This work is the result of a two-year collaboration between the historians of the area of Dunkirk and the Memory Studies - MEMS research laboratory of the University of Stavanger (Norway). The very name of the town of Dunkirk is anchored in the collective memory of Europe not to mention that of the world. The theatre for some of the great battles of both world wars, but particularly well known for the part it played in the famous Operation Dynamo of May-June 1940, Dunkirk still remains a strong symbol of Europe's bloody and violent past that continues to raise questions that need to be understood today.