Collective memory in conflict: Exploring spatial multivocality in Oradour-sur-Glane

Drawing on Organizational Memory Studies (OMS), this paper examines how the conflicts that gradually emerge between different mnemonic communities over how to deal with the past spatially shape a memory site over time and its underlying collective memory. To this end, we conduct a historical analysis of the Oradour-sur-Glane site from 1944 to 2024, covering 80 years from immediately after the massacre of almost all the village’s inhabitants by the German army. Our findings reveal the dynamic of spatial multivocality with the creation and reconfiguration of different sub-spaces expressed through conflict mitigation mechanisms: preserving, echoing, privatizing, combining , and bridging . Our findings contribute to OMS research by exploring the contested nature of collective memory, the role of spatial multivocality in mitigating conflicts, and the significance of spatial arrangement as a mnemonic trace. We highlight how spatial arrangements not only anchor memory but also act as mediums for negotiating competing interpretations of the past, revealing the complex interplay between collective memory, conflict, and spatial arrangement.