3. The uses and misuses of history and the responsibility of the historians, past and present
3. Les usages de l'histoire et la responsabilité de l'historien dans l'histoire

Organiser:
Georg Iggers, USA

Discussant:
François Bédarida, France

Introduction:
As the third millenary is dawning, public opinion, long with historiography, demonstrates renewed interest in eschatological phenomena and teleological interpretation of current events in the light of a specific meaning granted to the Future. In this sitting, we shall try to identify the roots of such notions in the religions of the Book (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) as well as the alterations they have undergone within the secular frame of Utopia, of Futurism and of "New Age". We shall also try to achieve a new reading of many a happening in medieval, modern and contemporary history in the light of Messianic expectations or apocalyptical anticipations which have so intensily coloured the politcal and religious field to the day. We shall at last investigate the ways in which such notions, often brought about by a learned èlite, have circulated and been received by the people at large, from Antiquity to the day.

c) The Critical Function of History in the Modern Period
c) La fonction critique de l'Histoire pendant la période moderne

Wednesday, 9 August, 14:00-17:00
Mercredi 9 août de 14h à 17h.

Building B, Auditorium 1

Papers:

• Antoon De Baets, the Netherlands
  Resistance to the Censorship of Historical Thought in the Twentieth Century
• Yuji Ishida, Japan
  Writing and Rewriting the Second World War and Genocide: A Comparative Study on Japanese and German Historiography
• Benny Morris, Israel
  The New Historiography: Israel Confronts Its Past
• Sorin Antohi, Hungary
  Blurred Narratives: Romanian Historiography Before and After 1989
• Brent Harris, South Africa
  The Past, the TRC and the Archive as Depository of Memory
  
• Wulf Kansteiner, USA
  History of the Screen and the Book: The Reinvention of the Holocaust in the Television and Historiography of the Federal Republic of Germany

Theme 3b Théme 3b	Major Themes	Thèmes Principaux	Theme 1a Théme 1a