Les figures du traître I. Les imaginaires de la haine : la répression des inciviques belges, 1914-1918
Representing the Traitor I. The Imaginaries of Hatred: The Repression of Belgian Collaborationists, 1914-1918

Summary/Abstract: The cult of the Homeland, which had enabled resistance during WWI, extended, in its immediate aftermath, into a cult dedicated to the memory of the war: “in the name of the Country”, one had fought, suffered and died; “in the name of the Country”, it was also demanded that collaborationist traitors should be punished. An analysis of several types of traitors points to an imaginary of hatred that appears to be the inverted mirror image of the Homeland cult. Invariably betrayed had been the Country, the nation, and the general welfare. Former collaborationists had been disloyal to the state and its institutional structures. Those who had taken advantage of the war situation had betrayed the unity of the Belgian people, in their common experience of painful occupation (material distress and national humiliation). They had actually refused communion in suffering. Spies in the service of Germany had betrayed the heroic soul of the country by giving up the worthiest national heroes: they appeared as Judas handing over numerous patriotic “Christs”. Last but not least, deserters had betrayed Belgian heroism, which entailed loyalty to international justice and the defence of national freedom.

• Details
• Contents