Gefallenengedenken im globalen Vergleich: Nationale Tradition, politische Legitimation und Individualisierung der Erinnerung

War is a global phenomenon, but war memories and commemoration of the fallen differ in each country. In 20 country studies, the authors explore how historical traditions, religious imprints, and political orders affect patterns of remembrance in the modern cult of the fallen. Despite many differences between the individual countries, two commonalities emerge clearly: all the fallen are politically taken into service in order to legitimize one's own state system with the death of its soldiers. At the same time, the commemoration of the fallen is individualized in all nation-states, representing each soldier individually by name and as an equal part of the nation. Only religious and revolutionary martyr cults resist this egalitarian tendency.