Didier Daeninckx: Raconteur of History

What is the relation of the work of the historian to that of the detective? This is a central theme of the work of Didier Daeninckx. Born in 1948, Daeninckx is of the generation that came of age in what Henry Rousso has termed the "obsessive phase" of the Vichy Syndrome and Daeninckx has himself played an important role in creating a gangway from this relation to the memory of the Occupation to a similar relationship to memory of the Algerian War. These obsessions are premised on the idea that there is a past hidden by those in power—and they seek to keep it hidden. Daeninckx's detectives ferret out this past and often find that historians and archivists present impediments to their quest. If historians had once used their skills and acumen to call the artisans and defenders of diverse historical memory traditions to task, Daeninckx passes on this responsibility to detectives.