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The Resource Through the day, through the night : a Flemish Belgian boyhood and World War II, Jan Vansina

Through the day, through the night : a Flemish Belgian boyhood and World War II, Jan Vansina

Creator
Summary
One of twelve children in a close-knit, affluent Catholic Belgian family, Jan Vansina began life in a seemingly sheltered environment. But that cocoon was soon pierced by the escalating tensions and violence that gripped Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. In this book Vansina recalls his boyhood and youth in Antwerp, Bruges, and the Flemish countryside as the country was rocked by waves of economic depression, fascism, competing nationalisms, and the occupation of first Axis and then Allied forces. Within the vast literature on World War II, a much smaller body of work treats the everyday experiences of civilians, particularly in smaller countries drawn into the conflict. Recalling the war in Belgium from a child's-eye perspective, Vansina describes pangs of hunger so great as to make him crave the bitter taste of cod-liver oil. He vividly remembers the shock of seeing severely wounded men on the grounds of a field hospital, the dangers of crossing fields and swimming in ponds strafed by planes, and his family's interactions with occupying and escaping soldiers from both sides. After the war he recalls emerging numb from the cinema where he first saw the footage of the Nazi death camps, and he describes a new phase of unrest marked by looting, vigilante justice, and the country's efforts at reunification. Vansina, a historian and anthropologist best known for his insights into oral tradition and social memory, draws on his own memories and those of his siblings to reconstruct daily life in Belgium during a tumultuous era.--
Language
eng
Work
Instance
Label
Through the day, through the night : a Flemish Belgian boyhood and World War II
Title
Through the day, through the night
Title remainder
a Flemish Belgian boyhood and World War II
Statement of responsibility
Jan Vansina
Creator
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
One of twelve children in a close-knit, affluent Catholic Belgian family, Jan Vansina began life in a seemingly sheltered environment. But that cocoon was soon pierced by the escalating tensions and violence that gripped Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. In this book Vansina recalls his boyhood and youth in Antwerp, Bruges, and the Flemish countryside as the country was rocked by waves of economic depression, fascism, competing nationalisms, and the occupation of first Axis and then Allied forces. Within the vast literature on World War II, a much smaller body of work treats the everyday experiences of civilians, particularly in smaller countries drawn into the conflict. Recalling the war in Belgium from a child's-eye perspective, Vansina describes pangs of hunger so great as to make him crave the bitter taste of cod-liver oil. He vividly remembers the shock of seeing severely wounded men on the grounds of a field hospital, the dangers of crossing fields and swimming in ponds strafed by planes, and his family's interactions with occupying and escaping soldiers from both sides. After the war he recalls emerging numb from the cinema where he first saw the footage of the Nazi death camps, and he describes a new phase of unrest marked by looting, vigilante justice, and the country's efforts at reunification. Vansina, a historian and anthropologist best known for his insights into oral tradition and social memory, draws on his own memories and those of his siblings to reconstruct daily life in Belgium during a tumultuous era.--
Assigning source
Provided by Publisher
Biography type
autobiography
Cataloging source
WU/DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Vansina, Jan
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Vansina, Jan
  • Flemings
  • Belgians
  • Historians
  • Belgium
Label
Through the day, through the night : a Flemish Belgian boyhood and World War II, Jan Vansina
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier.
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent.
Control code
FIEb17591612
Dimensions
22 cm.
Extent
xv, 247 pages
Isbn
9780299299941
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia.
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
(OCoLC)856861315
Label
Through the day, through the night : a Flemish Belgian boyhood and World War II, Jan Vansina
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier.
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent.
Control code
FIEb17591612
Dimensions
22 cm.
Extent
xv, 247 pages
Isbn
9780299299941
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia.
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
(OCoLC)856861315

Subject

Genre

Library Locations

    • Badia FiesolanaBorrow it
      Via dei Roccettini 9, San Domenico di Fiesole, 50014, IT
      43.803074 11.283055

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