https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ Theses Digitisation: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/research/enlighten/theses/digitisation/ This is a digitised version of the original print thesis. Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/
[email protected] The French experience of war and occupation, as remembered and commemorated during the Mitterrand years, 1981-1995. Ph.D thesis University of Glasgow, © Michael Martin, November 1999 m\®siTirGLASGOW imiv-Gop'/ 9- ABSTRACT My thesis assesses the state of the French collective memory of the Second World War, during the period from May 1981 until July 1995 (when the new president, Jacques Chirac, made his first public speech on the topic). It deals with the major themes thrown up by the intersection of subject matter and time scale, and also discusses the nature of collective memory and commemoration more generally. Particular attention is paid to the series of commemorations marking the fiftieth anniversaries of the crucial episodes of the war years. These fell between 1989 and 1995, roughly coinciding with François Mitterrand’s second septennat.