Family Legacies in the Centenary: Motives for First World War Commemoration among British and German Descendants

Abstract:This article investigates the affective motives for remembrance among British and German descendants of men and women who served in the First World War. Based on observations of a First World War centenary project funded by the Heritage Lottery and hosted in Bavaria in early 2016 by the London-based reminiscence organization Age Exchange, it asks why people are drawn to research the First World War pasts of their ancestors and how their historical pursuits connect personal experience to public commemoration in the two countries. It develops an understanding of legacy as operating across time in two directions: backwards from contemporary preoccupations to the First World War, and forwards across generations, from the survivors and their descendants to the present.