West and central Europe without Mnemosyne

In 1915, if a world war had not broken out, the centenary of the Battle of Waterloo (1815) would have certainly been organised. Imagine the following situation when it had been. None of the other combatant nations sides with the British party as the event's organiser close to Belgium's capital. As a matter of fact, in the recent case of the final World War One anniversary, on June 28th, 2019, this trail of thought came to pass. None of the European nations showed any engagement. The Centennial party in Versailles turned out to be an all-American one.

The Great War lasted for almost five years. At the end of the World War One Centennial (2014–2019), whose commencement intersected with the beginning of a presently decade-old war in Ukraine, a considerable memory gap has been revealed. In all the states, except for one, the celebrations respectively commemorations were completed in November of 2018. The grand exception will be outlined in the following. After England's National Committee for the Centenary of the First World War released its evaluation in this very same month, it took the French until late spring of 2019 to take stock of it with their Bilan publication. As of December 2018, a state of historical amnesia may be diagnosed for the Netherlands, a neutral state at the time, the House of European History as well as the former Entente powers. Being the 1919 diktat's singular adressee, nowadays, Germany performed slightly better. The state of war was formally concluded on June 28th, 1919, the day the Armistice ended. In Europe's memory cultures, ignorance of the fifth and final year of the war prevailed.

Apart from a Hungarian photographer and a few scattered historians as well as an artist in Germany, was there anybody to uphold a mirror to the Europeans?(1) The United States did so by going their own way. The US World War One Centennial Commission be credited for a variety of mnemonic performances. One after another, the events between the seven months of Compiègne in 1918 and Versailles in 1919 were recalled in the commission's multifaceted podcasts and newsletters. Much more than producing some extraordinary podcast or newsletter on June 28th, the commission organized an educative and festive program on France's historical venue. A selection of US teachers was invited to join the all-American party in Versailles! Furthermore, the completion of the commission's weekly newsletters was a long time coming. This fascinating series was not completed until the end of 2019.

However, the question remained, why the Europeans, including the host country, failed to embark on a much shorter trip and side with the representatives of the associated power of 1917? In one of their principal capitals and the historic courtyard at close range, the Americans were obviously left alone.

When the historical facts are observed, this is even more striking. The junior but decisive partner of the Entente was not involved in the implementation of the Versailles order. Returning from an altogether six-month stay in Europe, President Woodrow Wilson's intensive campaign for the treaty's ratification failed. At the same time, physical ruin awaited him. For the emergent nation as a whole, the Paris Conference provided it with momentous gains. Firstly, the surprisingly favorable outcome of the trench warfare should be ascribed to the American Expeditionary Forces' shouldering the Allies. In 1917, the mutinous troops of the French did not know they would be eventually rescued. Once in Paris and Versailles, the great powers acknowledged the US military being on a par with each one of their armies. Secondly, the States' emancipation materialized in finance and economics. Notwithstanding both the 1919 and 1920 votes against ratification, the American age had begun. A hundred years later, the very cradle of the pax americana was celebrated.

In a presentation from Doughboy Foundation in January 2025, Theo Mayer highlighted an interesting Europe-States comparison. As a WWICC member in 2014, his internet query on WWI related keywords exposed his country for having an about twenty time less search rate than Europe as a whole. However, the relatively premature timing at the start of a five-year perspective should be taken into account. Furthermore, the US did not go to war before 1917. The Aufa100 team put Mayer's early web research in the perspective of Europe's historical amnesia on 1918−1919 (apart from Armistice Day). How can therefore Europe's unflattering dichotomy between these favorable statistics at the anniversaries' outset and a particularly negative report on the designated follow-up to the 1918 commemoration be explained?

Instead of interviewing any Europeans at the time of its fifth anniversary (March 2025), Aufa100 proposes to focus on US perspectives. The American attendees of 2019 memory events are called to actively hold up a mirror to their sisters and brothers in Europe. The commission would like to engage partners in a transatlantic interview project on the WWICC invitees to the sparkling event of June 28th, 2019.(2) Students in search for a project may be offered a great opportunity. At the same time, a teacher's experiences with the commission's 2019 educative programme overseas may be used as the foundation for an essential contribution to both the Doughboy Foundation's ongoing WWI Educator programme and our European commission. Furthermore, any other parties may be interested in anticipating the formation of a follow-up agency that may be termed US World War Two Centennial Commission. Learning from the recent past means imagining the challenge to get the Europeans on board for a common 1939–1945 centennial project. The outcome will be regularly advertised in Aufa100's networks and publications.

Peter de Bourgraaf

Footnotes

1.  Attila Szalay-Berzeviczy, In the Centennial Footsteps of the Great War. From Sarajevo to Versailles, Volume I–II, Budapest 2023, exhibition, Sarajevo 2019; German actors listed in Aufa100 mission statement.

2.  Two interview formats may be outlined. Depending on the scale of financial support, a questionnaire for the anniversary attendants may be complemented by interviews with some of the teachers and commission members. Different parties may be brought together by Theo Mayer, the bilingual manager of the Education Outreach Program.