History myth

A historical myth is a mythical narrative ( myth ) of a community of origin, which mostly backwards, but sometimes also tries in a utopian way to create meaning and identity for a group of people or a linguistic or geographical area . As a political myth , historical myths almost always form the core of cohesion of nations . B. the national legends of origin of the peoples, so that some authors speak of the fact that there is no nation without a mythical foundation (“ mass symbol ”). Elias Canetti , for example, speaks of the “core myth”.

Insofar as historical myths are used politically, they form a type of political myth .

literature

• Nikolaus Buschmann, Dieter Langewiesche (ed.): The war in the founding myths of European nations and the USA. 2004
• Elias Canetti : Mass and Power. Düsseldorf 1960, new edition: Frankfurt 1980
• Stephan Conermann (ed.): Myths, history (s), identities. The struggle for the past. EB-Verlag, Schenefeld / Hamburg 1999 (Asia and Africa, Vol. 2). ISBN 3-930826-52-6
• Kurt Hübner : The Truth of the Myth. Munich 1985
• Lars-Broder Keil , Sven Felix Kellerhoff : German Legends. About the “stab in the dagger” and other myths of history , CH. Links Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-86153-257-3
• Herfried Münkler : The Germans and their Myths . Rowohlt, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-87134-607-1
• Rudolf Speth: Nation and Revolution. Political Myths in the 19th Century. Leske + Budrich, Wiesbaden 2000