Deportation, Genocide, and Memorial Politics: Remembrance and Memory in Postwar France, 1943-2015
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University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020- 2021 Deportation, Genocide, and Memorial Politics: Remembrance and Memory in Postwar France, 1943-2015 Rachel Williams University of Central Florida Part of the Cultural History Commons, Jewish Studies Commons, and the Public History Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd2020 University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020- by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Williams, Rachel, "Deportation, Genocide, and Memorial Politics: Remembrance and Memory in Postwar France, 1943-2015" (2021). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-. 783. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd2020/783 DEPORTATION, GENOCIDE, AND MEMORIAL POLITICS: REMEMBRANCE AND MEMORY IN POSTWAR FRANCE, 1943-2015 by RACHEL L. WILLIAMS B.A. University of Central Florida, 2014 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of History in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Summer Term 2021 Major Professor: Amelia H. Lyons © 2021 Rachel L. Williams ii ABSTRACT This thesis examines how the remembrance of deportation from France during the Second World War impacted the creation of two memorials in Paris in the postwar years. The two memorials, located just over 500 meters apart in the center of Paris and inaugurated within seven years of one another, physically embody each of these narratives. The Tomb of the Unknown Jewish Martyr, created by the Contemporary Jewish Documentation Center (CDJC) in 1956, represents the narrative of Jewish persecution and genocide throughout Europe during the Second World War. Expanded in 2005, the Tomb is now known as the Shoah Memorial and is an internationally recognized research center. The Memorial of Deportation, created by the Réseau du Souvenir in 1962, exemplifies the narrative of French deportees; typically made up of resisters and political enemies of the Vichy regime, and represents French universalism – downplaying the difference in victim identity. This thesis observes how the deportee narratives aligns with the postwar Resistance myth – which sought to unify the nations after war, defeat, occupation, and near civil war by papering over French culpability – influenced the memorialization of the deportee experience as well as how memorialization changed over time. It argues that the Memorial of Deportation maintained a national narrative, focusing on French victims regardless of the political or religious beliefs, wanting to highlight universal French victimhood, while the other, the Tomb of the Unknown Jewish Martyr, sought to commemorate the millions of Jews persecuted and targeted for destruction despite the canonization of the myth as history in France and fought to hold France responsible for its role in the genocide. iii To my mental health Girl, you tried. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and most importantly, I have to thank my advisor, Dr. Amelia Lyons, for helping me throughout this entire process. From the initial mention of the Memorial of Deportation which got me interested in this topic, to the constant edits that may or may not have caused a few mental breakdowns, it has all made me a better researcher, writer, and overall person. The constant help and encouragement you have given me throughout the years is invaluable. Thank you for always advocating for me, for helping me find funding, for pushing me to be my best, and for inspiring me to be a strong, educated woman. I am so grateful to have had you behind me during this experience, ‘thank you’ does not feel adequate enough. I am forever grateful to be fortunate enough to call you my advisor. Thank you to the members on my thesis committee, Dr. Caroline Cheong, and Dr. Ezekiel Walker. Thank you both for agreeing to be members on this project and for your valuable points of view. Additionally, thank you both for your enjoyable classes. Dr. Cheong, your public history class helped me learn new perspectives in teaching history in abstract ways to a variety of audiences, which I hope becomes useful in my future career. Dr. Walker, thank you for your incredibly interesting classes on African history, and for your absolutely joyous personality. You never fail to put a smile on my face. I also must give a huge thank you to Patricia Farless. Having the opportunity to be your research and teaching assistant in the last semesters of this program has been immensely helpful and enjoyable. Your eagerness to help me learn the ropes in teaching history in new ways has inspired me more than you know. I cannot thank you enough for advocating for me, getting me funding in my last semester, and actively helping me find possible career options after v graduation. Your constant encouragement and understanding has put my nervous mind at ease, which is no easy task. I am incredibly grateful to have had your help during this program. I cannot thank you enough. I also have to thank those that have endured this graduate program with me throughout the years. Matt Patsis and Jim Stoddard, I am so happy to have met both of you in this program. Thank you so much for talking me off many cliffs in this experience, guiding me through processes and readings I did not fully comprehend, and making light of difficult situations. Your friendship has been so valuable to me. And Jim, thank you for taking those photos of the Memorial of Deportation before I had the opportunity to go. They have been incredibly helpful. To Quintella Greene, Anna Kephart, Elizabeth Klements, Jessie Oldham, Rhiannon O’Neil, Tim Dorsch, Sharon Rodriguez, and Marie Oury, thank you for your conversations, encouragement, and overall friendship. The process of graduate school and writing a thesis have been the hardest things I have ever done in my life, but all of you have made it bearable. Graduate school would not have been at all possible if not for my family. To my mom and dad, thank you for believing in me, even when I did not believe in myself. Thank you for always pushing me to be my best. And thank you for supporting me, emotionally and financially, when I needed it most. I am sorry this process took me so long. To my sister, Mindy, thank you for being my confidant, my biggest cheerleader, and my best friend. To my boyfriend, Randy, thank you for sticking by my side through all of this, for encouraging me to finish when I wanted to quit, and for investing in my education. To my dogs, Baron and Sage, thank you for bringing me joy when I took breaks from writing. And finally, I have to thank my Uncle Bill and Aunt Marilyn. Thank you both for believing in me from day one, taking me in when I first started college when I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, and for inspiring me to continue my vi education beyond the undergraduate level. Aunt Marilyn, thank you for accompanying me to Paris to do research for this thesis. Your presence made me comfortable in a country I had never visited before. That trip was the best time of my life. You are the person I want to be when I grow up. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ x INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 Historical Background................................................................................................................. 5 Historiography ............................................................................................................................. 7 Terminology .............................................................................................................................. 14 Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 15 Organization .............................................................................................................................. 17 CHAPTER 1: THE VICHY REGIME AND POSTWAR ORGANIZATIONS, 1940-1955 ....... 19 Targeted Peoples under Vichy .................................................................................................. 20 Postwar memorial organizations ............................................................................................... 28 Center of Contemporary Jewish Documentation................................................................... 28 Réseau du Souvenir ............................................................................................................... 34 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 38 CHAPTER 2: POSTWAR MEMORIALS AND THE POLITICS OF MEMORIAL CREATION, 1955-1962 ............................................................................................................... 39 Invisible Thread: The Resistance Myth .................................................................................... 40 Tomb of the Unknown Jewish Martyr (CDJC) ......................................................................... 43 Memorial of Deportation (Réseau du Souvenir) ......................................................................