Contemporary historians meet in Salzburg
From April 21st to 23rd, the largest conference of Austrian contemporary history research will take place in Salzburg – the Austrian Contemporary History Day. At the meeting, the latest scientific results will be presented and discussed. The conference is considered an important stocktaking for the subject: what are current topics and trends, what young researchers are dealing with and how the disciplines can explain conflicts, crises and divisions in society.
“We look at historical events and phenomena and see how they continue to have an impact – to this day,” explained Margit Reiter, Professor of Contemporary History at the History Department of the University of Salzburg, who today organizes the biennial conference with her team. This applies, for example, to phenomena such as fascism, National Socialism, communism, racism, anti-Semitism and how these have changed and adapted to new points of contact.
Enlightenment patterns from a historical perspective
“It’s also about observing current developments. A historical perspective can help to find explanatory patterns.” A number of contributions to Contemporary History Day 2022 deal with issues of inclusion and exclusion, political extremism, populism and discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation. Lectures also deal with concepts that exist for overcoming divisions, political polarization and divided societies.
In addition, contemporary history is also present in domestic political debates, explained Reiter in the APA interview. “Historical events are always historically appropriated: in the culture of commemoration, in anti-Semitism debates, in the war against Ukraine.” Wherever historical justifications are used for certain actions, the subject deals with them.
dealing with fascism
The conference with a total of 37 lecture panels is aimed at established contemporary historians, young scientists, students and an interested audience. The starting point for Contemporary History Day 2022 was the examination of the phenomenon of fascism, which first came to power in Italy in 1922 and shaped the following century in Europe. On April 21, the Italian historian of fascism Gustavo Corni will give a lecture. On April 22, there will be a panel discussion on the topic “Who owns contemporary history?” takes place, in which, for example, current instrumentalisations of contemporary history are discussed.
Service: 14th Austrian Contemporary History Day. April 21 to 23, 2022. University of Salzburg, Department of History, Rudolfskai 42, 5020 Salzburg. Info at: https://www.plus.ac.at/geschichte/zeitgeschichtetag-2022