Abstract
Victims have dethroned heroes in the pantheon of people celebrated by Western societies. The morality of honor that animated these heroes and shaped collective memories has been disaffected. The archives of the Belgian and French Communist parties reveal profiles of activists who were neither victims (because they were actively engaged in resistance to the occupying forces) nor heroes (because their loyalty was questioned by party cadres, and sanctions followed). The intensity of their quest for rehabilitation tells us a great deal about the "moral infrastructures" (Axel Honneth) of a just society, and underlines the irreducibility, fraught with consequences, of the friend/enemy distinction. We can endure the worst of the enemy without damaging our integrity, but banishment by friends is unbearable.
