Leren herinneren. De visuele weergave van de Tweede Wereldoorlog in schoolboeken en de invloed hiervan op het collectief geheugen van Nederland.

Abstract

This thesis sets out to answer the question to what degree the visual representation of the Second World War in schoolbooks influences the perception of the war within the collective memory. To do so, 32 schoolbooks from 1960 till 2010 have been analysed on the way they use photo's about the war and what kind of 'iconic images' they produce. These familiar images are used, along with unfamiliar images, in a survey. Respondents were each time shown two photos of which they had to choose the one that fitted their image of the war. This way it was possible to which images are abundant within the collective memory and which images are not. The conclusion of this thesis is that particular images are that strong, that there is a risk that they overshadow other images and information. This is partly under influence of the schoolbooks, put there are other element which influence the collective memory of the Second World War.