Family Histories of World War II: Survivors and Descendants

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Expertly contextualized by two leading historians in the field, this unique collection offers 13 accounts of individual experiences of World War II from across Europe. It sees contributors describe their recent ancestors experiences ranging from a Royal Air Force pilot captured in Yugoslavia and a Spanish communist in the French resistance to two young Jewish girls caught in the siege of Leningrad. Contributors draw upon a variety of sources, such as contemporary diaries and letters, unpublished postwar memoirs, video footage as well as conversations in the family setting. These chapters attest to the enormous impact that war stories of family members had on subsequent generations. The story of a father who survived Nazi captivity became a lesson in resilience for a daughter with personal difficulties, whereas the story of a grandfather who served the Nazis became a burden that divided the family. At its heart, Family Histories of World War II concerns human experiences in supremely difficult times and their meaning for subsequent generations.

Reviews

The stories in this anthology are gripping This book will make an excellent text for courses on World War II, especially ones focusing on the social history of the conflict Historians and social scientists seeking to document the current war in Ukraine should definitely add this work to their bookshelf. * Journal of Family History *
An interesting, unusual and often moving book. This draws on family memories of the Second World War mainly from amongst people, with many national origins, who now work at the tranquil campus of the National University of Ireland at Galway. Edited by experienced historians but written by a wide range of people (mainly but not exclusively academics),and recounting the experiences of an even wider group of people from an earlier generation, it combines the immediacy of personal experience with scholarly rigour. It will be a stimulating book for any undergraduate class as well as being a compelling work for many general readers. * Richard Vinen, Professor of History, King's College London, UK *
Historians have spent far too little time studying the impact of war on families through the generations. This wonderful volume fills that gap with dignity, intelligence, and compassion. * Michael S. Neiberg, Inaugural Chair of War Studies, United States Army War College, USA *
The power of Healy and Barrys book lies in the way the stories are told. ... the essays are moving and fascinating in equal measure, and can help the reader understand how the war impacted on individual lives in a way that traditional narrative histories often fail to achieve. * Who Do You Think You Are Magazine *

Author Bio

Risn Healy is Senior Lecturer in European History at NUI Galway, Ireland. She is the author of Poland in the Irish Nationalist Imagination, 17721922 (2017) and The Jesuit Specter in Imperial Germany (2003). She has also edited or co-edited four books, including Small Nations and Colonial Peripheries in World War I (2016; as co-editor) and 1916 in Global Context: An anti-Imperial moment (2017; as co-editor). Gearid Barry is Lecturer in European History at NUI Galway, Ireland. He is the author of The Disarmament of Hatred: Marc Sangnier, French Catholicism and the Legacy of the First World War, 1914-45 (2012). He is also the co-editor, along with Enrico Dal Lago and Risn Healy, of Small Nations and Colonial Peripheries in World War I (2016) and 1916 in Global Context: An anti-Imperial moment (2017).