Politics of Forgetting: New Zealand, Greece and Britain at War

Abstract

Politics of Forgetting: New Zealand, Greece and Britain at War . By Martyn Brown. (Australian Scholarly Publishing, London/New York, 2018), pp.408, 21 figures, AU$49.95 (pb). Examining triangular relationships between nation‐states has become a growing topic of interest in historical studies. Such a frame of analysis has typically centred on reciprocal communications shared between three states and the different spheres where past interactions have taken place. Martyn Brown's examination of the “multiple connections” shared between New Zealand, Greece, and Britain during the Second World War contributes to this trend (p.3). In the first detailed study of New Zealand's military engagements in Greece, he offers new insights into the nationalist dynamics of “official” war history and the loaded politics of war remembrance. Brown is interested in the question of “what has been forgotten in the process” of remembering war and sets out to right the wrongs of historical silencing (p.2). The book sets the story of New Zealand's military involvement in Greece and attempts to place military exchanges alongside the complicated politics of conflict, humanitarianism, and the role Britain had in demarcating the contours of the New Zealand‐Greek relationship. Drawing on a wide range of archival materials in New Zealand, Greece, Britain, and the United States, Brown is interested in what is ignored or deliberately left out in New Zealand's Official War History Project.