Blucher's crossing the Rhine: History comes alive in the chew!

Blucher's crossing the Rhine: History comes alive in the chew!

Kaub, Deutschland - In the picturesque Kaub, a major historical event comes alive, which has been filling history books for over 200 years. The museum there is intensively devoting itself to the famous Rhine crossing of Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher in 1814. The committed board chairman of the Bluchermuseum, Jörg Dillenberger, emphasizes how important it is to maintain the memory of such significant events, while he proudly describes the small town in which European history was written as the cultural place, as the Rhein-Zeitung reported.

The nature of historical events

historical events are much more than mere data in a history book. They act as paths that structured the time. The historian Reinhart Koselleck notes that true events create a clear separation between before and after. Dirk van Laak, professor of contemporary history, emphasizes that extraordinary events have to be banned and communicated in order to be perceived as significant. Media play a crucial role in this, because they give the events a narrative and connotation, which makes a sober moment a significant event, as Frank Bösch in a contribution for Deutschlandfunk explains.

The example of the moon landing in 1969 shows how important media reporting is to make an event an event. While the silence of unnoticed death is not registered as such, landing on the moon is becoming a collective experience for the world population by the media. Historical events, according to Bösch, are not just milestones, they are cultural narratives that shape the understanding of past and present. By reconstruction of events in the Museum in Kaub, the importance of Blucher's triumph becomes visible, while the scientists discuss the mechanisms behind such memories.