Geschichte, Emotionen und die Macht der Bilder
Abstract What role do emotions play in historiography and, above all, in public history? Do they block objective analysis? Or do they open up new perspectives and possibilities of knowledge? Accompanying the ongoing history boom, there has been much dispute among historians on these issues. Supporters of both opposing sides argue in unison, however, that the visual media in particular enable what they perceive as an emotionalization of history. The article examines which conceptions of emotions and which assumptions related to the power of visual media underlie their argument. Rethinking these premises helps us to reframe the central hypothesis and develop adequate tools of analysis.