Tag: Historical Narrative

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The Steel Stacks

Benjamin’s article, “Theses on the philosophy of History”, discusses the narrative of history and how a story of a culture or community can be present through the remains of a building or town. I found this article very applicable to my steel stacks visit as I believe that by maintaining and re-using the space where the stacks are is an effective way of keeping the history of bethlehem alive.

“History is the subject of a structure whose site is not homogeneous, empty time, but time filled by the presence of the now.” (Benjamin, 261)

I found this quote particularly applicable to the Bethlehem Steel stacks as when I was visiting, I remember reading that the stacks are now dedicated to bringing the arts, family and community events to Bethlehem, and that the site has been reborn through the use of music concerts, and large festivals that are hosted there every year. I was surprised to learn that, during the years the plant was open, before it was permanently closed in 1995, the stacks themselves employed tens of thousands of people, and that the metal they were producing was even used by the US Navy during both World Wars. For me, these facts were crazy to learn, as I had never imagined how important these stacks actually were. My roommate and I have a tradition every year where we go to the “Christkindlmarkt” festival hosted at the Stacks that encompasses lots of local crafts and foods along with live music and art displays. I knew of a vague history behind the Stacks, but until now I had no idea just how important they are to the history of Bethlehem and the impact it had on generations of families. Relating to memory, I think that the town of Bethlehem have done a fantastic job of keeping the memory of this select historical narrative alive: the maintenance of the stacks has allowed for the space to be used by families and events that bring not only the community together but also members from outside of the city in, and this allows for the story to be shared past just the natives of Bethlehem. I believe the best way to make people remember history is through visual cues, and the stacks light up at night and stand out so clearly in the downtown of Bethlehem. 

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Mengele’s Skull

The main point of this article was that after investigations surrounding Josef Mengele’s supposed skeleton, the new field of forensic crime studies emerged. Now, human bodies and specifically bones were able to be used to confirm pieces of history and add to historical narratives.

“It was during the Mengele investigation that a variety of procedures and techniques in the forensic identification of human remains were professionally tests and publicly displayed, later to become available as methodologies in investigating war crimes and human rights violations.” (Page 55)

Prior to the readings this week, I had never thought about the importance that human bodies can actually play in history. When I think about sources that allow for information on the past, I automatically think of written documents, photographs, and objects. Due to the fact that the human body appears to be something that is redundant once the individual has passed, I had then assumed that once their life is over the actual importance of their body also faded. These readings, and specifically the one on Josef Mengele, have shown me that so  much can be discovered just by looking at the biological features of someone, and the physical changes that a body will experience during exposure to different treatments and acts of violence.

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No idea should be silenced

Kirsten Weld describes the events that occurred in Guatemala after the war, where documents were found and released showing that the government had only released data that backed up their beliefs, and shunned any evidence that showed their cruel and naive treatment of its citizens. Weld shows that through a shift in the way archives were treated and maintained, the people of Guatemala were able to show their side of the historical events, and they were able to keep their story and memories alive through expressing their own interpretations of the events and making sure that people had access to multiple different narratives. “Memory is less a filing cabinet that we open to examine a pre-selected file (my childhood, the war) than a book we are waiting and editing.” (Weld, 48) Although the people of this nation had suffered a horrific loss, they pushed for people to fight for different ideas and not to just follow the thoughts of people in higher positions that were being dictated to them.

While reading this, I thought back to Trouillot’s article where he argues that the past is a particular “bundle of silences”. History is made up of select pieces of information that people wish to remember, and the narratives are created through the lenses in which one wants to perceive a particular event. We must be careful not to shun people for expressing their opinions on something, and instead embrace the different points of view and challenge the existing order of a historical event and create a more realistic depiction of what happened.