This work reveals the intergenerational memories of the children of those who lived through the final days of colonialism and the independence struggles of territories colonised by Portugal, France and Belgium. In this archive of post-memory, stories from Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, Cape Verde, Algeria and Congo echo through the words of thirty-seven European citizens, whose narratives and reflections question that past, its shadows and its silences, but also express their joys and achievements in the European present. From these personal records, we can follow the threads that connect the colonial relations of yesteryear to the contemporary phenomena of migrations, nostalgia, racism, discrimination or the political hypocrisy of relations between the former colonising metropoles and the former colonies. For this reason, issues such as citizenship, belonging, inheritance, but also reparation, restitution and denunciation are addressed, generating a complex and new intergenerational dialectic that refuses the pursuit of retraumatisation, while rejecting the logics of forgetfulness. These are views that are attentive to other sides of history, necessarily subjective and full of other people's experiences, generating multiple affective, family and political ties, which contribute to illuminating and understanding the European present and the links between Europe and Africa. Finally, a text by Portuguese author, Paulo Faria, who challenges us to new constellations of European memories and suggests other questions.

The French edition of this book is launched in Paris on April 8, 2022, by Presses Universitaires de Paris Nanterre, series «La langue portugaise en cultures», under the title: «Enfants d'Empires coloniaux et postmémoire européenne» | Margarida Calafate Ribeiro and Fátima da Cruz Rodrigues, Presses Universitaires de Paris Nanterre, series «La langue portugaise en cultures», 2022.

_{Cover image: AIMÉ MPANE, 9 Portraits, Kinoct series, 2011 © Aimé Mpane, courtesy of the artist}