CIAO DATE: 07/03

Forever in the Shadow of Churchill?:
Britain and the Memory of World War Two at the End of the Twentieth Century

Abstract

This paper examines recent debates in Britain surrounding the memory of the Second World War. Part one is an examination of the controversy sparked by the publication in 1993 of John Charmley's Churchill: The End of Glory, and Alan Clark's article in The Times, "A Reputation Ripe for Revision?"

Part two explores how British historians have responded to the debates over the Flick donation to Oxford University, Daniel Goldhagen's book Hitler's Willing Executioners, and the fiftieth anniversary of the bombing of Dresden. Part two also surveys how the British government, media, public and historians are reacting to German proposals for greater European integration.

This paper is based upon interviews with several leading British historians and political commentators, together with contemporary British and American newspaper and magazine reports, editorials and opinion polls.

Full Text (PDF format, 41 pages, 164 KB)