A new world - a new history?

Österreichische Zeitgeschichte am Ende ihres Jahrhunderts, Teil 1

Abstract

In the first part of his bipartite article, the author outlines the history of the institutionalization of Contemporary History in Austria. He tries to figure out how the developement of Contemporary History is on one band connected with the social proceedings and on the other with the historical consciousness of the intellectual and political elite and the common people. In the 1950ies, the time of ‚rebuilding‘ Austria, the Contemporary History was mainly propagating a new awareness of Austria. The institutionalization of research started in the Sixties. At that time and for the next decade, many Contemporary Historians were mainly writing „Koalitionsgeschichte“, still aiming to create national identity. Leaving out the participation of Austrians in the Nazi regime, the few acts of resistance against the Nazis were studied intensivly. The methods of research were still dominated by the „Historismus" and the history of events. Due to the officially authorized „Wissenschaftliche Kommission zur Erforschung der Geschichte Österreichs in den Jahren 1927-1938“ several historians began to work on the Austrian First Republic, the Civil War (1934) and the „Anschluss“. The foundation of new university institutes, the establishment of new professorships and research institutes apart from the university also widened the range of Contemporary History as well as the gradual integration of methods and issues taken from Social History and other social sciences. In the second part of the article (ÖZG 1990/2) the author will reflect on the actual trends in Contemporary History and its future questions and responsibilities.