Words of the past: A discourse analysis of seventy-six years of remembering collaboration in post-war Belgium (1944–2020)

Since 1944, the historical wartime collaboration with the German occupier has been retold in Belgian society time and again. This chapter explores how the language used to recount these events offers valuable insights into their shifting perceptions and interpretations across different sociohistorical contexts. By tracing the evolving representations of collaboration in Belgian newspapers from 1944 to 2020, this study is interested in how the words and narratives chosen to describe the event can reflect shifting views and debates, thereby delving into the deep connections between language, memory and social change. Guided by the methodological approach of discourse analysis and drawing on theoretical frameworks by scholars such as Jakub Mlynář, it studies the subtle, yet powerful ways linguistic choices shape and are shaped by collective memories.