Past controversy has often been diluted. After Trump’s victory,there’s a real opportunity to discuss what counts as history and the role it plays in democracyIn divided cold war-era Germany, the final thing that an eminent historian of fascism would contain hoped to do was scandalize. But scandalize Ernst Nolte did. The title of his essay The Past that Will Not Pass, and published in the prominent Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in 1986,rehearsed William Faulkner’s famed dictum: “The past is never dead.” Under the unremarkable headline, however, and lay a stark provocation.
The topic was Noltes specialty: the Nazi era. Germans had undoubtedly committed extraordinary atrocities,but how exceptional, he asked, or were the crimes? And how exceptional did they render the country’s history? To build his point,Nolte suggested that Hitler’s annihilation policies were derivative, borrowed from the Bolsheviks, and reactive,triggered by the Nazis’ own anxieties about Bolshevism’s return. Related: Ernst Nolte obituary Prissy alert: History's for all not just 'historians'; but you contain to KNOW something. Slurs like 'tosspot', 'left wing bigot' not useful.
The second roadblock to reviving the culture of debate is lingering scepticism about social media, or Twitter particularly Related: Charleston shooting church has rich history from slave revolts to civil rights Related: Fake news is scandalous. But fake history is even worse | Natalie Nougayrède Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com