Destruction and revival: the example of calvados and caen, 1940–1965

Abstract

The Normandy Landings of June 1944 marked the beginning of the end of World War II and heralded the reconstruction process that would transform the appearance of towns and villages throughout Lower Normandy. After a relatively quiet war, the city of Caen and its surrounding countryside suffered profound devastation in 1944. Once peace was restored, German prisoners of war and French labourers cleared mines, removed debris, and erected temporary accommodation before definitive reconstruction began. After consulting earlier proposals for remodelling inner Caen, Mayor Guillou appointed Marc Brillaud de Laujardière as chief architect and city planner. In the 1950s reconstruction co‐operatives played a vital role in rebuilding inner districts, where fragmented landownership was reorganized and apartment blocks replaced family houses. The heroic events of the Landings are evoked in the Memorial at Caen and in countless other museums, but the dramatic restoration of Normandy tends to be dismissed and simply taken for granted in fashioning the landscapes of everyday life.