Individuals, communities and societies all ‘remember’ wars. Forms of remembering include state sponsored memorials and acts of remembrance; spontaneous, collective acts of commemoration such as those seen recently at Wooton Basset; and the preservation of photos, objects and stories within the family. However, alongside these acts of remembering are silences; gaps in our shared remembrance of warfare and a reluctance to articulate traumatic and often difficult memories.

The aim of this one-day conference was to explore the ways in which memories of war shift over time. Memory is never fixed but is open to change, as, for example, figures who were once nationally mourned slip from view and previously marginal or largely forgotten events gain the centre ground.

Organised by the Royal Marines Museum, Portsmouth and the Centre for Research in Memory, Narrative and Histories, University of Brighton to mark the Royal Marines Museum exhibition ‘Why Stay Silent?’ this conference examines the processes by which aspects of wartime are remembered and forgotten.

Focusing on the memory of war in twentieth and twenty-first century Britain and with papers exploring remembrance of conflict in the media, in museums, by individuals, by societies and by communities seeking post-conflict reconciliation, this conference addressed the ways in which individuals, communities and societies remember and sometimes forget wars across a range of sites of memory.

Speakers included:

• Professor Penny Summerfield, University of Manchester
• Dr Dan Todman, Queen Mary and Westfield, University of London
• Dr Petra Utta-Rau, University of Portsmouth.