Popular Historiographies in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Cultural Meanings, Social Practices

Sylvia Paletschek, Sylvia Paletschek

• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781845459734
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: History

Popular presentations of history have recently been discovered as a new field of research, and even though interest in it has been growing noticeably very little has been published on this topic. This volume is one of the first to open up this new area of historical research, introducing some of the work that has emerged in Germany over the past few years. While mainly focusing on Germany (though not exclusively), the authors analyze different forms of popular historiographies and popular presentations of history since 1800 and the interrelation between popular and academic historiography, exploring in particular popular histories in different media and popular historiography as part of memory culture.

1

Introduction: Why Analyse Popular Historiographies?

Sylvia Paletschek

At this point in time, popular presentations of history are booming – not only in the Western world, but worldwide. Recent allusions to history as the ‘new gardening’ by a BBC representative¹ or its characterization as the ‘new cooking’ by historian Justin Champion (2008a) suggest that in Britain history-related television programmes are on their way to outdoing the highly successful gardening or cooking formats in terms of popularity. While this may be a slight exaggeration, the fact is that there has been a rising interest in history since the 1980s. From the second half of the 1990s this interest has reached an unprecedented peak (Winter 2001: 5–16; 2006: 19–39).

In Germany, this trend was first observed in relation to increasing numbers of visitors to historical exhibitions and museums (Korff 1990). Similarly, considerable public attention was paid to controversies among historical experts. For example, in the second half of the 1980s, the Historikerstreit – the debate about scientifically adequate perspectives on German National Socialism among German history experts – was, in part, carried out in the public media where it reached a broad audience (Augstein et al. 1987; Evans 1991; Peter 1995; Schneider 1995). In the late 1990s, the Wehrmachtsausstellung – the German Army exhibition focusing on the war crimes of the Wehrmacht committed on the eastern front during the Second World War – caused a major public debate about the role of the German army in the Second World War Klotz 2001; Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung 2002; Hartmann and Hürter 2005). And in 2001, a fierce discussion between ancient historians and archaeologists about Troy caused a sensation in the public (Ulf 2003; Weber 2006).

Somewhat less spectacular, yet of equal importance, has been the evolution of new historical movements ‘from below’ which emerged from the 1970s on. Examples include the Geschichtswerkstätten (history workshops) and women’s history groups, both of which indicate (among other things) an increasing interest both in regional history and in the history of everyday life. Initiated in Scandinavia (Grabe-wo-du-stehst, Sven Lindquist) and in Great Britain (Raphael Samuel), the history workshop movement reached Germany in the early 1980s (Heer and Ullrich 1985; Böge 2004).

With the unprecedented success of the American television series Holocaust on German television in 1979, which was watched by 10 to 15 million people (Brandt 2003; Bösch 2007), German broadcasting and especially ZDF (a national public television broadcaster), discovered history as a Quotenbringer (a reliable deliverer of high ratings). Against this background, German television saw the emergence of new forms and formats for the presentation of history. From the 1980s on, and especially since the 1990s, television increasingly drew on historical subject matter for various documentary, semi-documentary and fictional formats. The period between 1995 and 2003 brought a doubling of the percentage of historical programmes presented on television; today about 5 per cent of broadcasting content is related to history (Lersch and Viehhoff 2007). On average, a history format can rely on an audience share of between 7 and 13 per cent, that is 2 to 5 million viewers (Wirtz 2008: 11). Thus, television has emerged as the Leitmedium – the medium in dominance with regard to historical culture. According to a representative survey in 1991, 90 per cent of Germans stated that they engage with historical issues on a regular basis and that they primarily rely on television (67 per cent) and on fictional material (38 per cent) for this purpose. In this regard, academic and other educational institutions (such as schools) involved in mediating history are of lesser importance (13 per cent) (Crivellari et al. 2004: 12).

In addition to this, the last decade saw a major boom in popular historical productions in the print media, in historical non-fiction books, in periodicals devoted to history as well as in popular magazines. For example, during the last few years most of the well-known German magazines – such as Der Spiegel, Die Zeit and Geo – released a specialized history format in the context of their diversified output (Geo Epoche since 1999; Die Zeit Geschichte since 2005; Spiegel Special Geschichte since 2007). Also, the decade saw an increase in the number of (historical) biographies and autobiographies published along with the rise of fictionalized forms, such as historical novels and historical crime fiction, in the book market. In addition, numerous historical websites on the internet, history articles on Wikipedia, CD-ROM productions as well as historical computer games attest to the phenomenon’s expansion into the new digital media and to the creation of new forms of mediation.²

Moreover, re-enactments and living history, which have both been known since the late nineteenth century, have mushroomed in recent years. In their recent versions, both forms involve an experimental, ‘live’ re-enactment of historical events or living conditions and, thus, intensify the rise of new or updated forms of mediating history (Carlson 2000; Cook 2004; Hochbruck 2006). Such forms are used for historical performances by private associations as well as by museums and theme parks. What they suggest is the possibility of experiencing the past in much more sensual ways. Similarly, TV documentaries, such as the docudrama, offer the same kind of promise, and this has contributed to the immense popularity of historical docu-soaps such as The 1900 House in Great Britain and Schwarzwaldhaus and Gutshaus in Germany (Hunt 2006; Ebbrecht 2007; Müller and Schwarz 2008). Through these old and new media and formats, popular representations of history now reach a mass audience and are received by broad fractions of the population. Thus, it is legitimate to suggest that they have a much stronger impact on people’s perceptions of history than academic studies.

The History Boom: Some Background Information

This history boom can be conceived of as an integral part of, and a response to, contemporary societies’ accelerating changes and to what has been called ‘second modernity’.³ Traditional orientations, life styles and work patterns have gone through radical changes, if not disruptions, since the last three decades of the twentieth century. National boundaries as well as the construction of nations, states and ethnicities have gone through rapid changes. The same holds true for the significance and implementation of gender, religion, class and age. An unspoken belief in progress has become obsolete and many people experience the present as a period of crisis and uncertainty. In such a situation, the turn to history can serve the function of constructing continuity, orientation and identity – be it national or regional, sub-cultural or individual. An increased level of education, greater prosperity and more leisure time has also supported this new interest in history which can be seen as a result of the emergence of modern knowledge society since the end of the nineteenth century (Szöllösi-Janze 2004: 277–312). Yet, the engagement with history, particularly through popular display formats, also satisfies the need for emotional and aesthetic experience and for adventure, for a risk-free encounter with what is strange, different or ‘other’ and, finally, for relaxation and diversion. Moreover, public and state organizations, social elites and political groups draw on popular forms to strategically use history for legitimizing either the status quo or political changes.

Since the emergence of modern historiography in the early nineteenth century, its increasing incomprehensibility by non-specialists has been deplored particularly in Germany. Characterized by its ever-intensified specialization, modern historiography is based on empirical sources and decidedly sets itself apart from popular representations. Thus, scientific historiography has moved away from the philosophy of history as well as from various forms of literary historiography (Hardtwig 1982, 1990f). By doing so, academic historiography has lost its ‘entertainment value’ and also, to some extent, its ability to deal with vital issues. Meanwhile, questions about the meaning of history have come to take a back seat in scientific accounts. The development of modern historical science in the nineteenth century saw the emergence of a paradox: the rise of academic science, its institionalization and specialization – which meant its moving away from ‘universal history’ (Universalgeschichte) to source-saturated national history – was inextricably related to the rise of the nation and of new, bourgeois elites. Thus, modern academic history owed its early and successful expansion in German universities to its legitimizing function. On the other hand, increasing ‘scientification’ and specialization, partly facilitated by the German tradition of freedom of research and teaching (Lehr- und Forschungs-freiheit) and the single states’ competition in the cultural sector, led to a form of academic historiography which notably forfeited much of its appeal to broader bourgeois audiences, though never completely losing it. Academic historiography additionally reinforced existing power structures and the world-view of male, bourgeois, protestant, nationally conservative elites, with the result that it did not fulfil its legitimizing function for newly emerging political forces such as the Catholic or Socialist milieu or the emerging women’s movement.

Definitions and Interrelations

By using the term ‘popular historiography’, I refer to representations of history in written, visual, artefactual and personal forms of presentation addressing a broad, non-expert audience. Within the field of popular historiography one could further differentiate between ‘public history’ – that is, the political use of history by nations, states, institutions and political elites – and ‘popular history’ – the use of history by civil society, families, groups, commercial or private associations and individuals (Black 2005). However, this differentiation should be only conceived of as a heuristic one because both forms are often interrelated. In simple terms the relationship between popular and scientific, or non-academic and academic, representations of history can be sketched as follows:

Popular historiographies are typically characterized by mediating strategies such as reduction, narration and dramatization; they personalize, emotionalize and often scandalize their subject matter. Their subject matter and representational forms are shaped by their respective medium’s conditions of production and distribution and/or their respective institutional context – in terms of audience, quantitative reception, time budget, commercial aspects, potential for re-usability and for international distribution, and so on.

Yet, conventions and characteristics such as reduction, narration, and political exploitability also apply to academic historiography. Reduction and simplification are basic practices which scientists must necessarily rely on in order to communicate their results within the scientific community (Shinn and Whitley 1985: viiff). According to research on scientific knowledge, there is no fundamental or basic difference between popular and academic knowledge. Rather, the difference is one of degree. In research on the popularization of science, the interactionist model also suggests interdependence and mutual interference of academic knowledge producers, popularizers and recipients.⁴

Frequently, academic history tends to raise more questions than it provides answers and – at least ideally speaking – conceives of its results as a kind of knowledge that is methodologically reflected and sound, yet always open to scrutiny, always provisional and never definite. By contrast, popular representations of history are not interested in ambivalence and instead favour not-too-complex answers, providing meaning and political legitimation.

In spite of the provisional character of the interpretations produced by academic historiography, the latter tends to serve a controlling function in the public use of history. Thus, academic historiography points to incorrect facts, ahistorical assessment criteria and problematic comparisons and actualizations, even though academic history itself can never be completely free of such problems. Conversely, popular historiography can provide stimulation to its academic sibling; for example, where it picks up marginal or innovative issues or makes use of new methods, sources and representational forms.⁵

Research Fields: Public History, the History of Historiography and Memory Culture

In 1994, the British socialist historian and founder of the history workshop movement, Raphael Samuel, pleaded for opening up academic historiography to popular historical narratives characterized by their great impact-related potential:

In any archaeology of the unofficial sources of historical knowledge, the animators of the Flintstones … surely deserve, at least, a proxime accedit. Stand-up comedians, such as Rowan Atkinson whose Blackadder series reanimated the legendary moments of British history for a generation of television addicts, might get as much attention as the holder of a Regius chair. The impresarios of the open air museum, and their ever-increasing staff, would be seen to have made a far more substantial contribution to popular appetite for an engagement with the past than the most ambitious head of a department. (Samuel 1994: 17)

In Germany, there were similar calls by historians such as Rudolf Vierhaus, who as early as 1977 claimed that researching the history of historiography must exceed ‘what has been common practice so far’ by moving beyond traditional academic historiography to look at historical representations in education, museums, popular historical literature and monuments, and who also called for an investigation into ‘historical awareness, its political and social function’ (Vierhaus 1977: 111). Yet, pleas such as this did not lead to a systematic scientific engagement with popular presentations of history. What is beginning to show, meanwhile – particularly in the context of public history and the now booming interdisciplinary research on memory culture, as well as, in part, in the history of historiography – are clear steps toward an intensified and more systematic engagement with popular presentations of history.

Emerging in the U.S. in the late 1970s as a new segment of academic history, public history – also conceived of in the beginning as ‘practising history’, ‘applied history’ or ‘consulting history’ – has been institutionalized in study programmes, scientific associations and scientific journals.⁶ Public history refers to the employment of historians and the historical method outside academia (Kelley 1978: 16). It trains historians to transform their work so that it reaches audiences outside the academy. Public history is ‘history that is seen, heard, read, and interpreted by a popular audience’; it asks questions about the practical value of history and is also seen as ‘history that belongs to the public’.⁷ Meanwhile, there are more than 100 universities, mostly in the U.S. and Australia, which offer study programmes (at the BA or MA level) in public history.⁸ In American historical science, the field of public history in particular has produced investigations into popular presentations of history.⁹ This can partly be accounted for by public history’s advanced institutionalization in the U.S. through study programmes, journals and expert associations.

Meanwhile in Australia, public history is now an up and coming field of history. Yet there are also some signs of its institutionalization in Great Britain through the establishment of study programmes and of new initiatives by historians such as the website Doing Public History, launched in 2008, which aims at promoting ‘public debate about the nature and role of history in Britain’.¹⁰ This site calls for a sustained discussion about the relationship between academic historians and the public. Indeed, it seems paradoxical that despite a broad interest in history within British society and the media, and ‘despite a sophisticated and passionate debate about the nature of the heritage industry and National Trust’, there is little ‘engagement with the public value of historical discourse’ among British academics (Champion 2008b).¹¹

Turning to Germany, there have been a number of lively public debates about history, particularly about an adequate commemoration of the Holocaust and the Second World War, to which academic historical science and university historians have also made major contributions.¹² A lively public interest was also caused by the fact that coming to terms with the past – particularly in relation to responsibility for the consequences of the Second World War and the Holocaust – has led to various ‘waves’ of intensified engagement with National Socialism since the end of the 1950s. In the beginning, there was much hesitancy and stagnation in efforts at taking on this task. Yet, particularly since the 1980s, these attempts have played a central role in national identity formation in the Federal Republic of Germany. In comparison to other European states which have only recently taken on the task of addressing aspects of their past such as crimes against humanity or dictatorship, Germany has sometimes been alluded to as a ‘master of coming to terms with the past’. Partly becau...