alegalvoid ministrationshoweverwerenecessaryforpost-war regarding recentpublic archives wasperpetuated 9. GuSTaVe Van GeyT, Felix rouSSeau, GeorGe SMeTS,TheFlemingsandtheWalloons,inAnnals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, CCXLVII,september1946,p.131. 10. anneMieke Van BockxMeer, De oorlog verzameld. Het ontstaan van de collectie van het NIOD, Amsterdam,2014. 11. Marnix Beyen, Oorlog en verleden (…), p.264.Indeed,thebasisforthistraditionalpatriotismwasweakin1945and wouldratherquicklybereplacedbyamodernpost-1945memorialnarrativewherepatrioticuniformitywasreplaced bylocalismanddiversity.MartinConway,TheEnd(s)ofMemory.MemoriesoftheSecondWorldWarinBelgium, in JBHXLII,2012nr.2/3,p.170-187. 12. Bruno BenVinDo and eVerT PeeTerS,Lamémoiredelasecondeguerremondialecommerégulationsociale. UneperspectiveBelge,inJBH, 2012,nr. 2/3,p.10-19. 13. JoSé GoToViTch,ProblèmesdelhistoriographiedelaBelgiquependantlaSecondeGuerreMondiale,inSeptentrion, 3,1976,p.6;PieTer laGrou,Historiographiedeguerreethistoriographiedutempsprésent:cadresinstitutionnelsen Europeoccidentale(1945-2000),inBulletin - Comité international d’histoire de la 2ème guerre mondiale, 2008,p.191-215 (referencep.203). 14. Onthe5May1945lawanditsimplementation:luc VanDeWeyer,Oorlogsinstellingenliquideren.Devereffeningsadmini- stratienaSeptember1944endearchiefvorming.Eenverkennendonderzoek,inMichel Van Der eycken en erik houTMan(eds.), Lach : liber amicorum Coppens Herman, Brussel,2007,p.451-481.Seealso:Ibidem,Dearchievenvanhetministerie vanFinanciën,in Pierre-alain Tallier(ed.), In de nasleep van de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Beschikbare bronnen en stand van het onderzoek,Brussel,2011,p.57-75. 15. Thecentraladministrationresponsibleforliquidationwasitselfabolishedonlybytheendofthe1960s. 16. PaTrick neForS, Inventaris van het archief van de Dienst voor de Oorlogsslachtoffers, Brussel,1997.Seealso:Maurice-Pierre herreManS, Personnes déplacées (rapatriés, disparus, réfugiés), Marie-Julienne,1948. fortenyearsaftertheliberation.Andevenin1955, archivesoftheCentral-CommissariateforPrices theBelgianStateArchivesremainedmostlyfocused and Wages.This archive was