Politics of retribution in Europe: World War II and its aftermath

Book abstract:

The presentation of Europe's immediate historical past has conventionally focussed on occupation and collaboration in World War II, wartime resistance and post-war renewal. Within this framework, the fact that not only were the majority of people in Hitler's Europe not resistance fighters but millions actively co-operated with and many millions more rather easily accommodated to Nazi rule has often been overshadowed. Moreover, after the war, those who judged former collaborators were sometimes themselves former collaborators and many people became innocent victims of retribution. Nonetheless, the process of retribution was a historically unique effort to purify the continent of the many sins Europeans had committed. This book sheds light on the collective amnesia that overtook European governments and peoples regarding their own responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity - an amnesia that has only recently begun to dissipate as a result of often painful searching across the continent.

In a collection of essays, a group of scholars unravel the moral and political choices facing European governments in the war's aftermath: how to punish the guilty, how to decide who was guilty of what, how to convert often unspeakable and conflicting war experiences and memories into serviceable, even uplifting accounts of national history. These scholars explore how people tried, be it successfully or unsuccessfully to overcome the drama of the immediate past. Through their comparative and transnational emphasis, the division between eastern and western Europe is also brought to the future, highlighting its origins both in the war and in post-war domestic and international affairs.

Contributors are Brad Abrams, Martin Conway, Sarah Farmer, Luc Huyse, László Karsai, Mark Mazower, and Peter Romijn, as well as the editors.

István Deák is Seth Low Professor of History at Columbia University, Jan T. Gross is Professor of Politics and European Studies at New York University and Tony Judt is Erich Maria Remarque Professor of European Studies at New York University.