An appeal from French historians

Dismayed over the ever more frequent political interferences with the evaluation of historical events and concerned over the legal proceedings against historians, researchers and authors, we want to remind of the following principles:

The science of history is not a religion. The historian does not accept any dogma, he respects no prohibitions, he knows no taboos. He may cause offence.

The science of history is no moral instance. It is not the task of a historian to praise or to condemn. He just explains.

The science of history is not the slave of the spirit of the time. The historian does not overlay the past with the ideological ideas of today and does not insert sentimentality into the events of the past.

The science of history cannot guard the task of memory. The historian collects the memories of individuals as a part of his scientific work, compares them with one another and confronts them with the documents, the objects and their traces and determines the facts. History considers memories, but it is not limited to this.

The science of history cannot be an object of the law. In a free state it is not up to the Parliament nor to the Law to specify the historical truth. The mode of procedure of the state is, even if it is inspired by the best opinions, not the mode of procedure of the science of history. We demand the abolition of this lawful direction, which is unworthy of a democracy.

The appeal was signed by René Rémond, Pierre Vidal-Naquet, Michel Winock and 16 other French historians. I find it worthy of every recognition.

Unfortunately several historians are in prison or have been fined for “thought crimes” in Germany, Austria and France. They have put the above principles into practise.