Modern military history, inspired by social and cultural historical approaches, increasingly puts the national histories of the Second World War to the test. New questions and methods are focusing on aspects of war and violence that have long been neglected. What shaped people’s experiences and memories? What differences and what similarities existed in Eastern and Western Europe? How did the political framework influence the individual and the collective interpretations of the war? Finally, what are the benefits of Europeanizing the history of the Second World War? Experts from Belgium, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, and Russia discuss these and other questions in this comprehensive volume.

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Chapter 1. A New Perspective on the War
Henry Rousso

Chapter 2. Conceptualizing the Occupations of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands (1933–1944)
Benoît Majerus

Chapter 3. The Role of the War in National Societies: The Examples of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands
Chantal Kesteloot

Chapter 4. Myths and Realities of the “People’s War” in Britain
John Ramsden

Chapter 5. “We Can Take It!” Britain and the Memory of the Home front in the Second World War
Mark Connelly

Chapter 6. Experience and Memory: The Second World War in Poland
Piotr Madajczyk

Chapter 7. Remembering and Researching the War: The Soviet and Russian Experience
Sergei Kudryashov

Chapter 8. Bombing and Land War in Italy: Military Strategy, Reactions, and Collective Memory
Gabriella Gribaudi

Chapter 9. Italy as Occupier in the Balkans: Remembrances and War Crimes after 1945
Filippo Focardi

Chapter 10. Brest under Bombardment (1940–1944): Being in War
Pierre Le Goïc

Chapter 11. Experiences of War, Memories of War, and Political Behavior: The Example of the French Communist Party
Philippe Buton

Chapter 12. The Air War, the Public, and Cycles of Memory
Dietmar Süß

Chapter 13. The Long Shadows of the Second World War: The Impact of Experiences and Memories of War on West German Societies
Axel Schildt

Chapter 14. The War in Postwar Society: The Role of the Second World War in Public and Private Spheres in the Soviet Occupation Zone and Early GDR
Dorothee Wierling

Chapter 15. Violence and Victimhood: Looking Back at the World Wars in Europe
Richard Bessel

Chapter 16. The Meanings of the Second World War in Contemporary European History
Jörg Echternkamp and Stefan Martens

Notes on Contributors
Selected Bibliography
Index