Right-Wing Challenges to Cosmopolitan Memory in Western Europe

Abstract

Abstract This chapter examines four cases of memory distortion masked as patriotism and “setting the record straight” in Western Europe. The focus is on contestation of memory of three wartime events: the bombing of Dresden in February 1945, the liberation of northern Italy from Nazi control in April 1945, and the roundup of Jews in Paris by French authorities in July of 1942. The examination also includes a controversial commemoration not centered on a single event but rather on a specific group: Austrian war veterans, including combat units in Nazi Germany’s army. All four commemorations have been targeted by groups that wish to diminish the importance of Holocaust-centered memory and that seek to whitewash the fascist or collaborationist past. Memory manipulations by far-right actors often contain an explicit electoral challenge to ruling parties and mainstream governments and an implicit challenge to liberal democratic values.