The Second World War 80 Years On: Is Remembrance Still Working?

To mark VE Day, two grandchildren of high-ranking army officers from opposite sides of the Second World War come together to discuss questions of Remembrance.

Henry Montgomery is the grandson of Field Marshal Bernard ‘Monty’ Montgomery. Angela Findlay is the granddaughter of General Karl von Graffen of the German Wehrmacht and the author of 'In My Grandfather’s Shadow’.

In conversation with National Army Museum historian Dr Daniel Cowling, Henry and Angela will reflect on their grandfathers’ positions and actions in the war, as well as their own lives lived in their wake or shadow, they will discuss the differences in the histories, legacies and remembrance cultures of the victors and the losers, exploring the questions: Is Remembrance working? How could it become more meaningful and successful for younger generations once the last of the veterans have passed? What lessons do we still need to learn?

About the speakers

Angela Findlay is an Anglo-German artist, author and public speaker. An early career teaching art in prisons informed her deep interest in the intergenerational consequences of unresolved trauma and histories. Exploring the impact of her own German roots led her to lecture and write about Germany’s broader process of postwar remembrance, resolution and reconciliation and art’s role within it. She is a Trustee of The Dresden Trust and her first book, 'In My Grandfather’s Shadow', was published by Penguin Transworld in July 2022.

Henry Montgomery has worked in agriculture all his life and for the last 32 years as a self-employed farm management consultant. He is president of The Spirit of Normandy Trust, The Portsmouth D-Day Story Trust and The Friends of the Fusilier Museum Warwick. He travels to Normandy each year with the Spirit of Normandy Trust and veterans of the Normandy campaign to commemorate the anniversary of the D-Day landings. 

Dr Daniel Cowling is a Historian at the National Army Museum who specialises in modern British and European history. He completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge, where he wrote a thesis on the British occupation of Germany. His first book, ‘Don’t Let’s Be Beastly to the Germans’, was published by Head of Zeus in 2023.