Please sign in to post.

War Tourism: Second World War France, from Defeat and Occupation to the Creation of Heritage

Posted by (northern CA) on

I'm not trying to hog the recommended reading section, honestly, but I think we all notice that a number of our Forum mainstays are keenly interested in war history, and especially in Germany and France.

I was lucky enough to sit in on several working group meetings with Prof. Bertram, author of this 2018 book on war tourism in France during the German occupation, and it occurs to me that his writing might be especially interesting to some corners of our community here.

https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501715877/war-tourism/#bookTabs=1

https://academic.oup.com/cornell-scholarship-online/book/18233

"Contrary to what is often assumed, tourism in France did not stop with the war. Thousands of German military personnel were given tours in occupied France and French civilians continued to take vacations as well. Many turned out with tourist gazes to watch General de Gaulle march down the Champs-Élysées at the time of the Liberation and sites frequently acquired new significance as in Normandy where Arromanches changed from a spa village to a war tourist destination. Based on French and German archival materials, memoirs, films, the press, and personal interviews, this book addresses the conflicts and competition between the 19th and early 20th century French tourism narratives and the German-dominated tourism version of the Second World War that replaced it, followed by the Gaullist/Resistance accounts after 1944."

"Postwar memory tourists brought home memories of Normandy and other sites that informed their own understandings of war. Narratives changed but war tourism remains a significant contributor to the French economy."

Posted by
1056 posts

This is very interesting to me, thanks for posting. I’m sorry to say none of the libraries in my area have it and it’s $30 on Amazon so I’ll have to ponder whether to purchase. The fact that Germans came as tourists during occupation doesn’t surprise me, but being a German tourist as de Gaulle rolled into Paris in ‘44? That would amaze me.

Posted by
3408 posts

@Mark, your link to the wikipedia story on the Edict of Potsdam has the merit of reminding us of the Edict of Nantes, which I was able to see in person at the national archives in Paris last year at about this time.

On the other hand, the article perpetuates the Protestant perspective on the resettlement of parts of Prussia by heretical and acquisitive groups who sought advantages in the wake of demographic changes at that era. I say 'perspective' rather than 'propaganda' to avoid indelicacy. The article highlights the haste of the composition and distribution of the relevant edicts in order to paper over the reality of the time -- the documents were post-hoc justifications for land and property confiscation by the Calvinists.

The Edict of Potsdam was a measure to attract immigrants and bolster a state, while the earlier Edict of Restitution was an attempt by the Holy Roman Emperor to reclaim lands lost in the previous century for the Catholic Church.

Edict of Potsdam (1685)

Purpose: To attract skilled Huguenot refugees who were fleeing eastern France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes

Key provisions:

•Offered land for settlement and tax breaks for ten years.
•Provided financial aid for building new homes.
•Permitted settlers to claim ownership of 'abandoned' (i.e. poorly defended) estates.
•Granted the right to hold religious services in their native French and establish their own schools.
•Assured the Huguenots the same legal rights as the Elector's native subjects.

The Edict's rationalization was based on strengthening Brandenburg-Prussia's economy and population by attracting a large number of skilled Protestant immigrants who had been expelled from France.

For more on how Prussia turned Protestant, see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Prussia#:~:text=5%20Further%20reading-,Overview,formally%20adopted%20Lutheranism%20in%201525.

This topic has been automatically closed due to a period of inactivity.