War, Judgment, and Memory in the Basque Borderlands, 1914-1945

by Sandra Ott

Overview

During the first half of the twentieth century, the French Basque province of Xiberoa was a place of refuge, conflict, transit, exile and foreign occupation. At the Liberation of France in 1944, many Xiberoans confronted ongoing local divisiveness, rooted in the interwar years, and faced new conflicts arising from legal and civic judgments made during Vichy and German occupation. This book traces the roots of their divided memories to local and official interpretations of what constituted legitimate judgment, legitimate behavior and justice during those troubled times. In order to capture a sense of the diverse ways in which Xiberoan Basques responded to the Germans in their midst, the author explores and contrasts the experiences of people in four different communities located within a fifteen mile radius.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780874177428
Publisher:	University of Nevada Press
Publication date:	03/28/2008
Series:	The Basque Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Sandra Ott is an associate professor at the Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. She has an M.Litt. and a D.Phil. in social anthropology from Oxford University and lived in Europe for thirty years before returning to the U.S. in 2002. She is the author of a widely acclaimed The Circle of Mountains: A Basque Shepherding Community (University of Nevada Press), and numerous articles about Basque culture and, most recently, Franco-Basque-German relations during the Occupation. In 2007, she received the Millstone Prize, a national award for exceptional contributions to the study of French history.

Table of Contents

Contents List of Illustrations @@@ Preface @@@ Acknowledgments @@@ Abbreviations @@@ Introduction @@@ Chapter One Insiders, Outsiders, and Trans-Pyrenean Relations @@@ Chapter Two Urdax, a Borderland Moral Community @@@ Chapter Three Basques in the Great War @@@ Chapter Four The Roots of Divided Memories in Maule @@@ Chapter Five Class Conflict, Displacement, and Fear of the Other @@@ Chapter Six Xiberoans under Vichy @@@ Chapter Seven The German Occupation and Resistance in Xiberoa @@@ Chapter Eight The Tragedy of Ospitaleku @@@ Chapter Nine Resisting Divisiveness through Ritual in Urdax @@@ Chapter Ten Denunciation, Rumor, and Revenge in Sustary @@@ Chapter Eleven The Divisiveness of Liberation @@@ Chapter Twelve Uneasy Commemorations @@@ Chapter Thirteen Remembering the Resistance in Popular Theater @@@ Conclusion @@@ Notes @@@ Glossary @@@ Bibliography @@@ Index @@@

Editorial Reviews

"An outstanding, deeply humane work of local history. Highly recommended." —Choice


"Ott has produced a carefully written, thought-provoking book which approaches its subject with enormous respect." —European History Quarterly


"This is an interesting book that offers a fascinating complement to the existing literature on the experience of occupation during the Second World War, adding nuance and character to the more general histories of the occupation." —French History


"Ott has worked hard in a variety of archives. The long list of interviewees, most of them repeatedly visited, is exemplary. Her tale is a well-told, at times moving story, written in an unpretentious prose. For Basque and modern French studies, it is a valuable addition to an understandably, but undeservedly neglected topic." —Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute


“A fascinating complement to the existing literature on the experience of occupation during the Second World War, adding nuance and local character to the more general histories of occupation.”
—French History

From the Publisher