Comparing Societies in Wartime: The Clash of Political Cultures
Abstract
Why did the British, French and German populations not behave in the same way when faced with foreign soldiers—allies or enemies—who burst into their private lives between 1939 and 1945? Why are there common patterns in the national territories and why are there differences between the three countries and the three populations? Without falling into essentialism and without promoting national stereotypes, in her latest book (soon to be published in English) Tombés du Ciel. Le sort des pilotes abattus en Europe 1939-1945, Claire Andrieu has endeavoured to draw up a comparative history of the actions of the populations in the face of these men who "fell from the sky" between 1939 and 1945. Interview with Claire Andrieu by Miriam Périer.