FALLEN SOLDIERS Reshaping the Memory of the World Wars GEORGE L. MOSSE New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1990‘used to memorialize tr own marty, most spectacle atthe ‘Schlager Monomeat n Dolor where it Gointed teenie ein "Tale ceremony of Aristc Day tok pate ja both Prote sat apd nd PrP Gece Fat ‘Sony tn, wile a Cato coon ke ay and rane the fou was fied, seems s oledence not len Teed to the Cierent functions of he aor ithe Protesant nd Catholic Chrch: At sin Eagan thie Gremrtance was dicated by ‘Sremonia neds, andthe Garman dead iy on fomer eney {Story which a it esc sve a fa a the Gea o> femmett was concemed. In any can te laborae ceremonil ‘Sec wih he Unknown Soir ren Seamed more Suit ‘She toravtous th for dtd nation ; "Thongh the News Wc svied te Sond Wold Wer, 8 orignal pct was sal Peay we if ate aie he Sr when litany comes and, sbove al olor natn mons Ines provided th owt forte ele Momuents Ike the Ky ‘inert to crate Geeta ung (1696), were Wading! acs of pliginage: set nature, the Getnans landscape, Tater tat i the niet of «bsting cy, ate wich oh we tw, ind coe too sett a fig oe German sire Loa Tmomsnest fo eles ako ma have saved ost ore af ‘ee oo el aoe sont ih an nal foyates suchas Germany. Meith, the cpa of Bares {Grex but frown Tom ofthe Unknown Slr, nts aos ining the foe of teva Eng or pice 0 ‘German calledate—excep tat te fire was In oder nl {lnm wearing a steel Rett, ile a hang, No doubt twas elt {or the Nene Wack to hed i petal Preis asolatos. Even so te Third Reich, which Fepeded the ctf he fallen as tinlto fs slespromnation dd mae the Ton he Uakaora See ene et caborstecremonist on Armistice Day. Neve. tines, Germany lacked the foc fori cult ofthe wat dead ‘wich England and France postesed inthe Ceotph ad the ATS {Gr Tiiomge. In Genny ie ighend tonal cosclosness socal mh bec was paced lo vty wr me Tals or eromonia et The Cal ofthe Fallen Sir ” w ‘War monumeats provided the local focus fr the el of he ale, lace wadgonally war monuments and not the grves of he allen ‘nd reved to memorialize tet strifce, At fs however, aly ‘les or generals were anned he common soir wns load {oa mere number, Bot hs hd changed by the 1860s and asthe Fi World War soup to honor each oe the ar dead hough 1s own grave or though the isripion of hs name atthe bail ace to the name ofl the flea were now nered on Teal ‘rar Remora. Typically enough ae we hive mentioned sad, ‘only the names of generals had been Usted onthe Are de TH ‘mpbe, bt after he Pst Word War the Unown Solder, whose ‘nk wos equal tnknowa, ny in tomb a fhe contr of the ah Ech individual oldie who fll in bt had become a person of ‘ot, sharing the misdon of all the fallen, mision which pald tb heed to rank or statu, Such proces of democratiaton ad ‘been iberet in the aie rised Uy comnrption ad inthe spi atthe volunteer. ‘The Myth of the War Experience was a democratic myth cn- tered upon te sation symbsized by al ofthe war don Only in ‘this way could the Myth ofthe Wat Expetince attempt to ra seend te fontge soldiers eacouatr with death, ceassng th ‘memory ofthe dread of war. Veterans ongriztons fer th wa ‘Sant divide according miltery rank, one for men and anotber for allows; instead, Wostline soldier Sought 10 claim special ‘aus and to be dtigulsed from those who had not known tle {n the teebes, Bven 8 Communit ke Henn Barone in Prance founded a vtecane organization to which only frontline veterans ‘ere amited! War memorial conte to celebrate he fallen ‘nth conograpay vali for al solders and forthe etre nation, ‘Unies war monuments wee erected in cemetces, or in conte tion with the Tomb ef the Unknown Soir, they could never 85 ins of worsipsval the memovals more immediately sso ‘td with the dead. The acta! presence of martyrs wat always Inport for de efeesvene of paces of pilgrimage; tho the (Geman To of the Unknown Soler was expt, sil raidte atmosphere ofan actual bor place, while the Cenotaph ‘Served en th foes for oa xenon. Thecus mere mad oie ops for crooning o pot sng ven aroud ve wat memo order to wanton her ‘Pe dead fog memoria plan which had bon aed ‘Shore he warn te dein of ote sao] menue sch 8 {Snr Sommenmortg the Ble of Lely (H813) But now Be pl fo psene te socalled scedhess of war nomement seihe ws of suc sare cotonersa. Afr the Fist Word ‘Wari we thoi athe mou soc vets wold produce ould Tet be econcte wi he spi of reverence A war OME Thou pre: A pester comtiousoos af the fc af mie wa 8 iyrpodl of urbanization (anietemen ocetes had gob (2 Tom soon after the tra of the centary®), Once gsi, te membrane of wr cased wih moda Tatas conversa ase ae of the pace surounding the memoria ee th question of wheter a war memo shoud fu {ETsome cancels ers of ving Whee eal ms be ‘cay act om idly rommngs eter i should {five aay function rested fo the presenta lwo ul debated in Huopeansnors ding the Second World Wat, THe United Shae co equi fret spproach community bids swat tmenorals bane popuar irmednly ater tbe Fist World er monty to sete actual coe, but somesine as conve how hal rae facies: Tare the Nationa Commitee on Manor Buildin, ened by Gener ohn 8. Pushing, w ‘Sablsbed in 119, something bape to imagine in Gee, ‘Shore memoria he spe o's itary wes consered ule ‘evo. Eve in Enid qrtion of fontn as oped to he edne ofthe ma expernce conned ob deta “Te con burma he meted and profane srowe once a ‘rte pling te Tonetionl again he scred. The sacred ha to gre aa appearance of inmtabiy, ot conaminged ¥ mod rtinduail soy, however consi hs ight be i hing {Sleommemorte the war dead, Arne ste max prdcton of [iedsooe! for war cenetees wa condemned as profmaon, fd oo mas he sleton of war monuments fom moult Sulog The sacred almoys messtungorness and nimi The Cal ofthe Fallen Slr the war monument oospied sere place dedintd 10 the cnc ‘eligon ot anonai, Yet perpetesting the preindusal nage of the maton id not mean rejecting moder weehacogy. Nationale Im, which annexed naar, aso dominated the meetin, sor ‘iting tt it ends. Modern technology and its power were put Int the serie of the ation and st te sme time spittin, kscibed in meseal inages (asthe kalghts of the sky), su ‘unde by nate (s2 Picture 5, p67) oF by mations sysbol Moreover, images ofan dori moderaty could sso become anal pony; ab Brst Junge wrote ia 1922, poetry is now ‘wien ou of tel and the stu Tor power in atl The ‘ional and the moder ae prjeted by x wat memoda om hich a solder carying a moderate tans he foot ot = hoge ‘Germania medieval ress, Tho tel helmet often pest even (war memorials where canal homer dinate’ Moder ‘es absorbed by war memorials, while it was ignored by maltary ‘metres nd the Tomb of te Unknown Sle. ‘Ben 10, Methold Lay in hit detailed examination of German ‘war memovial wes tht wile ster 1871 modern weapons were (ea an integral port of war momumens, fer the Fast World ‘War hey Became relatively rare Tasted, sords abounded 4 he vwespon of war! While this ference might Sv som fishon eect victory se agaist dee" seen ore ely that the Confrontation with &oew kindof mechanical warfare ha revuled {athe atl more rgent nod to mask death. The use of medieval symbols and evens medieval vocabulary fo accomplish this wil ‘py se father inthe following chigter. Dying by the sword, 1 Lutz points out, was to de by the haod of man, ad only ght which took plane ia single comet was tly eros. Th ‘oasmeat of Saat George andthe drogon tat mas eeced in 8 all Rovian vilgr symbolized sis concep of war, though & Sot of pontwar hate wa ntoduced nt the wedeval Scene whe th iabitants ofthe vllage demanded tat te éagon be ree. tlzable ste former eneay. More often, the Archangel Micha, representing Germany, wer shown vanishing the drape, s0d it ‘east one such memori, i Sony, the dragon was ao ideat- fed athe enemy" Medova analogies not cay marked moder: ss, but made helo vale within « aden fexmework 101