Nordic Narratives of the Second World War : National Historiographies Revisited

• Main Authors: Stenius, Henrik, Österberg, Mirja, Östling, Johan
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: Nordic Academic Press 2011
• Subjects: Social Sciences Interdisciplinary; History; contemporary history; memory culture; national narrative; national identity; moral turn; historiography; the Second World War; Nordic countries; comparative history; post-Cold War historiography; 1990s; 2000s; Norway; Iceland
• Online Access: https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1951338; https://portal.research.lu.se/files/5744626/5275622.pdf

How have the dramatic events of the Second World War been viewed in the Nordic countries? In Nordic Narratives of the Second World War, leading Nordic historians analyse post-war memory and historiography. They explore the relationship between scholarly and public understandings of the war. How have national interpretations been shaped by official security-policy doctrines? And in what way has the end of the Cold War affected the Nordic narratives? The authors not only present the overarching themes that set the Nordic experience of the Second World War apart from other European narratives, but also describe the distinctive postwar characteristics of Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden. Key concepts such as national identity, memory culture, and the moral turn are placed in their Nordic context. Bringing new nuance to the post-war history of Europe, this is the first work to focus on Nordic narratives of the war, and is valuable reading for students, academics, and all who have an interest in the historiography of the Second World War or modern European history.