This module explores how Germany, Italy, Holland, Poland, France and Austria dealt with the legacies and memories of fascism, National Socialism, occupation, collaboration and resistance. Coming to terms with the recent past of war, Holocaust and destruction was a European teask carried out differently in different countries. New founding narratives were created and former enemies were replaced with new ones. Taking the traingle of history, memory and narrative as a starting point, the module explores ways in which different nations coped with the past, providing insight into historical narratives and political thought in post-1945 Europe. After the end of the Second World War, Europe's population was faced with death and destruction on an unprecendented scale and there was little time, so it seemed, to mourn and reflect. New governments and new political systems quickly replaced the previousones and oftern based their foundation on an explicit stance against totalitarian regimes. Stories of resistance an martyrdom, of suffering and victimhood were essential to create the sense of a new beginning.