History lessons

Why does history exist as a school subject? Shouldn't it more correctly be called "teaching the facts of the past"? After all, history lessons don't tell stories, they teach facts, figures and dates, which are then tested in exams. When did World War Two begin and when did it end? Who were the victorious powers, who were the Axis powers, who were the good guys, who were the bad guys? What event triggered the First World War and how did it end? A good student memorizes the answers and gets an A.  

Nine-eleven, the eleventh of September 2001, the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, which cost the lives of over 3,000 people and indirectly resulted in millions of deaths due to subsequent wars. "Plane, plane, tower, tower." In his lectures, the historian Daniele Ganser condenses the official story that is firmly anchored in people's minds into these four words. I also believed this story for a long time. Now I no longer do. What is actually true about the many stories that I have believed and internalized? They don't always have to be war stories.

"Ship, iceberg, collision, sinking." These are, in a nutshell, the cornerstones of the official story of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. That's how I once read it at school, learned it and had it confirmed on the big screen. And then in 2022 I saw the fascinating lecture by military historian Ivo Mechtelwhich tells a fact-based different story about Myth and truth of the Titanic. In addition to fascination, the lecture triggered a second  feeling in me. Anger. It was anger at myself for never having questioned the official version of the story.

So how often is it hard, historical fact and how often is it just a narrative, a narrative, a story that has been sold to me? The WEF philosopher Yuval Noah Harari's answer to my question is interesting. In order to reach people and win them over, you have to tell them a story. According to Harari. His most famous book, which has sold millions of copies, is called "A Brief History of Mankind". His book "Homo Deus - A History of Tomorrow" is almost as well known. According to the label, these are non-fiction books. After all, Harari is a historian. Strange. His easy-to-read books are always available in a comic version. History as a comic?  

History lessons, Nine-eleven, Titanic, Harari - all these associations flooded me after I watched the Carlson interview a second time. Why? The interview also contains critical passages in which the Russian president has to justify himself. Evan Gershkovich is a good example of this. This is the US reporter who has been under arrest in Russia since March 2023 on suspicion of espionage. And yet, on second viewing, the two-hour dialog seems more like a fireside chat between two people interested in history. 

In this history lesson, Vladimir Putin looks like a teacher and Tucker Carlson like a fascinated, curious pupil. Few people know: Carlson is not just a journalist and one-man media entrepreneur. He also has a degree in history. Just as I, as a person interested in history, am fascinated by a lecture by historian Ivo Mechtel, Tucker Carlson was fascinated to learn about the Russian view of history.

It is not a question of true and false, good and evil, but simply of a different perspective. In contrast to Western explanations of history, the Russian view is differentiated, complicated and, above all, this view contains the political message "Every history has a prehistory". This can be criticized as relativizing. Putin is indeed relativizing. But relativizing does not mean trivializing. To relativize means to put things and history in context. Is that absurd?

"A completely absurd story". This was the German Chancellor's first reaction from the USA to Putin's statements in the interview. Scholz sticks to the turning point story. According to this story, one fine day in February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine to launch a war of aggression out of imperial interest. Again, I think that's absurd.

Now - thank God - I'm not a history teacher who hands out grades. If I were, I would only give an A to the student who questions both stories. Three, three, three, by Isso's wedgie! Anyone can learn that. Why? Why? Why? The Sesame Street motto is taught to many schoolchildren today.

Why is the school subject called history? Unfortunately, it is rightly called that.