Peter Leese and Jason Crouthamel, editors, Traumatic Memories of the Second World War and After (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016)

This collection investigates the social and cultural history of trauma to offer a comparative analysis of its individual, communal, and political effects in the twentieth century. Particular attention is given to witness testimony, to procedures of personal memory and collective commemoration, and to visual sources as they illuminate the changing historical nature of trauma. The essays draw on diverse methodologies, including oral history, and use varied sources such as literature, film and the broadcast media. The contributions discuss imaginative, communal and political responses, as well as the ways in which the later welfare of traumatized individuals is shaped by medical, military, and civilian institutions. Incorporating innovative methodologies and offering a thorough evaluation of current research, the book shows new directions in historical trauma studies.

Ch. 1 Introduction

Peter Leese and Jason Crouthamel
Part I Archive
Ch. 2 Making Trauma Visible

Sophie Delaporte
Ch. 3 Moral Injury: Two Perspectives

Susan Derwin
Part II Wartime
Ch. 4 Testimonies of Trauma: Surviving Auschwitz-Birkenau

Lisa Pine
Ch. 5 Rethinking Civilian Neuroses in the Second World War

Hazel Croft
Part III Postwar
Ch. 6 “No longer Normal”: Traumatized Red Army Veterans in Post-war Leningrad

Robert Dale
Ch. 7 Retreating into Trauma: The Fragebogen, Denazification, and Victimhood in Postwar Germany

Mikkel Dack
Part IV Recollection
Ch. 8 Public and Private: Negotiating Memories of the Korean War

Sandra Kessler
Ch. 9 Endless aftershock. The Katyń Massacre in Contemporary Polish Culture

Maria Kobielska
Part V Representation
Ch. 10 War Rape: Trauma and the Ethics of Representation

Marzena Sokołowska-Paryż
Ch. 11 Traumatic Displacements: The Memory Films of Jonas Mekas and Robert Vas Peter Leese

Part VI A Coda on Trauma

Ch. 12 Why History Hurts

Joanna Bourke