Nationalism and Demonization

The notion of "nationalism" is often a factor in the outbreak of conflict and war. Nationalism can be defined as "an extreme form of patriotism marked by a feeling of superiority over other countries¹." Extreme nationalism often leads to the demonization of “other”—making the atrocities committed in war much easier to swallow. But even with a strong sense of obligation to one’s country, can we really quell our humanistic tendencies? Némirovsky touches upon this aspect of the human condition in the first few chapters of Dolce.

Madame Angellier fights any humanist feelings towards the young German soldiers with nationalistic feelings. She makes no attempts to understand her “enemy” and rather focuses on her own broken heart. The older woman hides all of her possessions before the German intrudes into her life and home. She refuses to let gifts that she hates “be defiled by contact with Germans,” as “they had been given by French hands, looked at by French eyes, [and even] touched by the feather dusters of France” (209). Madame Angellier finds ugly vases given by remote relatives more valuable than a German life.

The younger Madame Angellier responds quite differently than her mother-in-law. When the German soldiers were a distant concept—brutes capturing and killing French fathers, brothers, and sons—feelings were black and white. But as the young German soldiers began to board in French homes, even the homes with missing loved ones, feelings became murky; there were no longer distinct lines. The soldiers did not look like “mad brute” gorillas but “young” boys with “rosy complexions and golden hair” (208).

US Anti-German Propaganda (WWII)                  Two young, anonymous German soldiers (WWII)

Even the younger Madame Angellier, the wife of a prisoner of war in Germany, cannot help but sympathize. She attempts to think of her country, her people, and her husband at the sight of the Germans, but she has a deeper understanding of the complexities of war. She runs through a series of emotions as she ponders the young soldier entering her home; “maybe he’s the one…who took Gaston prisoner? My God, how many Frenchmen has he killed? How many tears have been shed because of him? It’s true that if the war had ended the other way, Gaston might today be entering a German house. That’s how war is; it isn’t this boy’s fault” (216). In the Take Ten program through the Robinson Community Learning Center here in South Bend, I teach a violence prevention class to high school aged students. A substantial amount of the curriculum encompasses understanding and celebrating diversity as a basis of conflict resolution. To solve current violence and prevent future violence, both parties have to be willing to step into each other’s shoes. Gaston’s wife understands that her husband could have been in the very same position as the young German before her, and therefore she cannot arouse any feelings of animosity.

Works Cited

1. nationalism. Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/nationalism (accessed March 18, 2015).