E-Book Overview
This book deals with the development of private secondary schooling during the Second World War in Belgium. It focuses on how the German occupier used education to gain acceptance of the regime, and discusses the attitudes of Belgian education authorities, schools, teachers and pupils towards the German occupation. Suggesting that the occupation forced Belgian education authorities, such as the Roman Catholic Church, to take certain positions, the book explores the wartime experiences and memories of pupils and teachers. It explains that the German Culture Department was relatively weak in establishing total control over education and that Catholic schools were able to maintain their education project during the war. However, the book also reveals that, in some cases, the German occupation did not need total control over education in order to find support for some authoritarian ideas. As such, Van Ruyskenvelde’s analysis presents a nuanced view of the image of the Catholic Church, schools, teachers and pupils as mere victims of war.
E-Book Content
Wartime Schooling and Education Policy in the Second World War Catholic Education, Memory and the Government in Occupied Belgium
Sarah Van Ruyskensvelde
Wartime Schooling and Education Policy in the Second World War
Sarah Van Ruyskensvelde
Wartime Schooling and Education Policy in the Second World War Catholic Education, Memory and the Government in Occupied Belgium
Sarah Van Ruyskensvelde University of Leuven Kortrijk, Belgium
ISBN 978-1-137-52010-4 ISBN 978-1-137-52011-1 DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-52011-1
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2016942630 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identified as the author(s) of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover illustration: © Tim Gainey / Alamy Stock Photo Cover design by Samantha Johnson Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Macmillan Publishers Ltd. London
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book began as a doctoral dissertation, and it would never have been completed or even published if it had not been for the guidance of my supervisors, university colleagues and friends. I owe all of them much gratitude for having contributed to the improvement and completion of this study. First, I have to thank my supervisors, Prof. Dr. Marc Depaepe of the Catholic University of Leuvenand Prof. Dr. Marnix Beyen of the University of Antwerp for their encouragement and advice. I have always admired Marnix’s expertise in the political and cultural history of World W