Decades Later

TL;DR: This article examined the results of two empirical studies that examined how people from 12 different nations remember World War II and found that participants from Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States were asked to nominate the 10 most important events of World War Two.

Abstract: Abstract World War II as a global war had an impact upon almost all nations. The events that took place during the war and their consequences are still being debated today, decades later. This chapter discusses the results of two empirical studies that examined how people from 12 different nations remember World War II. Participants from Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States were asked to nominate the 10 most important events of World War II. The results show great cross-national overlap in events considered to be the most important ones, but they also show striking differences. In particular, Russian participants’ narrative seems quite different from that of other nationals. This chapter discusses potential ways in which national memories may come to adapt to a particular perspective over time but also how persistent idiosyncratic memories of a nation’s past may serve national identity.