Press release: Historians' conference on “Winners and Losers"
Nr. 73/2014 - 12.05.2014
Programme for the 50th Convention of the German Historical Association presented
(pug) The 50th “Historikertag”, the Convention of the German Historical Association, one of the largest humanities conferences in Europe, will take place at Göttingen University from September 23 to 26, 2014. Up to 3,500 participants are expected to attend the anniversary convention organized by the German Historical Association, Verband der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands e.V. (VHD), in collaboration with the Association of History Teachers in Germany, Verband der Geschichtslehrer Deutschlands e.V. (VGD). Prime Minister Stephan Weil is patron of the convention, running under the theme "Winners and Losers“. This “Historikertag” will be featuring some special highlights: They start with the opening event on 23 September 2014 in Göttingen's Lokhalle, the former locomotive hall, where Germany's President Joachim Gauck will be giving the keynote speech. Two days later, on 25 September 2014, the Stadthalle Göttingen will be the venue for the festive address by Professor Lyndal Roper from Oxford University and the prize award ceremony. The publicist and historian Dr Wolfgang Schivelbusch will give the closing speech entitled "The Psychology of Retreat“.
The visitors can look forward to 70 scientific sessions with more than 450 speakers from Germany and abroad alongside the largest exhibition of publishing houses, NGOs and research institutions among historians with over 120 exhibitors. The programme includes items designed especially for schoolchildren and a PhD Forum with a poster exhibition showcasing more than 50 PhD-projects as well. As a first ever, there will be a didactics forum on teaching history in science and the classroom. Professor Arnd Reitemeier, spokesperson for the Göttingen Organisation Committee, is thrilled "that Göttingen University has been given the honour of organising this anniversary congress that gives testimony to the great diversity in the historical sciences whilst confirming the socio-political relevance of history.“
The 70 scientific sessions encompass the full methodological and theoretical breadth of the current debates ongoing in the historical sciences. They range from events on the issues of representing victory and defeat in antiquity through sessions on medieval warlords, piracy in the Early Modern Age to the topic of sexuality and homosexuality in the 20th century. Equal attention will be devoted to themes like athletic contests as to pop history, the history of emotions, the relationship between Wikipedia and historical science as well as to cultural-histographic work on diets. Winners and Losers will be examined from economic, political, cultural, symbolic and material perspectives. The year 2014, with its plethora of anniversaries, similarly offers many historical and current references to the "Winners and Losers“ theme. The Chairperson of the VHD, Professor Martin Schulze Wessel, points out in his foreword to the programme catalogue that the conference theme intentionally "sets a counterpoint to an event-fixated remembrance culture and examines conflicts and processes with 'winners and losers‘ at their end“.
Official “Partner Country” of the 50th Convention of German Historians is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a nation to which both the City of Göttingen and the State of Lower Saxony are linked in a multitude of ways. One fifth of the over 100 speakers from abroad live and work in the United Kingdom. With the likes of professors Lyndal Roper, Peter Mandler, Nick Stargardt and Christopher Clark, Göttingen will be hosting many a prominent British historian during the event. "Since its founding, Göttingen University has had very close ties to Great Britain. We are looking forward to compelling exchanges. Indeed, we are certain that mutual sessions like that organised by VHD and the Royal Historical Society on political psychology and the construction of national stereotypes in the 20th century will seize upon our mutual history, reaching beyond the many anniversaries in 2014 and create historical references to current world affairs and debates,“ says Professor Reitemeier.
The programme of the 50th “Historikertag” is now available in printed from and can be downloaded from the Internet at www.historikertag.de. The German Historians' Convention aims to address both the experts in the field of historical sciences as well as the broader public at large. As of today, online registration is freely accessible to VHD and VGD members on the website of the Historians' Convention where all other interested persons can register starting from 15 May 2014.
Contact:
Benjamin Bühring
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Organiser's Office 50th Convention of German Historians Göttingen 2014
Heinrich-Düker-Weg 14, 37073 Göttingen, phone +49(0)551 39-21283
E-mail: benjamin.buehring@phil.uni-goettingen.de
Dr Nora Hilgert
German Historical Association, Verband der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands e.V.
c/o Goethe University Frankfurt
Grüneburgplatz 1, 60323 Frankfurt, phone +49(0)69 798-32571
E-mail: geschaeftsstelle@historikerverband.de