Trials for history: How should Nazi crim

Nearly 80 years have passed since the Second World War: a majority of Europeans no longer have an autobiographical memory of the war. Yet the legacy of the Second World War is all the more present because the “heroic” myths that many European nations adopted after 1945 have now been replaced by negative memories. Europe no longer celebrates the Resistance fighter who died for a cause, but now recognizes European Jews as victims. To explore the way in which the Second World War remains present in post-war European societies that it helped to shape, the seminar will take as its starting point the Nuremberg trials of 1945-1948 and continue throughout the last trials of Nazi criminals in Germany. It will also look at the responses of the judicial, political and social actors. The seminar highlights the extent to which the complex relationship between justice, history and memory surrounding the Second World War is still relevant today. Through various case studies, we will examine the political, memorial and legal issues and debates raised by this difficult history through a comparative analysis of trials in France and Germany, thereby situating these processes in a European context. The seminar questions the place of witnesses and the administration of evidence in these collective crimes and invites reflection on the types of sources that public policies of the past can mobilize to mediate these trials for the "devoir de mémoire” (obligation of remembrance). A variety of sources will be used including, news clips, photographs and legal documents, in addition to the preparatory readings for each session.