Du 7 au 9 octobre 2026 : « Informal Communication in Nazi Europe: World War II, Occupation, and the Search for Meaning in Societies at War »
Final Conference of the INFOCOM Project, Munich, 7-9 October 2026
[ https://crh.ehess.fr/index.php?11257 | https://crh.ehess.fr/index.php?11257 ]
Final conference of the Leibniz Junior Research Group project “‘Man hört, man spricht’: Informal Communication and Information ‘From Below’ in Nazi Europe” (INFOCOM), Munich, October 7–9, 2026.
L’équipe Histoire et historiographie de la Shoah ( [ https://click.mailchimp.com/track/click/30010842/us6.mailchimp.com?p=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 | CRH ] – [ https://click.mailchimp.com/track/click/30010842/us6.mailchimp.com?p=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 | HHS ] ) se joint au groupe de recherche INFOCOM et à l’Institut d’histoire contemporaine (IfZ) de Munich pour organiser un colloque sur les circulations informelles d’informations en Europe sous domination nazie et dans le monde. INFOCOM (Informal Communication and Information « From Below » in Nazi Europe) est [ https://us6.mailchimp.com/mctx/clicks?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ifz-muenchen.de%2Faktuelles%2Fthemen%2Fman-hoert-man-spricht&xid=63d331a6f2&uid=161141098&iid=10251205&pool=template_test&v=2&c=1790607392&h=62751412c5cf4b2bba00f210a875c2bf83cbd5780aff4456c990986f88c82495 | un projet de recherche porté par l’Institut für Zeitgeschichte (IfZ) ] et dirigé par [ https://click.mailchimp.com/track/click/30010842/us6.mailchimp.com?p=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 | Caroline Mezger ] . Il vise à étudier les interactions entre la communication officielle émanant de l’État et la production, le traitement et l’interprétation d’informations informelles par la population dans l’Allemagne nazie et dans les territoires occupés.
La Seconde Guerre mondiale a profondément altéré les modes de circulation et le crédit apporté aux informations. Les sources d’information traditionnelles ont été mises à mal par la guerre et l’occupation, tandis que les espaces publiques se trouvaient radicalement perturbés, y compris en contexte autoritaire. Dans de nombreux territoires, les régimes dictatoriaux ont imposé des degrés sans précédent de censure, de propagande et de surveillance pour contraindre et influencer l’opinion publique. Les informations fiables et vérifiables sont devenues très rares, ouvrant la voie à l’émergence de canaux d’information alternatifs informels et à une circulation plus ou moins large de rumeurs et de légendes urbaines sur lesquelles les acteurs ont pu le cas échéant s’appuyer pour agir. Résolument interdisciplinaire et transnational, cet atelier se propose donc d’explorer le rôle des communications informelles dans les sociétés en guerre à travers le monde. Ce colloque munichois traitera de l’Europe mais il invite également à aborder l’ensemble des zones géographiques touchées par le conflit mondial, y compris les empires coloniaux, les alliés de l’Axe et la zone Pacifique ainsi que les pays neutres. Les actes du colloque ont vocation à être publiés.
Scientific Committee:
Caroline Mezger (main organizer, EHESS) Florent Brayard (EHESS/CNRS) Thomas Chopard (EHESS) Johannes Großmann (Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich) Isabel Heinemann (IfZ Munich)
Programm Day 1: Wednesday, October 7th
Location: Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Main Building (Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 Munich), Room A 214 (2nd floor)
18:00 – 20:00: Public Keynote Lecture by Jo Fox (Newcastle University): “Whispers of War: Rumour, Fake News, and the Limits of Control”
Day 2: Thursday, October 8th
Location: Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) Munich, Main Building (Leonrodstraße 46B, 80636 Munich), Lecture Hall (ground floor)
9:00 – 9:10: Welcome by Isabel Heinemann (IfZ Director)
9:10 – 9:30: Introduction by Caroline Mezger (EHESS), “Informal Communication in Nazi Europe: World War II, Occupation, and the Search for Meaning in Societies at War”
9:30 – 11:00: Panel 1 – Paths to War
Chair: Jürgen Finger (German Historical Institute Paris)
* Manuel Mork (LMU Munich): “Counter-Knowledge and the Anecdotal Method: Wartime Rumors during the Battle of France, the Exode, and under German Occupation (1940–41)” * Maude Williams (Universität des Saarlandes): “‘Your Houses Are Well Guarded’: Rumors of Looting during the Evacuation of the Franco-German Border Region (1939–1940)” * Izabela Paszko (German Historical Institute Warsaw): “Communication and Survival: Regaining Agency in Wartime East Upper Silesia”
11:30 – 13:00: Panel 2 – Surveillance and State Control
Chair: Johannes Großmann (LMU Munich)
* Ariane Mak (Université Paris Cité): “Rumours and False Alarms in Wartime Britain: A Historical Anthropology of Suspicion” * Marie-Bénédicte Vincent (Université Marie & Louis Pasteur, Besançon): “German Institutes in the Provinces of Occupied France (1940–1944): A Network of Informants for Nazi Germany?”
14:30 – 16:00: Panel 3 – Sense-Making under Nazi Occupation: Media, Practices, Counterpropaganda
Chair: Thomas Chopard (EHESS)
* Marjet Brolsma (University of Amsterdam): “Wartime Radio Propaganda and Fostering Passive Resistance through Informal Communication” * Marie Fridrick (Université de Lorraine): “Feminine Engaged Poetry in Moselle: An Informal Way of Communication to Denounce the Nazis in a de facto Annexed Territory” * Anna Onufriienko (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology): “Film-Making as Informal Communication: Camera, Interaction, and Forced Labor in Ukraine 1943”
16:30 – 17:30: INFOCOM Roundtable Discussion – “Informal Communication in Nazi Europe: Transnational Perspectives”
Moderation: Johannes Großmann (LMU Munich)
Day 3: Friday, October 9th
Location: Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) Munich, Main Building (Leonrodstraße 46B, 80636 Munich), Lecture Hall (ground floor)
9:00 – 10:30: Panel 4 – Experiencing Nazi Persecution
Chair: Marsha Siefert (Central European University)
* Damien De Santis (Mémorial de la Shoah, Paris): “Between the Lines: A Study of Discourses on Racial Deportations from France (1941–1945)” * Hanna Lehun (Arolsen Archives): “‘I Would Write So Much More’: Letters of Ukrainian Forced Laborers under Nazi Rule” * Daria Starikashkina (Justus Liebig University Gießen): “Rumors of Extermination: Informal Knowledge and Jewish Vulnerability in Besieged Leningrad”
11:00 – 12:30: Panel 5 – Knowledge of Nazi Persecution: Nascence, Circulation, Reverberations
Chair: Florent Brayard (EHESS)
* Sophie Küsterling (University of Luzern): “‘The terrible thing is happening in the Third Reich’: From Informal to Formal Circulation of Knowledge about the Nazi ‘Euthanasia’ Program in Switzerland” * Caroline Mezger (EHESS): “Rumors of Atrocity: Forced Migration, Informal Communication, and the Emergence of Holocaust Knowledge” * Michelle Gordon (Uppsala University): “Viewing Nazi Europe and the Holocaust through the Correspondence of British Soldiers”
14:00 – 15:30: Panel 6 – World War II and Postwar Transitions: Confronting Collapse
Chair: Roberta Pergher (Indiana University)
* Witali Gerber (Bundeswehr Military History Museum): “Everyday Correspondence as a Resource of Endurance: Youth, Fear, and Belonging in 1944–45” * Jacopo Bernardini (University of Pisa): “Interpreting Collapse: Prefectural Authority in the Italian Social Republic and Vichy France” * Felix Berge (University of the Bundeswehr, Munich): “‘Rumors Are All We Have Left to Live On’: A Local History of Informal Communication at the End of the Second World War”
Kontakt
[ mailto:presse@ifz-muenchen.de | presse@ifz-muenchen.de ]
[ https://www.hsozkult.de/event/id/event-164656 | En savoir plus ]
[ https://www.ehess.fr/ | ]
Nadja Vuckovic Chargée de communication et de médiation scientifique EHESS – École des hautes études en sciences sociales CRH | AHLoMA, EJ, GEHM, GEI, Histoire du Genre, HHS | Bureau n°B4_20 54, boulevard Raspail – CS 60883 75272 Paris Cedex [ https://crh.ehess.fr/index.php | https://crh.ehess.fr/ ]