Journal of Belgian History, LII, 2022, 1-2

With this double theme issue, you will have a diverse sample of the latest research on the Resistance during World War II. Guest editors Babette Weyns (Ghent University) and Michèle Corthals (Antwerp University) kick off the issue with an overview and analysis of the historiography of the resistance movement in Belgium. Michèle Corthals is also the author of an article in this issue about the representation of female resistance in the Belgian clandestine communist women's press. Bruno De Wever (UGent) and Karolien Steen (UGent) then write the first synthesis of the resistance in the city of Ghent. The fourth article comes from Marnix Beyen (University of Antwerp) and uses the small Flemish-Brabant municipality of Wijgmaal to weigh the impact of local specificity on the development of the resistance. Babette Weyns writes an article on the first post-war years of the National Council and the National Union of Resistance. Chantal Kesteloot (CegeSoma/ARA) and Bénédicte Rochet (University of Namur) base their article on press photos about the resistance between the period of September 1944 and May 1945 in order to investigate how the resistance was represented during and immediately after the liberation. Florence Rasmont (CegeSoma/ARA, ULB) uses oral history in her article for a case study on the intergenerational transmission of a resistance past within a family. Finally, the debate section is also dedicated to the resistance. Fabrice Maerten (CegeSomaARA) builds on the insights from his rich source guide 'Was Opa a Hero? (2020) to launch avenues for new research. The second debate contribution comes from Bart Willems, archivist of the Antwerp-Beveren State Archives: after an analysis of the history of the resistance, he makes suggestions for new research.