Resistance narrative - Trigger of transnational memory conflicts?

The research project is based on the assumption that resistance and heroic narratives within the Danish and Norwegian society have triggered transnational memory conflicts after 1945. Over decades, their national culture of memory (Erinnerungskultur) were determined by the traumatic experience of occupation. In contrast to previous historical memory studies that have been mostly confined to discourse approach and abstract models of consensus narratives, this project is based on an actor-centred approach. It focuses on the associations of former political prisoners who have greatly influenced the remembrance discourse in their role as guardians and defenders of mythological charged and politically exploited resistance narratives in the two Scandinavian cou ntries. By choosing a transnational comparative approach, the study examines the contribution of these organisations to bilateral respective multilateral cooperation and division. The goal is to present and explain the periodic progress as well as the con sequences of dominance and weakness of resistance narratives in the Scandinavian post-war societies.