VNU Journal of Science, Social Sciences and Hum anities 23, No 5E (2007) 31-38 Settling the past, building a better future: reconciliation in history teaching in Germany and France Pham Hong Tung* Vietnam National University, Hanoi R eceiv ed N o v em b er 2007 A b stract In th is article th e a u th o r p ro v id es an o v erv iew of th e reconciliation in teach in g national h isto ry b etw e en G e rm a n y an d France T he process w as started w ell before the Second W orld W ar H ow ever, it b ecam e fru itfu l only after th e en d of the C old W ar th a n k s to th e in itiativ es of the French an d G e rm an Y outh P arliam en t T he a u th o r h ig h tlig h ts th e role of bo th F rench a n d G erm an ed u c ato rs a n d h isto ria n s as w ell as th e su p p o rt of G e rm an a n d F rench G o v ern m en ts, p articu larly th e G erm an P rim e M inister G e rh a rd Schoeder an d the F rench P resid en t Jacque C hirac N ev ertheless, th e a u th o r also po in tes o u t th e G erm an an d F rench h isto rian s a n d ed u c ato rs try to settle th e d is p u tin g issues co ncerning their o w n national histories, b u t fully forget th e reconciliation in teach in g E u ro p e an h isto ry an d colonial p ast of the form er colonial em pires than one people or concerning the past OÍ m any g ro u p s or parties So far there have been m any kinds of conflicts concerning the different w ays of teaching and interpreting of history aro u n d the w orld The new est one w as the "history textbook conflicts" betw een Japan and Korea But that w as surely not the first and the last ones The "history textbook conflicts" is not only the problem of the Eastand Southeast A sian countries It is also not only the problem s betw een the form er "m otherlands" and form er colonies In fact it has been a problem am ong m any countries aro u n d the w orld Hence, each conflict has its ow n n atu re and characteristics, consequence an d solutions G erm any and France are the tw o biggest and m ost im p o rtan t countries in central Europe D ue to the strategic im p o rtan t role of the tw o countries, there w ere m any conflicts, There is no d o u b t th at the teaching of w orld history and n ational history plays a very im portant role in the b u ild in g of the im agination of y o u n g er generations about the w orld and about their ow n nation The w ays in w hich they conceive an d u n d erstan d the past will certainly im pact the w ays in w hich they un d erstan d the p resen t an d expect of and im agine about their future The historical consciousness is therefore an im p o rtan t part of the national consciousness H ow ever, history is teaching in different countries in very different w ays A nd these differences alw ays d ev elo p into conflicts, w hen the history of the sam e historical events or historical processes th a t involved the participation of m ore th an one country, m ore ’ C o rre sp o n d in g a u th o r Tel.: 84-4-8587590 E-mail: tu n g p h @ v n u ed u v m n 31 32 Pham Hong Tung / V N U Journal of Science, Social Sciences and Humanities 23, No 5E (2007) 31-38 even bloody w ars betw een the tw o peoples in the history Therefore, w orld history, European history and national histories had been teaching in very different w ays in the tw o countries In its turn, the difference in history teaching had also becom e a source of hostilities betw een the tw o people for a long tim e in the past H ow ever, m any generations of French and G erm an historians and educators have been aw are of these and tried their best to find o u t the w ays for reconciliation in teaching history in the tw o countries, so that to contribute to the reconciliation betw een the tw o peoples Finally, a com m on history textbook w as published in 2006 for using in both countries This textbook is on the one han d a result of a long lasted reconciliation process O n the other hand it m ay be considered as a good exam ple for reconciliation in history teaching in other countries and region That is the reason for this study Like in any other social science, the existence of m any different m ethods, approaches, interpretations, explanations, presentations, theories, ideas and opinions am ong historians is a quite norm al and healthy fact To ask the historians in different countries, of different tim es and of different cultures to think, w rite and speak sim ilarly is really to require an im possible thing This is the idea of the fam ous Polish historian Johann M artin C hladenius(1) But this does not m ean that it is absolutely im possible to find o ut the right w ays to reconcile conflicts, to reduce the (1) In his famous work "Allgemeine Geschichtswissenschaft", Schladenius wrote in 1752: "It is a big mistake of the ones, who required, that the historians should express their attitude like a man without religion, fatherland, family Those people not know, that they are requiring the impossible things" [1, p.15-16] differences and to overcom e the gaps amorig historians Certainly, th at is nevertheless no sim ple task E uropean historians, governm ent and various social and cultural organizations as w ell as educators have been aw are of this task quite early A ccording to Prof Phillipe A lexandre, the first initiatives in revising and reconciling the difference in teaching of history in schools in E uropean countries w ere started already in 1849 by the Peace Congress in Frankfurt, G erm any The Congress called u p o n its m em bers in different European countries for com m on efforts to erase prejudices and hostilities by education of the y oung generation, particularly by history teaching, so that prevent the outbreak of w ars in the future A lthough this initiative was unsuccessfully, b u t for the first Lime, it launched out the question of reconciliation in education in E urope [2, p.2] In 1900 the Peace M ovem ent held a W orld Peace C onference in Pest (Bulgaria) w hich issued a fam ous call for revision and reconciliation in history teaching in European countries The Conference considered this as one of m ost im p o rtan t w ays to keep the peace in Europe Thus, it event m ade a step further by giving four "suggestions" w hich can be considered as m ain principles for revision and reconciliation of history teaching [2, p.34] H ow ever, before the First W orld W ar the initiatives and engagem ents for reconciliation of history teaching w ere m ainly approached as a p a rt of the peace m ovem ent The participation of E uropean educators and historians in these efforts w as still really w eak and no governm ent seem ed to be really engaged w ith the m ovem ent A fter the First W orld W ar the reconciliation effort w as restarted - this tim e Pham Hong Tung / V N U Journal of Science, Social Sciences and Humanities 23, No 5E (2007) 31-38 by the League of N ations and therefore w ith the participation of m any E uropean states It w as in this tim e th at the revision of history textbooks becam e the focal p oint of all reconciliation discussions An international conference w as o rg an ized in 1924 in Lyon (France) by the L eague of N ation, in o rder to discuss about the w ays to set up regulations for revision of history textbooks and to im prove the history teaching in European countries After that, there w ere som e m ore conferences and initiatives trying to solve the conflicting ideas, p resentations and interpretations in history textbooks using in different E uropean countries The French an d G erm an historians and educato rs played in these efforts the m ost im p o rtan t role, because am ong all European countries there existed betw een France and G erm any large g ap s in teaching history D espite of all efforts of the League of N ations and of m any h is to ria n s fro m d iffe re n t countries the reconciliation w as finally ended w ith o u t any success The G erm an delegates argued th at the G erm an federation g overnm ent has no control p ow er over the history teaching in different G erm an states, w hile the French delegates said th at the French G overnm ent w an ted to g u aran tee the teacher w ith th eir right of free choices for textbooks A dditionally, G erm an professors and p oliticians p o in te d o u t th a t the regulations for revisions of history textbooks laid dow n by the Lyon Conference w ere u n ju st and conflicting w ith the G erm an constitution In fact, all this originated from the Versailles A g reem en t of 1919, in w hich only G erm any, as a defeated country, was accused for the o u tb reak of the First W orld W ar and w as p u n ish e d for that T hat was exactly w h at the G erm an educators and 33 historian considered as historical distortion by the League of N ations and could not accept in their teaching P e r h a p s t h e o n l y p o s i t i v e o u t c o m e OỶ all reconciliation efforts in Europe before the Second W orld W ar w as the beginning of the cooperation betw een French and Germ an educators and historian A lready in D ecem ber 1925 the SNI (Syndicat National des Institutrices et lnstituteurs de France et des Colonies) organized a m eeting betw een French and G erm an educators in Paris to discuss about the reconciling issues in history teaching in the tw o countries Some principles w ere suggested for further reconciliation[2,p.9-10] In 1928 French historians and G erm an historians m et together again in Oslo (N orw ay) by the Sixth International Conference of the Historians A lthough they did not go in concrete conflicting issues concerning the First W orld W ar, b u t they discussed about the w ays of reconciling in history teaching, in order to elim inate the hostilities betw een the tw o countries in history teaching [3,p.3] Seven years later, in N ovem ber 1935, tw o Germ an professors, H erre and Reim an, w ent to Paris to discuss w ith French historians about the possible w ays to settle the conflicting issues concerning the history of relations betw een the tw o countries At the end, they p u t forw ards '*40 advises" that w ere to send to all history teachers and authors of history textbooks in the tw o countries to help them by reconciling of conflicting issues But their "advises" w ere delivered w idely only in France In G erm any, the situation became m ore and m ore extrem ely difficult for any reconciling effort, because the H itler regim e w as calling for a "total w ar" to extend the "Lebensraum" (Living Room) of the arias[3,p.l0] 34 Pham Hong Tung / V N U journal of Science, Social Sciences and Humanities 23, No 5E (2007) 3Ĩ-38 After the Second W orld W ar, the reconciliation efforts w ere restarted in 1950s in Europe w ith the su p p o rt of UNESCO Six conferences of E uropean historians w ere held in G erm any and other E uropean countries to discuss about the revision of history textbooks and reconciliation of history teaching At the central p oint of these conferences was the reconciliation of history teaching betw een G erm any and France, the tw o biggest countries in E uropean continent w ith so m any unsolved conflicts in the history In a conference in Freiburg (in Breigaus, Germ any) in 1951 G erm an an d French historians decided to accept again the "40 advises" of the m eeting in Paris in 1935 as principles for revision of the history textbooks and for the presentation of the history of the relations betw een the two countries [13,p.l2] In the follow ing years, 14 other m eetings betw een French and G erm an historians w ere held, until they decided to break the conference series in 1967 In 1981, on the suggestion of the G erm an GeorgEckert Institute, the m eeting series was restarted and seven conferences of G erm an and French w ere organized until the end of the Cold W ar (1989) In those tw o conference series the G erm an and French historians had tried their best to settle m any conflicting issues and interpretations in teaching of the history of Europe, history of the G erm an-French relation and the geographical changes of the tw o countries in the history Of course there had been certain issues th at they could found no possible w ay for reconciliation, particularly the issues concerning the G erm an occupation of France and the collaboration of the Vichy regim e d u rin g the Second W orld War But in general, these efforts of the French and G erm an historians and educators after the Second W orld W ar w ere really fruitful They had discussed very frankly and thoroughly about the w o rk in g principles, the organization of French - G erm an history textbook com m ission, the topics to be exam ined and revised and then about the concrete "advises" for settling the conflicting issues Step by step they p u t forw ards their efforts, issued m any valuable "advises" for history teachers and school textbook authors in the tw o countries, and therefore contributed greatly to reconciliation of history teaching in France and in G erm any Surely, u p to now the state relation betw een France and G erm any has not developed w ithout conflicts H ow ever the reconciliation of the relation betw een the tw o biggest countries in E urope has been really one of the key factors for the strengthening of the E uropean C om m unity As a result of this long reconciliation process, in 2003, on the occasion of the 40th celebration of the Elysée A greem ent, the G erm an - French Y outh Parliam ent, w hich consists of 550 U pper-S econdary pupils, voted for the idea of publishing a G erm an French com m on history textbook w ith identical contents for using in schools in the tw o countries This w as a very good im petus for the reconciliation process of the two countries, concerning history teaching issues The suggestion of the French an d G erm an "young senators" w as strongly su p p o rted by the governm ents of the tw o countries and particularly by the French P resident Jacque Chirac and the G erm an C hancellor G erhard Schroeder Based on such strong su p p o rt of the two governm ents, a G erm an - French project Pham Hong Tung / V N U journal o f Science, Social Sciences and Humanities 23, No 5E (20U7) 31-38 g ro u p w as established in June 2003 to discuss about the principles and conception of a com m on history textbook They also set up an au th o r g ro u p consisting of historians (four G erm ans and four French) u n d er the leadership of tw o Chief-Editors, Prof G uillaum e Le Q uintrec and Prof Peter Geiss, w hich w as responsible for com piling of the com m on history textbook*2) In M arch 2005 the G erm an school textbook publishers Ernst Klett and the French edition publishers N ath an announced officially their cooperation in publish in g the G erm an French com m on history textbook It was also planned th at this com m on textbooks consists of three volum es: the first one is entitled "Europe and the World since 1945" and will be follow ed by tw o others, "From the Hellenic Democracy until the Revolution of 1789" and "From the Changes o f the 19th Century to the Second World War" W hile the first volum e will be used for the 12th class of G erm an schools an d the Terminal (final class) of the French schools, the second volum e will be used for the Tenth and Eleventh of G erm an schools an d the Seconde class of French schools The third volum e will then be used for the 11th and 12th class of G erm an schools and the Premiere class of French schools Three years after the m eeting of the "Youth P arliam ent" the first volum e of G erm an - French com m on history textbook cam e to life on the 10th July 2006 u n d e r the title: "Histoire/Geschichte Europa und die Welt seit 1945" Im m ediately, the textbook was allow ed to use in French and G erm an schools in the school year 2006-2007 Until now there still no survey on the response of the pupils and history teachers in the tw o countries tow ards the textbooks, b u t on international m edia it has been com m ented very differently W hile som e G erm an praised it as "a textbook that goes beyond the borders'' [4], other au th o r considers it "apparently is not just Euro-centric, but also teaches a pro-European sentiment on the expense of the United States", or even describes it as "anti-American" [5] D espites of different tem poral evaluations, the first Franco-G erm an com m on history textbook is really a great success in the long reconciling process taken place in Europe since the second half of the 19th century It is also a handsom e result of the continuous reconciling efforts of French and G erm an historians and educators, particularly d u rin g the tim e after the The com m on textbook is also resulted from the large su p p o rt given by the French and the G erm an governm ents, on the other hand it reflect the reconciling atm osphere, the globalized w ays of thinking an a liberal political cultural orientation of the young generations of the tw o nations The Project leaders and the authors of this history textbook m ade a very clever decision, as they chose to the period from the end to the end of the Cold W ar for the first published volum e That w as in fact the period w ith few conflicting issues in the history of Franco-G erm an relations T hat m eans, that is the sim plest period to be reconciled C oncerning the Franco-G erm an or European issues the authors of this com m on history textbook seem have been doing well sww sww (2) The authors of the German - French common history textbook "Histoire/Geschichte Europa und die Welt seit 1945" are: Guillaume Le Quintrec and Peter Geiss (Chief Editor), and other German co-authors: Ludwig Bemlochner (Munich), Lars Boesenberg (Ibbenbueren), Michaela Braun (Bendorf), Claus Gigl (Landshut); other French co-authors: Daniel Henri (Paris), Enrique Leon (Paris), Msthicu Lepetit (Buc) and Benedicte Toucheboeuf (Nanterre) 35 36 Pham Hong Tung / VN U Journal o f Science, Social Sciences and Humanities 23, No 5E (2007) 31-38 their reconciling job H ow ever, concerning the colonial q u estio n they could in fact no th in g b etter th an other history textbooks u sin g in France Hence, decolonization was one of m o st im p o rtan t historical processes in the w o rld histo ry after 1945 Particularly, this process w as really a significant p art of history of som e E u ro p ean form er m otherlands, like France, Britain, the N eth erlan d s an d Portugal H ow ever, ihe au th o rs of the Franco-G erm an com m on h istory textbook not pay m uch attentio n to this process A m ong 17 chapters of the textbook they reserve only one chapter (chapter of the Second Part) u n d er the title "Das Ende der Kolonialreiche" (The End of Colonial E m pires) for the topic The chapter is also relative short: only 13 pages (pp 82 - 95), m akes ab o u t 0.36% of the total coverage of the book (335 pages) [6,p.82-95] The decolonization is also dealt w ith in the chapter 14 "Die politische Entwicklung Frankreichs von 1945 bis heute" (The Political D evelo p m en t of France from 1945 to Today), b u t only as one p o in t of a p a rt of the chapter u n d e r the su b title "Der Algerienkrieg as Bedrohung fuer die Vierte Republik” (The A lgerian W ar as a T hreat to the Fourth R epublic) [6,p.240] It is clearly th a t the au th o rs of the FrancoG erm an com m on history textbook noi consider the h isto ry of the decolonization after the an d the relations betw een the form er E u ro p ean "m o th erlan d s" and their form er colonies in the post- colonial period as an im p o rta n t topic T hat also m eans th at in their p resen tatio n of the history of the "E u ro p e a n d the W orld", they no t take the reconciliation b etw een theses p artn ers as an im p o rta n t issue in the w o rld order This is surely n o t a rig h t w ay to presen t and in terp ret the W orld history since 1945 sww It seem s in the first sight, that the authors of this new history textbook look at the history of W estern colonization from the perspective of reconciliation, because of the m ost im p o rtan t reason for the birth of such com m on history textbook like this is reconciliation, and try to p resen t the history of colonization and decolonization objectively It is also to em phasize here, that this text w as published in July 2006, directly after the crisis caused by the French "LO/ n° 2005-158 du 23 fDvrier 0 D ealing w ith the W estern colonization in general and the French colonization in particular, the authors of this textbook avoid giving any open evaluation They neither talk about the " mission civilisatrice", nor ab o u t the colonial "exploitation" and "su p p ressio n " That is also not the central topic of this volum e D ealing w ith the history of decolonization, they on the one hand acknow ledge the in d ep en d en t will of the colonized peoples in Indochina, India and Africa and described the successes and im pacts of the in d ep e n d e n t m ovem ents as positive transform ations in the m odern w orld O n the other hand, they are seem ly critical tow ards the a ttitu d es of French governm ents tow ards the colonial question after the The au th o rs of the textbooks acknow ledge the rational policy o f the British in guaranteed India an d o th er peoples w ith national in d ependence and b ro u g h t them together into the British C om m onw ealth In the m ean tim e they criticized the French policy of re-conquering the form er colonies and su p p ressin g the in d ep e n d e n t m ovem ents after the They also p oint out the negative consequence of the colonial w ars in Indochina and Africa to the political developm ent of France The p u p ils are also inform ed about the m assacres caused by the sww sww Pham Hong Tung / V N U journal o f Science, Social Sciences and Humanities 23, No 5E (2007) 31-38 French colonial troops in V ietnam and in A lgeria in 1945 and 1946 and the defeats of the French arm y in the colonial w ars in Indochina and Africa In this respect, the new G erm an-French com m on history textbook has really overcom e the shortcom ings of som e other history textbooks used in France previously H ow ever, the new textbook has still contained of som e points th at can be considered as intentional distortions of the history of decolonization of V ietnam (3) Like in other French history textbooks the authors of this textbook sim ply ignore the collaboration betw een the French colonial governm ent in Indochina u n d er General G overnor Jean D ecoux w ith the Japanese arm y from Septem ber 1940 to M arch 1945 [6, p.86] The textbook w rites: "The national m ovem ents and in d ep e n d en t struggles had appeared already in the tim e betw een the W orld Wars; they w ere violently suppressed by the colonial pow ers, for exam ple in India and N orth Africa" [6,p.86] That is true for India and N orth Africa, b u t w hy they not m ention the suppressions of the French colonial governm ent against the national m ovem ents in V ietnam before 1945? Are these suppressions not typical en o u g h or they ju st w ant to ignore them ? In the "D ossier" "Vietnam im Brcnnpunkt der internationalen Beziehungen" (Vietnam in B urning Point of the International Relations) of the chapter the intentional historical distortions of the textbook becom e even m ore clearly H ere, the au th o rs describe the situation of V ietnam aro u n d the end of the In so far I am not able to check the history of the decolonization of Africa sww 37 and continue to ignore the FrancoJapanese collaboration Then they com e on to write: " and in the last w eeks of the Second W orld W ar the national m o v em en t th at w as lead by the C om m unist politician H o Chi M inh, took the control over the n o rth ern part of the land"[6,p.94] That is sim ply not true, because the Viet M inh took the control over the w hole Vietnam, except only som e provinces in the N orth, and the fo u n d atio n of the in d ep en d en t DRV w as declared on 2nd Septem ber 1945 In the next p art of the "D ossier" they write: "The G eneva A greem ent th at w as signed in July 1954 fixed ựestlegen) the partition of the land into tw o p a r ts /' [6,p.94] Again, that statem ent is totally false The Geneva A greem ent did not fixe the p artition of Vietnam , b u t only set u p a tem poral m ilitary dem arcation line at the 17th parallel The A greem ent also regulated for a general election to reunify the country in July 1956 That w as the truth that everyone know s But the authors of the textbook ignore th at and write: "H ow ever, the co m m u n ist N o rth that w as su p p o rted by the USSR an d C hina w anted to enforce a reunification on their ow n favor."[6,p.94] D istortions and falsifications like these can be found also in the pages describing on the developm ent of the countries in Asia and Africa d u rin g the post-colonial period The authors em phasize the m ism anagem ents, econom ic crisis, social and political crisis and w ars in these lands, b u t they fail to acknow ledge that these w ere also p artly the consequences of the colonial policies th at France, Britain and other colonial p o w er had carried out in the colonies previously Taking the reconciliation in history teaching am ong E uropean countries, 38 Pham Hong Tung / VN U Journal o f Science, Social Sciences and Humanities 23, No 5E (2007) 31-38 p articularly the reconciliation betw een G erm any and France in the post-w ar period as an exam ple "case stu d y " can help us to d raw o u t m any valuable experiences for our stu d ies here Firstly, th at is the lesson concerning the active role of the educators and histo rian s of concerning countries If they cannot find o u t the w ays to talk and to w ork to g eth er effectively, then the conflicts cannot be reconciled C ertainly, the governm ents of concerning co u n tries play very im portant role, because the conflicts in history teaching are often highly politicized and the education in m an y co u n tries are often u n d er the tight control of the states Thus, the outcom e of reconciling efforts d ep en d s largely on the a ttitu d e s of the concerning governm ents The civil initiatives are also very im p o rtan t to the reconciliation As poin ted o u t here, the first reconciling effort in E urope w as initiated by the Peace M ovem ent, and the new est one w as also in itiated by the Franco-G erm an "Youth P arliam ents" The first G erm an - French com m on history textbook can be considered as a "classic" ex am p le of successful reconciliation for histo ry teach in g conflicts Besides m any positive characteristics, this textbook still contained a n u m b e r of distortions or falsifications A bove all, it reflects clearly a Eurocentric approach of the G erm an and French authors Therefore, the new G erm anFrench com m on history textbook can help to settle the old conflicts, b u t at the sam e time, it brings in new conflicts References [1] Chladenius Johann Martin, Allegemeine Geschichtswissenschaft, B oehlau, L eipzig (1752), 1982 [2] A lexandre, P hilippe, Zur Vorgeschichte einer deutsch-franzoesischen Geschichtsshulbuchrevision, WWW.france-blog.inf o/p d f/A lex an d re_250906.p d f [3] A llain, Der deutsch - franzoesische Dialog ueber die Geschichteschulbuecher, w w w fe sto k y o co m /tex t_ allain rtf [4] A nne Haeming, http://www.tagcsspiegel.dG/magazm /m o d e rn e s-le b e n /w e rb in ic h /w e rb in ic h ;a rt 413,2212192 [5] "Failure of reconciliation Education": frnnco-German with Anti-Am ericanism , h ttp ://atlan ticrev iew o rg /arch iv es/3 -F ailu reof-E ducation-F ranco-G erm an-R econciliatio n w ith -A n ti-A m erican ism h tm l [6] Q uintrec, G u illau m e Le, P eter Geiss, Histoire/Geschichte Europa unci die W elt seit 1945, E rnst Klett S ch u lb u ch v erlag , S tu ttg a rt - Leipzig, 2006 ... colonial troops in V ietnam and in A lgeria in 1945 and 1946 and the defeats of the French arm y in the colonial w ars in Indochina and Africa In this respect, the new G erm an-French com m on history. .. about the revision of history textbooks and reconciliation of history teaching At the central p oint of these conferences was the reconciliation of history teaching betw een G erm any and France, ... reconciliation of history teaching w ere m ainly approached as a p a rt of the peace m ovem ent The participation of E uropean educators and historians in these efforts w as still really w eak and no governm