Searching for the Dutch-Paris Escape Line
Memory slips and shifts depending on the person and the time. Ask any five people what happened at a particular place and time and they will all have a slightly – if not wildly – different memory of the event. Those are personal, individual memories.
Public memory, meaning the “official story” as remembered by a community, shifts just as much but it is often subject to the political powers and fashions of the day. Public memory finds shape in monuments, historical plaques, parades and legal holidays. The public memory of communities that are not in power takes shape in things like vigils, art installations, songs and graffiti. Control over public memory is often a cause and site of contention. That’s true whether the question is access to archival docum