Zeitgeschichte in Bewegung

This bilingual publication, addressing historians, students of history, and the general public alike, aims at furthering our understanding of Austrian contemporary history research today. Based on a series of lectures that took place in Prague in 2012, expert insights are provided in a range of topics: Jiří Pešek starts off with an overview of recent research in Austrian contemporary history from a Czech point of view. His account is then followed by two articles on research areas that still lie outside the mainstream of contemporary historiography: Based on his own research experience, Hanns Haas presents us with a manifold and vivid account of Austrian research on contemporary regional history, laying a special focus on cross-border cooperation. Maria Mesner, one of the leading researchers in the field, in turn sketches out "the long and winding road" of Austrian Women’s and Gender History in the 20th century. The second part of the book is made up of three interviews with key personalities of Austrian contemporary history research: In these expert dialogues, Gerhard Botz, Gernot Heiss, and Oliver Rathkolb allow us a glimpse into their own research practice and comment upon past and recent developments in the field they helped to shape. Short biographies of each author as well as a rich photographic documentation conclude the book, which, hopefully, will contribute to a cross-border dialogue on the problems, and perspectives, of this particular area of historiography.