Contemporary history now

A monopoly on the interpretation and communication of history is a thing of the past. Nowadays, a wide range of media and institutions are writing about, reporting on and showing historical content with a variety of means and ends. The great interest in recent history can be explained, among other things, by the fact that past centuries can seem anonymous and foreign to audiences and that there is no obvious connection between these past centuries and one’s own reality today. Contemporary history, on the other hand, can be an influential factor of personal (family) histories and, as such, is a controversial and emotionally charged issue. It is a hot subject because no consensus has yet been reached on what must or can be relevant to contemporary history today. It is omnipresent in today’s urban spaces, and it is a familiar feature of our everyday lives through its objects and media. Against this background, we are going to embark on a five-day expedition through Berlin, a city with seemingly countless museums, exhibitions and memorial sites on the history of National Socialism and the GDR. Together with experts from museums, universities, and the media, we will discuss who is authorised to speak at these sites, what gives them the right, and what stories they tell. We will analyse the different social roles that individual institutions play and who their target audiences are. We will compare different content- and design-related concepts and we will discuss the potentials and challenges of the media of contemporary history, such as photography, film, or the accounts of contemporary witnesses. Seeing as the 20th century has largely been defined by dictatorial regimes, violence, and war, we will also specifically focus on how to handle sensitive collections and topics.