Forgotten Memories: The Maghreb During World War II

Kartenausschnitt mit der Abbildung des Maghreb und der Sahara.

Why is the memory of World War II so scarce in the Maghreb countries of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia—even though the region was directly affected by the war? A new project by Prof. Dr. Claudia Gronemann examines how World War II is remembered in the Maghreb. For this project, the Mannheim-based scholar of Romance Studies is receiving approximately 400,000 euros from the German Research Foundation (DFG). The project will begin in October and is scheduled to run for three years.

Note: This text was translated from German by AI / (DeepL Pro)

When people talk about the memory of World War II, the focus is usually on the wartime experiences of people in Europe. Yet North Africa was also a theater of war: Fighting took place in Morocco and Algeria in 1942, and Tunisia was subsequently occupied by the German Wehrmacht. North African soldiers fought in the French armed forces.

The experiences of the people of North Africa during World War II remain inadequately documented to this day. One possible reason: historiography in the region has focused primarily on colonial rule and the subsequent struggle for independence. This is precisely where the DFG project “Traces of Memory 1939–45: The Transcultural Memory of the Maghreb,” led by Gronemann, comes in. Over the course of three years, literary and autobiographical texts, films, and other items from the Maghreb countries will be systematically cataloged and analyzed.

The Algerian film Héliopolis by Djaffar Gacem, for example, illustrates just how differently an event can be remembered. It addresses the events of May 8, 1945: While the end of World War II was being celebrated in Europe, violent clashes broke out in Algeria between French security forces and Algerian demonstrators. Thousands of Algerians were killed in the violence. Gronemann presented the film in June as part of the international Mannheim conference “Traces de mémoire 1939–1945/54” to kick off her project.

“We want to shed light on the memories of World War II that emerged beyond the European perspective and how they continue to have an impact today,” says the Romance Studies expert. The results of her project will be made accessible, among other places, through a digital knowledge base.

You can find more information on the project here (in German)

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