AFUSA event: D-Day and the Soul of France | French-American Histories

WEDNESDAY, June 5^th, 2024 5:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M (CST).

Federation of Alliances Françaises USA
In English - FREE

A conversation with Roger Mummert with Iris de Rode, Ph.D.

Roger Mummert (founder of The Paris Project) will revisit D-Day and the Battle of Normandy through an exploration of narratives, both American and French. The GIs who fought and died in this epic invasion and liberation were called to duty in a “Great Crusade” that was fueled by a sense of “American exceptionalism.” Then, in the horrors of battle, they were driven by basic instincts to survive and get home. The people of Normandy faced a more complex set of narratives. After four years of bitter occupation, liberation would come via a hellfire that claimed the lives of loved ones and reduced farms and towns to smoldering ruins. Some followed the narrative of restoring an “eternal France.” They fanned the “flame of resistance” with acts of sabotage against their occupiers. Others chose collaboration, still others the middle ground of attentisme.