La Wallonie entre Noirs et Rouges. Un autre regard sur les tensions politiques de l'entre-deux-guerres.
CegeSoma Public History Meeting (2024-4)
Conference-debate (in French) with guest Alain Colignon,
co-author with Mélanie Bost of the book.
An interview conducted by Chantal Kesteloot.
By turning the spotlight on interwar Wallonia, torn between the 'Reds' of a socialist and communist Left and the 'Blacks' of a fascist leaning far-right in search of a vague but resolutely anti-liberal 'new order', Mélanie Bost and Alain Colignon have tried to capture the socio-political and existential malaise of a semi-rural, semi-industrial region, wedged between France and Germany and confronted with the 'Great Depression' of the '30s.
Their approach seeks to capture the intimate experience of the people of that time, deliberately limiting themselves to a series of specific themes in order to shed light on the "Walloon case" in all its specificity: focus on the 1920s as a foreshadowing (or not) of the 1930s; agitation of the Young Socialist Guards and the 'revolutionary' hopes of the Communists ; anti-parliamentary impulses of the middle classes, disrupted both by the crisis and by the apparent powerlessness of traditional political families, resulting in a flight towards a form of "national-populism", and mystical outbursts from large sections of public opinion, shaken by the threat of war around 1932-1933 and conjuring up its anxieties by resorting to the most traditional forms of popular devotion... In short, a critical look at one of the most troubled periods in our history…
On Wednesday, 5 June 2024 CegeSoma will be giving Alain Colignon the opportunity to share this richly-illustrated synthesis with you, and to tell the story of a region faced with a major economic and existential crisis, and yet still capable of bouncing back, Chantal Kesteloot will lead this talk.
Everyone is welcome!
Alain Colignon is a historian from the University of Liège. For many years, he has been head of the library at CegeSoma/State Archives and scientific advisor to the Musée de la Vie wallonne. Author of various works on the history of the Occupation and the private life of populations in wartime, he also specializes in studies of the Collaboration and the Resistance.
Chantal Kesteloot is the head of public history at CegeSoma/State Archives. She is particularly interested in the phenomenon of commemorations and the place that the past has in public space with particular regard to odonymy. She coordinates the website Belgium WWII and is the author of various publications, including Quand l'image fixe la mémoire. La Résistance et les photos de presse (septembre 1944 - mai 1945), which was published in 2022 in the Journal of Belgian History.