National Policy, Global Memory

The Commemoration of the “Righteous” from Jerusalem to Paris, 1942-2007
Starting in the late 1990s, European governments began developing national incarnations of the "Righteous among Nations," the most prominent of which was the "Righteous of France," honoring those who protected Jews during the Vichy regime. This book uses this instance of appropriation to illuminate debates over memory and nationhood.

Since 1963, the state of Israel has awarded the title of “Righteous among the Nations” to individuals who risked their lives sheltering Jews during the Holocaust. This distinction remained solely an Israeli initiative until the late 1990s, when European governments began developing their own national categories, the most prominent of which was the “Righteous of France,” honoring those who protected Jews during the Vichy regime. In National Policy, Global Memory, Sarah Gensburger uses this dramatic episode to lend a new perspective to debates over memory and nationhood. In particular, she works to combine two often divergent disciplines—memory studies and political science—to study “memory politics” as a form of public policy.