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Monday, April 28, 2008

History: an argument with an end

"History: an argument with an end

Dutch historian Pieter Geyl famously wrote that history is “an argument without an end”. In Switzerland today, arguing about history can mean you might end up having to explain your historical views before a judge of law.

In January of this year State Prosecutor of Zürich announced he had opened investigative proceedings against the mainstream conservative weekly Die Weltwoche. The magazine’s potential crime - publishing an article in October 2006 by British historian Norman Stone. The former Oxford Professor of Modern History had argued that he was not convinced that the massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 constituted genocide; such an historical view is a crime in this neutral country."

More:History: an argument with an end - On Line Opinion - 28/4/2008