Les relations civils-militaires en Allemagne entre « posthéroïsme » et poids du passé : le monument aux morts de la Bundeswehr

Abstract

Résumé Depuis la fin de la confrontation entre les blocs de l’Est et de l’Ouest, les forces armées allemandes (la Bundeswehr ) ont vécu une transformation profonde qui a changé substantiellement les rapports qu’ils entretenaient avec la société civile. Ce changement se manifeste entre autres dans la manière dont la société allemande gère le décès de ses militaires. Le monument consacré aux morts de la Bundeswehr qui fut inauguré en septembre 2009 en est un bon exemple. Cet article propose une analyse du mémoriel et du débat public qui a accompagné sa mise en place avec deux objectifs : étudier le contexte dans lequel le monument a été érigé afin de reconstruire les différentes significations qu’il peut revêtir et examiner à quel point le mémoriel est apte à créer un lien symbolique entre la Bundeswehr et la société allemande.

Rationalizing military death: the politics of the new military monuments in Berlin and Stockholm

“…In the Swedish context, including civilians ensures that the new veteran identity does not seem excessively militaristic. According to Nina Leonhard (2011), the decision to include military as well as civilian personnel amongst those that the Ehrenmal der Bundeswehr recognizes is contradictory: if the ambition is to honour those that have died in the service of the state, then why not include other government agencies? If the ambition is to specifically honour military sacrificeswhy include civilians?…”

“…Initiatives included the transportation of soldiers' makeshift monuments from military camps back to Europe, as well as the politically initiated high-profile production of new national monuments with clear artistic ambitions, such as Restare and Ehrenmal der Bundeswehr. A small body of scholarly literature examines these new monuments' political genesis and the controversies regarding their construction (Dahl Martinsen 2013;Ekman 2014;Leonhard 2011;Refslund Sörensen 2017;Ware 2019;Wendt and Åse 2018). Asking how design and architecture orchestrate collective memory, Mattias Ekman (2014) analyses the 2011 Monument for Denmark's International Effort.…”

“…She contends that invoking gender, in combination with a monument's specific locationhow it 'talks' to its immediate surroundingsand its particular artistic design, contributes to how public war art justifies military action and can soothe political anxieties regarding the state's war-making (Ware 2019). The possibility of specific symbols, designs and materials 'succeeding' in manifesting war-justificatory narratives is particularly limited in countries such as Germany where considerable historical sensitiveness accompanies the commemoration of the military and traditional military values (Leonhard 2011).…”