Public and Applied History in Germany: Just another Brick in the Wall of the Academic Ivory Tower?

Abstract

German university history departments typically hire two types of historians. Under the roof of history departments, historians research the past and produce historical narratives (Geschichtswissenschaft), whereas professorships with an appointment in history teaching (Geschichtsdidaktik) deal with the practice and the theory of history. Both professors of history and professors of history education teach and research in their related realms. However, with this division of labor between historical research on the one hand, and the practice and theory of history on the other hand, these two stakeholders of the discipline of history in Germany are in friction. Public and applied history have emerged somewhere in between the frontlines. In this article, we argue that public and applied histories are indicators of change in German historical sciences. We will describe the phenomenon, explain why there are two terms for publicly engaged history in Germany, and describe the change that is underway. This article is written in the spirit of a field report by two participant observers. It describes coming to terms with a phenomenon for which various actors in the field offer different paths. All people writing about public and applied history are part of the phenomenon that they describe, including the two authors of this text. Therefore, our observations are neither exhaustive nor fully objective but rather, they are self-critical.