Krigsforbryter i familien. Litterære oppgjør fra etterkommernes perspektiv

What is it about?

In this chapter, I address contemporary Norwegian fiction and life writing about perpetrators during WWII, written from the perspective of their descendants: one child, one grandchild, and one great grandchild. I also make a rough comparison to the German tradition of Väterliteratur and Enkelliteratur. In Norway, this descendants’ literature emerges later than in Germany, but since the 2010s it has been a growing trend. An interesting discovery is that the sharp generational pattern seems to decrease as the temporal distance from these events increases. Also, while German descendants of war victims tend to work through traumas, Norwegian descendants of perpetrators, on the other hand, urgently reflect on the similarities between themselves and their ancestors.

Featured Image