Event: History that Hurts | Julia Gilfert (Tübingen)

As someone who has conducted in-depth research on her own family, Julia Gilfert will reflect on her experiences in her talk. She will discuss how we define “history” and trace how she specifically coped with the fragmentary nature of her material. More generally, the keynote will elaborate how to deal with the problem of unknown facts and unavailable and missing “sources”, asking how gaps can be used productively, and how history can be researched and told as a contemporary construct. She will also address the significance of found objects and documents, as well as reflect on the challenge of being personally involved in one’s own research.

Julia Gilfert is a cultural studies scholar and author of the book "Himmel voller Schweigen. Fragmente einer Familiengeschichte" (Dresden 2023, 3rd edition). The book tells the story of how she, as a young woman, uncovered the circumstances of her grandfather’s death as part of the National Socialist euthanasia programme.