Memory transformations in postwar France: contemporary Shoah films and literature and their ethical implications

This dissertation examines the ethics and aesthetics of testimony and bearing witness to the Shoah in French literary and filmic representations during the past decade. This multidisciplinary project draws from Henry Rousso’s ""Le Syndrome de Vichy"" (1990), in which he categorizes four distinct periods of memory transformations in France from 1945 to 1990 culminating in the “Vichy Syndrome”—a collective psychological condition characterized by the national obsession with exposing the Vichy past. The overarching goal of my dissertation is to engage with both the problematic of the politics of memory and the ethical debate surrounding the representability and pedagogical function of the Shoah in recent film, literature and testimonials. ❧ Through a comparative study of contemporary French Shoah films, literature, and testimonials, I argue that the Vichy Syndrome is no longer a relevant notion to understand the way French society is coping with its past. Instead, I maintain that the increasing emphasis placed on education and morality as a means of preserving memory within recent French films and literature underscores a growing anxiety about the gap between ""le devoir de mémoire"" of the Shoah and the lack of public discourse regarding French actions during more recent events of uncomfortable national legacy, namely the Algerian War. ❧ I conclude by exploring how this study is relevant to other studies on traumatic events and debates on memory. I contextualize my project within the current debate on how to more effectively combat the rise in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic attacks in France as well as the growing number of disenfranchised peoples within the French Republic. I propose several open-ended solutions to strengthening relations between the French Republic and its Muslim and Jewish populations in order to decrease the chance of genocidal acts taking place in the future.

本论文探讨近十年来法国文学与影视创作中，针对犹太人大屠杀（Shoah）的证词伦理、见证美学以及见证行为本身。

本研究属于跨学科项目，其理论溯源可至亨利·鲁索（Henry Rousso）1990年出版的《维希综合症（Le Syndrome de Vichy）》一书。鲁索在书中将1945至1990年间法国的集体记忆变迁划分为四个明确阶段，最终形成以“维希综合症”为名的认知框架——这是一种以举国痴迷于揭露维希政权过往为核心特征的集体心理状态。

本论文的核心研究目标，是同时探讨记忆政治的相关议题，以及围绕近年影视、文学与证词作品中犹太人大屠杀的可再现性与教育功能展开的伦理争论。

通过对当代法国犹太人大屠杀题材影视、文学及证词作品的比较研究，本文提出：“维希综合症”这一概念已不再适用于解读法国社会应对历史过往的当下路径。反之，近年法国影视与文学作品愈发强调以教育与道德传承作为守护历史记忆的手段，这一趋势实则凸显了一种日益加剧的焦虑：即犹太人大屠杀的“记忆责任（le devoir de mémoire）”，与法国在更晚近的、令国民难堪的历史遗留事件——阿尔及利亚战争（Algerian War）——中相关行动的公共话语缺失之间，存在巨大鸿沟。

本文结尾部分将探讨本研究与其他创伤事件及记忆争论相关研究的关联。本文将研究置于当前的辩论语境中：即如何更有效地遏制法国境内反犹太主义与反伊斯兰袭击的抬头，以及法兰西共和国内日益增多的被剥夺公民权群体的处境。本文还提出了若干开放式解决方案，旨在强化法兰西共和国与其穆斯林、犹太裔族群之间的关系，以降低未来发生种族灭绝行为的风险。