Contesting Indochina: French Remembrance between Decolonization and Cold War

324 Pages·2016·29.085 MB·English

by  M. Kathryn Edwards

Contesting Indochina
french remembrance between
decolonization and cold war
M. Kathryn Edwards
university of california press

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University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2016 by Th e Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Edwards, M. Kathryn, 1979– author.
Title: Contesting Indochina : French remembrance between
decolonization and Cold War / M. Kathryn Edwards.
Other titles: From Indochina to Vietnam ; v. 8.
Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2016]
| “2016 | Series: From Indochina to Vietnam ; 8 | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2016009422 (print) | LCCN 2016010585 (ebook)
ISBN 9780520288607 (book/cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 9780520288614 (book/paper : alk. paper)
ISBN 9780520963467 (EBook Format/ePub + PDF)
Subjects: LCSH: Indochinese War, 1946–1954. |
Decolonization— Indochina. | France—Colonies—Indochina.
Classifi cation: LCC DS553.7 .E37 2016 (print) | LCC DS553.7 (ebook) |
DDC 959.05/3—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016009422
Manufactured in the United States of America
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In keeping with a commitment to support environmentally responsible and
sustainable printing practices, UC Press has printed this book on Natures
Natural, a fi ber that contains 30% post-consumer waste and meets the
minimum requirements of ansi/niso z39.48–1992 (r 1997) (Permanence of
Paper).
For Chris
In France, one cannot address the history of colonialism,
of anticolonialism, of communism, or of anticommunism,
without provoking—or unleashing—some passion.
alain ruscio, Les communistes
fr ançais et la guerre d’Indochine, 1944–1954
contents
List of Illustrations ix
Institutional Acronyms xi
Acknowledgments xv
Map of France xviii
Introduction 1
1 French Indochina from Conquest to Commemoration 12
•
2 Remembrance and Rehabilitation: Th e ANAI
•
and the Anticommunist Narrative 34
3 From Activism to Remembrance: Th e Anticolonial Narrative 54
•
4 Morts pour la France? Offi cial Commemoration
•
of the Indochina War 88
5 “Th e Forgotten of Vietnam-sur-Lot”: Repatriate Camps
•
as Sites of Colonial Memory 116
6 “La sale aff aire”: Collaboration, Resistance,
•
and the Georges Boudarel Aff air 145
7 Missing in Action: Th e Indochina War and French Film 167
•
Conclusion 208
Notes 215
Bibliography 277
Index 297

illustrations
1. Bust of Ho Chi Minh, Parc Montreau, Montreuil 85
2. Rolf Rodel’s monument at Dien Bien Phu 91
3. Bas-relief on the Monument to the Dead of Indochina (1983), Fréjus 96
4. Memorial to the Indochina Wars, Fréjus 100
5. Memorial wall (1996), Fréjus 103
6. Permanent exhibit of the Memorial 111
7. Entrance to the Reception Center for the French of
Indochina (CAFI) 123
8. Barracks and water tower at the CAFI 123
9. Brigadier General de Castries’s bunker, Dien Bien Phu 212
10. Military cemetery in Dien Bien Phu 213
ix