Historiography and Remembrance

Commonplace in the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB) historiography is a grievance towards the public, as it is acknowledged that most Brazilians ignore the deeds of the pracinhas. Through a comparative case study involving the FEB and the 2nd New Zealand Division, this paper sought to analyse the influences of the Italian Campaign on their literature and remembrance. It was observed that the sidelining of the Italian Campaign diminished the Home Front prominence of the Allied forces. However, this did not lead to a similar grievance in New Zealand’s literature, nor is their division perceived as forgotten. The evidences reveal that the explanation for the contrasting roles of the two units within the national memories rests with the different post-war governmental approaches towards their war stories. In turn, the grievance towards the public is an outcome of the FEB’s ordeal not being captured by the Brazilian collective memory.