How important are historians in achieving historical reconciliation? [THREAD] #History #historian #politics

1. Reparations agreements are a prominent and relevant example of historians being at the forefront of historical reconciliation. As they often involve monetary gains for one party from the other over memory and victimization.
2. Historians are at the forefront of presenting the state with so-called historical 'ammo' to legitimize the request of reparations. This could however be seen as a source of increased tensions, and could lead to an increase of nationalism and hatred due to negative memories.
3. However, a more definitively positive aspect of historical conciliation can also increasingly be seen due to evidence newly uncovered by historians.
4. For instance, as a result of the publishing of Jan Gross’s Neighbors in 2001, Polish president Kwasniewski issued an apology for the murder of 1,600 Jews who were killed by
their neighbors 60 years earlier in Jedwabne.
5. This represented a high point in Poland’s struggle with its history, a struggle that was about both past events
and the nation’s identity.
6. The government had already been investigating the crime, through the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) who were instructed to scrutinize historical violations of human rights and war crimes.
7. This again shows the importance of historians in the process of independent historical reconciliation, although it could be argued that the historians are simply tool pieces to fulfill the government's purpose, which in this case could be historical reconciliation, not always.
8. Robert R. Weyeneth confirms the importance of events like Kwasniewski's speech by emphasizing the importance of apology in the process of historical reconciliation. He also explores the range and forms of apologies reported in the press during the last decade or so.
9. Overall, it is quite clear in light of recent events that historians play a key and central role in historical conciliation, however it remains unclear whether they play the most important role, due to the control and interventionist nature of governments.
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More from History

THREAD: With #silversqueeze trending on Twitter, it appears that this week's market spectacle may well be in the silver market.

A perfect moment for a thread on the Hunt Brothers and their alleged attempt to corner the silver market...


1/ First, let's set the stage.

The Hunt Brothers - Nelson Bunker Hunt, William Herbert Hunt, and Lamar Hunt - were the sons of Texas tycoon H.L. Hunt.

H.L. Hunt had amassed a billion-dollar fortune in the oil industry.

He died in 1974 and left that fortune to his family.


2/ After H.L.'s passing, the Hunt Brothers had taken over the family holdings and successfully managed to expand the Hunt empire.

By the late 1970s, the family's fortune was estimated to be ~$5 billion.

In the financial world, the Hunt name was as good as gold (or silver!).


3/ But the 1970s were a turbulent time in America.

Following the oil crisis of the early 1970s, the U.S. had entered a period of stagflation - a dire macroeconomic condition characterized by high inflation, low growth, and high unemployment.


4/ The Hunt Brothers - particularly Nelson Bunker and William Herbert - believed that the inflationary environment would persist and destroy the value of their family's holdings.

To hedge this risk, they turned to silver.

They began buying the metal at ~$3 per ounce in 1973.

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