The First World War as Remembered in the Countries of the Eastern Mediterranean

This conference, organised by the German Institute for Oriental Studies, Beirut, the German Institute for Historical Studies (DHI), Rome, and the Institut Francais d'Etudes Anatoliennes (IFEA), Istanbul, set out to examine the political, social and cultural effects of the First World War in terms of how it is remembered as an historical event. Panel sessions inquired into the cultural forms of memory found in Italy, Greece, modern Turkey, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. With respect to variations within and among these countries, it was assumed that different cultures of memory could be discussed as variable modes of understanding historical change. Conference presentations pursued an understanding of the effects these differences in memory have upon national identity and state formation. The main discussion aimed at determining the significance of the First World War in national cultural memory. How was the war remembered? What was its influence upon the political identity and cultural conception of self in the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean in general and in the countries of the Near East in particular? Was it thought of as a 'World War' or rather as a distant war in which local actors were not directly involved? Or was it seen as a local conflict, with its confrontations constituting a preliminary stage of rebellion toward the realisation of national independence? To examine the structural patterns of the collective memory of war, two panels were set up to compare and contrast how various national groups remembered the effects of the First World War. The first, called "The political and social impact of the First World War" dealt with collective memories and changing forms of self-understanding under the impact of the war; national and social group discourses of the First World War; and the social effects. The second, called "Symbolic processing of the First World War" dealt with images, histories and narratives of the war as reflected in war monuments, historiography, autobiographies and literature; war memories of Ottoman Army officers; ideological reasoning for war participation; and the creation of national myths.