Ao longo das duas Guerras Mundiais, observou-se o rompimento da humanidade com as normas de conduta inauguradas pelo Iluminismo, legitimando a violência como algo intrínseco à sociedade moderna. Essa mudança de valores foi acompanhada pelo crescente investimento científico e tecnológico, que atingiu um elevado desenvolvimento durante o século XX e trouxe, como um de seus resultados, os maiores genocídios realizados pelos Estados autoritários em nome de seus interesses políticos e econômicos. A barbárie nos leva a considerar um elemento para a reflexão: as testemunhas. Essas corporificam a necessidade de um resgate da humanização, da retomada dos valores morais perdidos com a banalização da violência. Assim, o testemunho confronta a história e demonstra que o desenvolvimento tecnológico não é sinônimo de desenvolvimento humano. Pelo contrário, permitem questionar a verdadeira intenção das nações que, em busca de hegemonia, destroem maciçamente populações inteiras. Nesse contexto, emergem as seguintes questões: o que é o testemunho e qual a sua importância para a sociedade moderna? O que levou, historicamente, ao surgimento das testemunhas? Qual o contexto histórico que proporcionou o desenvolvimento da bomba atômica? Por que houve a necessidade, por parte das nações em guerra, de exterminarem milhares de pessoas, principalmente civis? Qual a consequência do rompimento das normas de civilidade pelas duas Guerras Mundiais? Para responder a essas perguntas, investigou-se o Museu Memorial da Paz de Hiroshima no que diz respeito a sua exposição permanente, seus objetivos no que se refere à luta contra o esquecimento da catástrofe atômica e à coleta de testemunhos. Após esse primeiro momento da pesquisa, procedeu-se ao estudo do contexto histórico que culminou nas atrocidades cometidas ao longo das duas Grandes Guerras, os resultados dos extermínios em massa para a sociedade moderna e, finalmente, o estudo sobre o trauma e o testemunho em relação aos sobreviventes do bombardeio atômico de Hiroshima / Throughout the two World Wars, a disruption between humankind and the standards of conduct inaugurated by the Enlightenment was observed, legitimizing violence as something intrinsic to modern society. This change in values was followed by the increasing scientific and technological investment, which reached a high development during the twentieth century and brought, as one of its results, the greatest genocides carried out by the authoritarian States on behalf of their political and economic interests. The barbarism leads us to consider an element for reflection: the witnesses. They embody the need for redemption of humanization and the resumption of the moral values, both lost in the trivialization of violence. Thus, the testimony confronts history and shows that technological development is not a synonymous for human development. On the contrary, they allow us to question the true intent of the nations that, in their quest for domination, massively destroy entire populations. In this context, the following questions arise: what is the testimony and what is its importance to modern society? Historically, what had led to the appearance of witnesses? What is the historical context that provided the development of the atomic bomb? Why was there the need, by the nations at war, to exterminate thousands of people, mainly civilians? What is the consequence of breaking the rules of civility by the two World Wars? To answer these questions, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum was investigated regarding its permanent exhibition, its goals regarding the struggle against forgetting the atomic disaster and the gathering of testimonies. After this first stage of the research, it was proceeded the study of the historical context that culminated in the atrocities committed during the two Great Wars, the results for modern society of the mass exterminations and finally, the study of trauma and testimony regarding the survivors of the Hiroshima atomic bombing

In November of 1941, 1,973 Canadian soldiers and two nurses sailed from Vancouver for Hong Kong to garrison the British colony and help defend it in the event of a Japanese attack. The ensuing battle was a decisive defeat for the defenders. 555 Canadians never returned home, over half of those dying in captivity, either in Hong Kong or later once transferred to Japan. The prisoners would become Canada’s longest serving prisoners-of-war of the Second World War and arguably suffered worse than any others. Yet, despite the high casualties, 84 per cent of the 1,684 initial captives survived the ordeal as prisoners in Hong Kong. Once one begins to understand what these men went through, it seems remarkable that so many of them managed to survive at all. This thesis explores Canadian survival in Hong Kong prison camps and the various methods these captives used to overcome boredom, violence, disease, hunger, loneliness, and hopelessness. Using as a research basis clandestine diaries, journals, memoirs, and letters to and from family members, this thesis argues that the Canadians survived due to strong leadership, commitment to duty, creative ingenuity, and a firm determination to return to their families. Uncertainty was an unyielding enemy from day to day and the Hong Kong POWs had to rely on themselves and their compatriots to keep mentally sharp and physically fit. Canadian prisoners in Hong Kong were abused by their captors, fed meager rations, suffered a myriad of tropical diseases, and lived in appalling conditions. The fact that so many survived is a testament to their courage and resilience. This thesis will show how they did it.

Le but de cette thèse est d’analyser l’emploi des blindés dans globalité et jusqu’aux plus petits échelons (pelotons, équipages) c’est-à-dire à hauteur d’hommes (slogan devenu à la mode depuis). En effet beaucoup d’écrits et d’études précédents restent souvent au niveau tactique voire stratégique. Il s’agit également d’étudier les éventuelles différences entre la théorie doctrinale et son application sur le terrain, voir si l’emploi des blindés variait en fonction des acteurs et si oui pourquoi. Cette étude se veut globale, elle prend en compte, les hommes (donc leur formation, leur origine, leur passé), la doctrine et le matériel car l’emploi au combat est la réunion de tous ces facteurs. Les recherches montrent que les trois GU blindées françaises n’étaient pas employées de la même façon, la raison principale résidant dans les conceptions d’emploi des chefs. Les unités blindées françaises étaient composées d’hommes au passé et au parcours différents. Des Gaullistes historiques au jeune engagé d’aout 1944 en passant par les rappelés de l’armée d’Afrique. Tous se retrouvèrent dans les tourelles avec un même but libérer le pays. Elles-mêmes avaient des origines diverses. Certaines n’avaient cessé de combattre, d’autres étaient restées en Afrique du nord ou en Afrique occidentale jusqu’au débarquement allié de novembre 1942. Mais toutes montrèrent un haut niveau de maîtrise tactique et de professionnalisme Leur équipement et leur organisation étaient homogènes car d’origine américain. Leur concept d’emploi était celui dicté par les FM qu’elles adaptèrent à leur main pour combattre à la Française et parfois marquer leur différence par rapport aux alliés. Une fois engagées, elles tinrent toute leur place aux côtés des unités alliés, prouvant leur valeur et marquant ainsi la renaissance de l’armée française. Cette unicité d’organisation, de doctrine et d’équipement masque cependant des différences dans l’emploi. Elles furent tributaires des grandes unités auxquelles elles étaient rattachées et de leur chef. L’emploi des unités blindées dépendait en grande partie des hommes. Des chefs d’abord dont tous n’avaient pas les mêmes conceptions d’emploi des unités blindées ce qui se traduisit par des frustrations et des conflits en particulier entre les généraux Leclerc et de Lattre. Mais également des équipages qui firent preuve d’un état d’esprit remarquable mais particulier et de beaucoup d’abnégation. / The aim of this thesis is to analyze the use of armored vehicles globally and up to the smallest levels (platoons, crews), that is to say at the level of men (slogan that has become fashionable ever since). Indeed, many previous writings and studies often remain at the tactical or strategic level. It is also a question of studying the possible differences between the doctrinal theory and its application in the field, to see if the use of armored vehicles varied according to the actors and if so why. This study is intended to be comprehensive, it takes into account, men (thus their training, their origin, their past), doctrine and equipment because employment in combat is the meeting of all these factors. Research shows that the three French armored GUs were not employed in the same way, the main reason residing in the chiefs' conceptions of employment. French armored units were made up of men with different backgrounds and backgrounds. From the historical Gaullists to the young worker of August 1944, passing by the recalled African army. All found themselves in the turrets with the same goal to liberate the country. They themselves had various origins. Some had continued to fight, others had remained in North Africa or West Africa until the Allied landings of November 1942. But all showed a high level of tactical mastery and professionalism. Their equipment and organization were homogeneous because of American origin. Their concept of employment was that dictated by the FM that they adapted to their hand to fight the French and sometimes mark their difference compared to the allies. Once engaged, they held their place alongside the allied units, proving their value and thus marking the rebirth of the French army. This uniqueness of organization, doctrine and equipment, however, masks differences in employment. They were tributaries of the great units to which they were attached and of their leader. The use of armored units depended largely on men. Chiefs first, all of whom did not have the same conceptions of the use of armored units, which resulted in frustrations and conflicts in particular between Generals Leclerc and de Lattre. But also crews who showed a remarkable state of mind but particular and a lot of self-sacrifice.

De 1993 a 2004, Walter Kempowski publicou uma série em dez volumes intitulada Das Echolot. Ein Kollektives Tagebuch. (A ecossonda. Um diário coletivo) Nessa obra, Kempowski procurou retratar alguns dos episódios principais da Segunda Guerra Mundial através da apresentação de documentos redigidos, em sua grande maioria, na época dos acontecimentos: diários, cartas, memórias, discursos ou programas de rádio. Esses documentos foram ordenados de acordo com o dia no qual foram escritos, compondo um grande diário coletivo que retrata os acontecimentos de uma perspectiva abrangente e multiforme. Nesta tese, o volume Barbarossa 41, que narra a invasão da URSS em 1941, foi tomado como exemplo para questionar o papel do autor nessa montagem monumental de citações que, à primeira vista, parece reduzir-se à organização formal dos documentos. Para analisar a forma como se estabelece o significado dos elementos organizados no livro observou-se 1) a própria estruturação do livro, 2) as citações de algumas das principais personagens, que podem ser consideradas como exemplares e 3) a sequência interna de dois dias completos do diário. As citações das personagens exemplares foram comparadas com os documentos originais de onde foram extraídas, buscando-se identificar as intenções que guiaram o autor na seleção e no recorte dos textos. O resultado dessa pesquisa indica que o papel do autor na constituição do sentido da narrativa nascida da conexão dos fragmentos é decisivo. Com uma outra seleção e um outro recorte, as personagens deixariam uma impressão diferente no leitor. Também foi confirmado que a organização específica do material criou um panorama da Segunda Guerra que se deve às intenções do autor, ainda que esse fato permaneça, em grande parte, despercebido pelo leitor. / From 1993 to 2004, Walter Kempowski published a sequence of ten books named Das Echolot. Ein Kollektives Tagebuch. (The Echo Sounder. A collective diary.) In these books, Kempowski aims to depict main episodes of the Second World War by presenting documents written mostly while the events took place: diaries, letters, memories, speeches or radio programs. Those documents were sorted according to the day they were written, and so they composed a great collective diary which depicts the events in a comprehensive and multifaceted perspective. In this thesis, the volume Barbarossa 41, which narrates the invasion of the USSR in 1941, was taken as an example to question the role of the author in this monumental montage of quotations that, at the first sight, seems to be just a formal organization of documents. In order to determinate how the meaning of the elements organized in the book gets established, the following items were observed: 1) the own structure of the book, 2) the quotations of some of the main figures that can be considered as exemplary and 3) the internal sequence in two whole days of the diary. The quotations of the exemplary characters were compared with the original documents, in order to identify the intentions that guided the author in the selection of the texts and the excerpts that would be published. The result of this research indicates that the role of the author in the constitution of the sense of the narrative which comes from the connection of the fragments is crucial. With another selection of texts and excerpts, the characters would leave a different impression on the reader; it was also confirmed that the specific organization of the material has created a panorama of the Second World War that is due to the intentions of the author, even if this fact remains mostly unnoticed by the reader.

Este estudo investiga e recupera a trajetória sócio-econômica dos (i)migrantes japoneses e seus descendentes em Jacareí, a partir de 1927 até 1951. Caracteriza o contexto local e regional em que esses sujeitos se inseriram e o seu cotidiano durante o governo do Estado Novo e da Segunda Guerra Mundial por meio da bibliografia relacionada à imigração japonesa e à História do Brasil, dentre outras, e fontes documentais, como imprensa escrita local, depoimentos, estatísticas e fotografias. Os (i)migrantes japoneses deslocaram-se para Jacareí nesse período com o objetivo de melhorar suas condições de vida. Grande parte fixou-se na zona rural e dedicou-se à produção agrícola, principalmente de tomate, progrediu econômica e socialmente; criaram uma associação e se preocuparam, de alguma forma, em se inserir na sociedade local. O estudo mostra que o contexto do Estado Novo e a Segunda Guerra Mundial, embora trágico, não refletiu de maneira sistemática em relação aos japoneses que viviam em Jacareí; ao contrário - a não ser em casos isolados - a maioria não se abateu, permanecendo no município; continuou desenvolvendo suas atividades e produzindo, abriu depósitos de cooperativas e outros (i)migrantes japoneses continuaram chegando para Jacareí, tornando-o um lugar de perspectivas de mudanças. / This study investigates and recovers the economic social trajectory of Japanese (im) migrants and their descendants in Jacarei from 1927 until 1951. It features the local and regional context in which it operated these subjects and their daily life during the government of Estado Novo and the Second World War through the literature related to Japanese immigration and to the history of Brazil, among others, and documentary sources, such as print media Local, testimonials, statistics and photographs. The Japanese immigrants moved to Jacarei in that period with the objective of improving their living conditions. The most of them stayed in rural and devoted themselves to agricultural production, mainly of tomatoes, economic and social progress; created an association and have been concerned in some way, they fall in local society. The research shows that the context of the Estado Novo and Second World War, although tragic, not reflected in a systematic way for Japanese (im)migrants who lived in Jacareí; unlike - except in isolated cases - the majority do not hit and remained in the city, continued developing their activities and producing, opened cooperatives and other Japanese (im)migrants continued coming to Jacareí and making it a place of prospects for change.

This diploma thesis briefly describes the situation in the region of Plzeň throughout the period between the signature of the Munich Agreement and the end of the Second World War in the background of the international events and with special emphasis on everyday life. It also monitors the course of events in the field of domestic resistance and its cooperation with the foreign representatives; it provides a list of resistance movement organizations operating in the region of Plzeň. The majority of the thesis deals with the resistance movement in the district of Nýřany, which has been a part of the Plzeň - North district since 1960. This part of the thesis describes not only the organized resistance movement (the communist and the democratic one) but also the spontaneous actions performed by the individuals. The thesis depicts the story of several people who participated in the resistance movement against the Nazis and whose lives were deeply affected by the Nazi persecution. The aim of the thesis is to point out the domestic resistance situation in the background of the above-mentioned stories in the industrial area of Nýřany.

The memory of the battle of Okinawa was shaped by politics. The memory of the battle for Okinawans emphasizes war crimes committed against them and the devastating impact that was inflicted upon their peaceful island. Their emphasis on sole victimization led to other Okinawan narratives being either downplayed or outright denied. To remove American bases off their island, gain recognition for Japanese atrocities plus reparations, the Okinawans portrayed themselves as a peaceful people that were the sole victims of the battle of Okinawa. The United States glossed over the crimes committed by the Japanese on Okinawa and Asia to use Japan as a bulwark against what they perceived as communist aggression in Asia. To solidify this new alliance, the United States promoted reconciliation instead of punishment. In doing so, they willingly forget atrocities committed by the Japanese against Asian nationals. Americans also remember the battle in conjunction with the dropping of two atomic bombs and to justify their morally superior position to the Soviet Union, promote a more complex picture of the decision to use the bombs. This included discussing how Okinawa changed the American leader’s perspectives on a mainland Japan invasion. As a result, has become increasingly difficult to separate Okinawa and the bombs because of their temporal closeness. The Japanese tend to remember the battle as a heroic last stand and emphasize sacrifice to inspire future generations partly out of fear that Japanese youth have gone soft, ultimately demonstrating that Japan has not fully come to terms with her memory of the Second World War.

My dissertation investigates significant changes in the way the Nazi occupation of France and the Holocaust have been portrayed in fiction. Two novels published in 2006 - Didier Daeninckx's Itineraire d'un Salaud Ordinaire and Jonathan Littell's Les Bienveillantes - are essential for this study. Both of these controversial books shook existing literary models concerned with the memory of the victims of the war by making the perpetrators of atrocities central characters. These two novels allow me to contextualize the full evolution of such literary actors, beginning with the work of Robert Merle and Louis-Ferdinand Celine. My dissertation examines the portrayal of the character of the salaud (villain) in French novels, arguing that, by narrating the Holocaust from the point-of-view of the perpetrators, the author is paradoxically creating another way to remember its victims. The study of literary Nazis and their French counterparts led me to explore what Hannah Arendt called the "banality of evil," a concept that is often invoked to explain an individual's conduct, but that does not fit as well when applied to a literary character's sexuality; while the Nazis and their collaborators are depicted as "ordinary men', a terminology given special meaning though the work of Christopher Browning, their sexual preferences and lives are far from ordinary.

Au cours de la Seconde Guerre mondiale se produit un phénomène éditorial sans précédent : alors que le contexte y est peu favorable, d’innombrables revues francophones sont créées, aussi bien en France métropolitaine que dans les colonies et à l’étranger, à l’instar de Fontaine, Poésie, Confluences, L’Arbalète, Cahiers de Poésie, Les Lettres françaises et bien d’autres encore. Elles viennent s’adjoindre aux périodiques qui existaient avant 1939 et qui ont réussi à se maintenir, afin de souligner la grandeur intellectuelle du pays. Ensemble, ils reprennent à leur compte la mission de La Nouvelle Revue Française, qui se trouve peu à peu dénaturée du fait de ses positions politiques avant d’être interdite : s’ils publient les textes d’écrivains reconnus, ils s’attachent aussi à lancer de jeunes auteurs qui, sans eux, n’auraient pu atteindre la notoriété qui a été la leur. Ainsi, jusqu’en 1953, date à laquelle La N.R.F. obtient l’autorisation de reparaître, ils contribuent à dessiner le paysage littéraire de la seconde moitié du XXe siècle.Les revues publiées entre 1939 et 1953 apparaissent comme la condition même de l’émergence de la poésie durant cette période. Elles contribuent à replacer ce genre au centre de toutes les attentions et favorisent son renouvellement. Elles font ainsi découvrir à leurs lecteurs les poèmes d’écrivains comme Olivier Larronde, Adrian Miatlev ou encore un certain Noël Mathieu, qui deviendra bientôt le fameux Pierre Emmanuel. Elles diffusent leurs textes aux côtés de ceux d’auteurs reconnus comme Paul Éluard ou Aragon, dont l’œuvre est alors en pleine mutation, et remettent sur le devant de la scène des écrivains du passé.Aux côtés des poèmes eux-mêmes se déploie dans les revues un important discours critique, dans lequel les chroniqueurs s’interrogent en profondeur sur les évolutions de la poésie. S’ils dessinent ses lignes de force, évoquant tour à tour un néo-classicisme, un renouvellement du lyrisme et une poésie tantôt engagée, tantôt matérialiste, tantôt spiritualiste, ils s’interrogent aussi sur leur mission et engagent de ce fait la critique dans une dimension autoréflexive. Leurs articles et chroniques, dont la fonction première est de contribuer au rayonnement de la poésie, apparaissent ainsi comme le berceau dans lequel s’éveille, peu à peu, la Nouvelle Critique, qui connaîtra son plein essor après 1953 et rayonnera durant toute la seconde moitié du XXe siècle. / The editorial scene during World War II was a witness to an unprecedented phenomenon. Beating the odds, a great number of French-speaking magazines were created, whether it be in Metropolitan France, in colonies or abroad. Among them : Fontaine, Poésie, Confluences, L’Arbalète, Cahiers de Poésie, Les Lettres françaises, and many more. These just add to the list of periodicals that predate 1939 and managed to stay afloat in order to underline the country’s intellectual greatness. Together - and in their own way - they upheld the mission of La Nouvelle Revue Française, whose nature was slowly altered because of its political views, before being shut down altogether. Not only did they publish renowned authors’ works, but they helped launch the careers of young authors who would not have been known otherwise. Hence, they contributed to the French literary landscape until 1953 - when La N.R.F. magazine was authorized to be published again.Without these magazines published between 1939 and 1953, poetry would have been completely forgotten during that era. Not only did they help make this genre the centre of attention and allowed its renewal but, thanks to them, readers discovered writers such as Olivier Larronde, Adrian Miatlev and Noël Mathieu – the latter would soon become the famous Pierre Emmanuel. Their work is published along those already renowned by Paul Éluard and Aragon – whose work was undergoing changes at the time – and they published long forgotten writers.Alongside these poems, criticism could be found in the columns of these magazines, in which chroniclers raise fundamental questions about the evolution of poetry. Pointing out main tendencies, they wrote about a newly found lyricism of a politically committed, materialistic or spiritualist poetry, but also about their own mission, which led to self-criticism. Their articles and chronicles whose prime goal was to help the prestige of poetry, slowly gave birth to the New Criticism, which knew full bloom after 1953 and shone throughout the second half of the twentieth century.

Earlier studies have proposed that Swedish refugee policy started to change around 1942, when a restrictive refugee policy became more generous and humanitarian. From a quantitative point of view this statement is true: there were about ten thousand refugees in 1941, compared to almost two hundred thousand by the end of the war. However, this does not tell us whether the well-known discourses of Swedish inter-war anti-Semitism, nationalism and xenophobia underwent the same changes. The aim of this dissertation is to analyse the public debate concerning foreigners, refugees and refugee policy in 1942–1947. The dissertation puts forward the hypothesis of The Nordic prerogative. In brief, this prerogative meant that Sweden primarily held itself obliged to accept ethnical Northeners as refugees, and looked upon this obligation as more important than other considerations, such as the refugee’s ideological views, need of protection or humanitarian needs. Symptomatically, the groups which could not be entirely encompassed within the idea of a Nordic prerogative, particularly the Balts and the Danish Jews, were perceived as the most problematical refugee groups, both on a general level of the debates, and in specific issues. The idea of a Nordic prerogative did not derive from a sense of ethnical fraternity and humanitarian considerations alone, however. Several undertakings were also brought about by pragmatic considerations. Sweden sought goodwill, and reception of refugees was seen as one way of winning it. The dissertation also shows that the idea of a Nordic prerogative seems to become less important when the refugee comes closer to the everyday life of Sweden, where the Nordic refugees too were referred to as ”foreigners”, ”aliens” etc. As such, they had to put up with being spoken of in negatively loaded expressions, in the same way as other foreigners.