2014

Upheavals

Throughout history there have been junctures that initiated a rupture. Whatever happens in these moments, the world becomes a considerably different place in their aftermath. In contrast to slow, creeping changes in the world order and the way in which people think, contemporary observers and actors realize that they now are standing at a watershed in history, that the »old« is irretrievably lost while something »new« is on the horizon.
What exactly the quality of a historical upheaval consists of can only ever be determined in retrospect. What exactly was lost with it, what came to an end? How long did the upheaval last and what were the important milestones after which there was no turning back? What was the specifically »new« order that it established? These and other questions can often only be answered or at least meaningfully discussed years or decades after the upheavals, because only then does it become clear what exactly happened at such rupture-inducing junctures. The 2014 Weimar Rendez-vous with History availed of the opportunity to examine selected historical upheavals.