Falsification of history

In the case of a falsification of history (also: pseudo-history ), an incorrect impression of historical events or situations and their interpretation is conveyed with the intention of deception and with scientifically unfair means .

Types of history falsification

The " Iron Maiden " (right in the picture), allegedly an instrument of torture of the Middle Ages, is a fantasy product of the 19th century.

Presentation and documentation level

A scientifically recognized historical image is adapted through assertion, interpretation or concealment - also in combination - in such a way that its public perception no longer partially or entirely corresponds to the scientifically proven or verifiable facts; data, facts or connections are omitted or concealed. In the case of serious facts of public interest (e.g. Nazi crimes ), such a one-sided representation falsifies the view of the historical background or context.

The case of the chief architect, Reich Minister of Armaments and devoted Hitler confidante Albert Speer is a particularly complex example of this form of historical falsification in terms of method and motivation. Speer presented himself very successfully - among other things in his bestselling autobiography - as an apolitical technocrat who allegedly did not want to know anything about the National Socialist crimes. In fact, he was one of the main perpetrators actively involved in the Holocaust . His cleverly falsified legend as a “good Nazi” was willingly adopted by many Germans in the post-war period as welcome evidence of their own distant relationship to National Socialism and their ignorance of the mass murder of the Jews . A Nuremberg exhibition from April 2017 presented the connections.

Source level

Material forgeries , i.e. the production of objects that are claimed by the forger or his clients as the original source , are less common because they are more difficult to obtain . The posthumous production of allegedly historical documents is known, as with the Donation of Constantine . A more effective variant of source falsification is falsification of a real source (interpolation), i.e. the removal or addition of text passages in a certificate or other documents; this also includes changes to the group of people affected or the time of processing. Autobiographies , too , as with Speer, are often guided by interests and thus prone to forgery. In the dictionary history next to the be forgery and the Counterfeit Coins and, as a recent example, the Hitler diaries of Konrad Kujau called. A decisive criterion in historical research is therefore always a detailed criticism of the sources . Skepticism and critical examination of supposed findings are essential prerequisites for scientific progress; but this attitude of critical science is also exploited by its opponents by emphasizing the absence of scientifically proven facts.

Goals, motives, intentions

Page of the supposedly medieval "Königinhofer Manuscript", 1817

The imperial orb represents the globe and thus refutes the claim made in the 19th century and still widespread today that there was a doctrine of the flat earth in the Middle Ages .

Falsification of history primarily characterizes authoritarian societies and groups, but it is also a general phenomenon of human weakness. Motives can be economic, political or other self-interest of individuals or groups. People draw a large part of their self-image from their past. The consciousness of nations , religious communities , population groups or even families is reflected in idealized or mythologized worldviews . These historical images rarely coincide with historical facts, which are therefore adapted by omitting uncomfortable facts or emphasizing welcome facts. The resulting falsifications of history fall on more or less fertile ground for different people, depending on the respective situation. Since forgeries are often found in school books or other interest-driven media, they are then only difficult to get rid of through objective scientific discourse. Forgers are driven by different motives:

• Forgers who want to influence the worldview of nations or population groups have political motives :
  • Justification or trivialization of dictatorships , war crimes and the like; The downside can then be the devaluation of the political opponent: With the stab in the back legend , the German military tried after the First World War to shift responsibility for the defeat of political parties.
  • Removal of persons who have become unpopular from documents of contemporary history; under Stalin , for example, politicians who had fallen out of favor were repeatedly retouched from photos (see also photo manipulation ).
  • The GDR historical atlas of 1976 also contained numerous false statements , for example, at the beginning of the Korean War on June 25, 1950, South Korea attacked the north instead of the truthful north the south. The Soviet annexation of eastern Poland , Lithuania , Latvia , Estonia , Bessarabia and parts of Finland in 1939 is incorrectly referred to as "reunification" or "admission"; of the underlying Hitler-Stalin Pact , which had been decided, it is not mentioned because it is not for the GDR - history ideology fit.
  • The forgery of historical genealogies such as Cassiodor's family tree of the Amaler or the listing of the descendants of Hercules and Osiris , which Annius of Viterbo offered in his (consistently forged) antiques , served to legitimize the rule of the patron of the respective author, i.e. Athalaric in the case of Cassiodor and the Farnese for Annius.
  • Appreciation: The forged Koeniginhof manuscript became the basis of a romanticizing Czech view of history.
  • Contempt: The " Protocols of the Elders of Zion " are still used for anti - Semitic incitement.
  • Creation of national continuity by placing an invented prehistory in front of the established historiography : common for example in East Asia, where authors invented prehistoric dynasties in antiquity and the Middle Ages - for example in Japan ( Kojiki ), Korea ( Go-Joseon ), Vietnam ( Hồng-Bàng -Time ), all probably based on the model of China . Early Roman consul lists are also considered an invention to legitimize the “traditional” form of government.
• With reputation-based falsification of history to an organization, company, group or individual an undue competitive advantage by getting their image building a true anti or by concealment of relevant facts incomplete picture of history consciously taught. The image of history that Deutsche Lufthansa AG draws of itself by suppressing the National Socialist past is an example of this kind of embellished maintenance of tradition . In the self-portrayal of the sailing school Deutscher Hochseesportverband HANSA , as an example of a sports club, the military and National Socialist past is concealed.
• Legal positions can be based on manipulated historical images. A forgery of documents from the Middle Ages, the Donation of Constantine, was intended to give the Pope a concrete right of ownership in relation to the Papal States.
  

  St. James was supposedly a helper in the fictional battle of Clavijo
  A document attributed to Ramiro I , King of Asturias , but forged by clergymen, which referred to the alleged victory of a Christian army over the Moorish rulers in a fictional battle of Clavijo , guaranteed the Church of St. James in Santiago de Compostela an annual payment for centuries, the Voto de Santiago .
• The falsification of historical facts and their journalistic exploitation is also a business model of publishers with right-wing extremist , historical revisionist and holocaust-denying writings, which neo-Nazis use as an alleged argumentation aid in their political struggle. Other, more harmless examples are the Hitler diaries mentioned or the songs of Ossian .
• Some forgers are concerned with self-affirmation; they want to test whether they can bring about a forgery that is fooling the professional world. The alleged bicycle drawing by Leonardo da Vinci could this be a good example; however, their origin has never been fully clarified.

Demarcation

History is only falsified if a historical image has been manipulated with the intent to deceive . There is therefore no falsification of history

• an outdated state of research due to newly discovered historical facts,
• a different opinion, which comes about due to different requirements in the interpretation ,
• a mere mistake.

The lines between dissenting opinion and falsification can be fluid. In her essay Truth and Politics , Hannah Arendt defined it as follows:

"Facts are the subject of opinions, and opinions can come from very different interests and passions, vary widely, and yet all still be legitimate as long as they respect the integrity of the facts to which they relate."

- H. Arendt

In general, every theory or historical overview is based on a simplification of reality, which can lead to technical disputes, as in the historians' dispute . Also Heribert Illig Chronologiekritik " Invented Middle Ages " is merely a thesis that is clearly refuted as a misinterpretation of the art.

In the alleged attack on the Gleiwitz transmitter (1939) or the Tonkin incident , propaganda attempts were made to shape an image of history, but above all to justify desired actions or effects, not to falsify a picture of the past. The intended deceptions were also too transparent and could be cleared up by witnesses.

See also : false flag

The term history forgery usually refers to human history, not natural history ; therefore the Piltdown man or the creationism debate do not belong in this category. Material forgeries that are offered for sale are usually not historical falsifications, as they usually have no influence on an image of history. Above all, this includes art forgeries and forgeries of postage stamps , i.e. the unfair multiplication of existing works. Strictly speaking, this also applies to Kujau's Hitler diaries, since their rather trivial content could only have had moderate scientific value.

Fictional works such as novels and feature films are largely free to interpret certain historical backgrounds (compare, for example, Bounty with Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) ). Nevertheless, it can be a massive falsification of history, as in the case of the propaganda film Jud Suss from 1940. In this case, the propaganda intention was a hateful representation of the Jewish population.

Erich von Däniken's hypotheses about the emergence of human culture through the intervention of beings from space also belong in the fictional area. Incidentally, he himself ends his lectures with the request not to believe anything; he himself also admitted to having invented some of his “pieces of evidence”.

History confusion

The word goes back to the title of the book Affentheurlich Naupengeheurliche Geschichtklitterung by Johann Fischart , first published in 1575 , which supposedly reflects "the whole physical, spiritual and political cosmos of the German Renaissance". The term is also used synonymously or disparagingly for an intentional falsification of history.

literature

• Richard J. Evans : The Forger of History. Holocaust and Historical Truth in the David Irving Trial. Campus, Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-593-36770-X (via a court process in which Evans as expert David Irving whose Holocaust denial proved).
• Ernst Haiger: Forgeries on the history of the Second World War in the British National Archives. In: Christian Müller-Straten (Hrsg.): Forgery detection (= Wunderkammer. Vol. 10). Vol. 2. Müller-Straten, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-932704-85-7 , pp. 211-221.
• Arnd Hoffmann: Klio's “double heart”. On the meaning of lies and falsification in historical science. In: Tillmann Bendikowski , Arnd Hoffmann, Diethard Sawicki: History lies . About lying and falsifying in dealing with the past. 2nd Edition. Westphalian steam boat, Münster 2003, ISBN 3-89691-499-5 , pp. 15–53.
• Lars-Broder Keil , Sven Felix Kellerhoff : Rumors make history. Serious false reports in the 20th century. Ch. Links, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-86153-386-3 .
• Hermann Weber : Ulbricht falsifies history. A commentary with documents on the “Outline of the History of the German Labor Movement”. Neuer Deutscher Verlag, Cologne 1964, DNB 455393796 (meaning Walter Ulbricht , 1949–1971 the “first man” in the GDR).

Web links

• Frieder Leipold, The nine most brazen fakes in history , Focus Online, May 2009
• Historical falsification materials
• Errors & forgeries of the archeology exhibition in the LWL-Museum für Archäologie Herne from March 23 to September 9, 2018
• Interview on the exhibition Errors & Falsifications of Archeology on Deutschlandfunk Kultur on March 23, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ “Memories, especially collective ones, are often power- and interest-driven. And if they are not viewed critically, they continue to have an effect - together with the ideologies with which they were connected. ”( Rolf Cantzen : Kolonialmythen in Deutschland - SWR2-Wissen, first broadcast March 11, 2016).
2. ↑ Albert Speer: Memories . Ullstein book publishers, 2005, ISBN 978-3-548-36732-3 .
3. ↑ Sensing chest . In: Der Spiegel . No. 40 , September 26, 1966.
4. ^ Heinrich August Winkler : History of the West. Volume 2. The time of the world wars 1914–1945. 3rd edition 2016, pp. 735 & 984, CH Beck, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-59236-2 .
5. ↑ Deutschlandfunk Kultur - Zeitfragen November 23, 2016, Jochen Stöckmann, The Liar and His Audience, Albert Speer's remarkable post-war career
6. ^ Museums of the City of Nuremberg, Documentation Center for the Nazi Party Rally Grounds Albert Speer in the Federal Republic, On dealing with the German past
7. ↑ Konrad Fuchs / Heribert Rab (eds.): Dictionary history , 13th edition, Munich: dtv, 2002, under falsification .
8. ↑ Susan Neiman : Resistance of Reason, A Manifesto in Post-Factual Times. Ecowin Verlag , Salzburg / Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-7110-0154-2 .
9. ^ Atlas of History. Volume 2, 3rd edition, Gotha: VEB Hermann Haack, 1982, p. 89.
10. ↑ Gerhard Wettig : Review of: Steininger, Rolf: The forgotten war. Korea 1950-1953 . Olzog-Verlag, Munich 2006, in: H-Soz-Kult, 23 November 2006.
11. ↑ Herwig Wolfram : The Goths and their history. CH Beck, Munich 2010, pp. 26-30; Harold Bollbuch: falsification of history. Transmission of historical knowledge and the reception of antiquities - the antiquities of Annius von Viterbo. In: Susanne Rau and Birgit Studt: Writing history. A source and study manual on historiography (approx. 1350–1750). Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-05-008825-9 , p. 302 f. (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
12. ↑ Lutz Budrass : Adler und Kranich, Lufthansa and its history 1926-1955 , Blessing Verlag 2016 ISBN 978-3-641-11246-2 .
13. ↑ Johannes Bähr : Review by Lutz Budrass, Adler und Kranich in: Sehepunkte Issue 17 (2017), No. 10, accessed on August 7, 2018.
14. ↑ Sarah Hofmann: History of Lufthansa, outrage over the lack of clarification in Deutschlandfunk from May 2, 2016, accessed on August 7, 2018.
15. ↑ Nana Brink, Interview with Johannes Bähr: How German companies deal with their history in Deutschlandfunk Kultur from April 14, 2016, accessed on August 7, 2018.
16. ↑ Rüdiger Hachtmann in Frank Becker , Ralf Schäfer (ed.): Sport and National Socialism. Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-8353-1923-3 , p. 44.
17. ^ Lutz Henning Müller: The Hanseatic Yacht School. An institution in sailing on the Flensburg Fjord , in: Werner Fröhlich / Maja Naumann (ed.), Bildungshauptstadt Flensburg, p. 400, Rainer Hampp Verl. Mering / Munich 2009 ISBN 978-3-86618-353-7 .
18. ^ Hans-Erhard Lessing : The Leonardo da Vinci Bicycle Hoax. In: Cycle Publishing , 1997.
19. ↑ H. Arendt: Truth and Politics . Berlin 2006, p. 23.
20. ↑ Rudolf Schieffer : A Middle Ages without Charlemagne, or: The answers are now simple. In: History in Science and Education 48, 1997, 10, pp. 611–617.
21. Jump up ↑ Johann Fischart: Monkey-Heuerlich Naupengeheurliche Geschichtklitterung . With an excerpt from the Gargantua des Rabelais , based on the text arrangement of the edition published by Ute Nyssen in 1963, Eichborn ( The Other Library ), 151, ed. v. Hans Magnus Enzensberger , Frankfurt M. 1997, ISBN 3-8218-4151-6 .