An invisible colonial monument stands at the west of Cherbourg center, in Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy, France. This monument “to the memory of soldiers and sailors who died in the colonies” does not include periods or names of people nor places of battle, unlike war monuments, as if French colonial period was not finished. At first glance, as an arsenal and harbor built against England and Royal navy in the nineteenth century, Cherbourg could appear as immersed in the French colonial past and imperial legacy. This chapter explores what I propose to characterize as a “disappeared imperial port city,” today recovered as an atomic, submarine city. I consider the ways in which social amnesia about the colonial past and trans-colonial violence play out in such contexts. I undertake a comparative analysis of Museum Emmanuel Liais and the monument to the memory of soldiers and sailors who died in the colonies. This study seeks to add greater complexity and nuance to consideration of Cherbourg’s history and heritage and explores ways to restore missing voices of its past.

An invisible colonial monument stands at the west of Cherbourg center, in Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy, France. This monument “to the memory of soldiers and sailors who died in the colonies” does not include periods or names of people nor places of battle, unlike war monuments, as if French colonial period was not finished. At first glance, as an arsenal and harbor built against England and Royal navy in the nineteenth century, Cherbourg could appear as immersed in the French colonial past and imperial legacy. This chapter explores what I propose to characterize as a “disappeared imperial port city,” today recovered as an atomic, submarine city. I consider the ways in which social amnesia about the colonial past and trans-colonial violence play out in such contexts. I undertake a comparative analysis of Museum Emmanuel Liais and the monument to the memory of soldiers and sailors who died in the colonies. This study seeks to add greater complexity and nuance to consideration of Cherbourg’s history and heritage and explores ways to restore missing voices of its past.