How do we remember women from World War II ? A study of the collective memory communicated through contemporary written sources around the question of women's role during the Second World War

Details

Supervisors

Arblaster, Paul

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [120] en communication multilingue, à finalité spécialisée: langues des affaires

Abstract

Public memory is the most significant way of remembering past events in contemporary society. There are now many resources and means to help people recall the past, such as the different roles taken by women during the Second World War. This thesis's main issue is thus to bring to light, through three contemporary written sources, the different ways in which these Second World War’s women are remembered and viewed in today's society. These three different sources are all biographies written by three different women authors, Julie Summers (Jambusters), Sarah Rose (D-Day Girls) and Katherine Sharp Landdeck (The Women with Silver Wings). They each address different sides and facets of the role of women in the Second World War. Therefore, this thesis focuses first on analysing how these women are remembered by the collective memory that is reflected in the three biographies and second on how this collective memory is conveyed and brought to the front of the public eye in current society.