Theories and Methods

 

Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.3, 2017

 

“The Debate on Historical Biography” in Weimar Germany and Its Historical Inspiration

(Abstract)

 

Meng Zhongjie

 

In the 1920s, Germany saw a large-scale debate in the public domain over the aims, styles and nature of historical biography, conducted between professional historians and the popular biographer Emil Ludwig. In addition to their political positions, the debate, defined as “new history” or “popular historical literature,” actually demonstrated the differences in each side’s understanding of the functions and style of historiography since the nineteenth century; it can be regarded as one of the manifestations of the crisis of historicism. Although the debate ended up in the air, due to the change in Ludwig’s circumstances, the superficial nature of his views and the strength of his conservative opponents, the opportunity for reinterpreting the debate arose when the German historiographical paradigm finally relinquished historicism, making professional historians rethink the rationality of public historical and cultural arrangements and their necessity.