Learning, and Understanding of Public History as Part of the Professional Historical Education at German Universities

Abstract

Today Public History may be viewed as a particularly promising area of academic teaching and research at German universities within the science of history. Progress and form of its institutionalization have so far mostly followed the US-American model.1 Certainly, Public History has been established internationally as an academic research and teaching discipline.2 However, in the German Higher Education system Public History is still in a kind of standby position: The institutionalization of Public History had in recent years been rooted with a noticeably increasing number in professorships, staff positions, university courses and areas of focus. So far, however, it has not been possible to determine to what extent this trend has contributed to the establishment of Public History as a generally accepted part of historical research in Germany. A number of important questions have not yet been answered: They relate on the one hand to content, theoretical and methodological boundaries of Public History.3 On the other hand they refer to the actors involved: Who exactly are Public Historians? Do they differ from ‘normal’ historians and, if so, in which form?4 What about the many contact zones between the science of history and the public? And how can we overcome