Timothy Snyder: Hitler and Stalin Today: Class 1: What is History?

Jul 15, 2026

We speak often about history, but we are careless with the past. When we choose not to know what has happened before, we are also choosing not to influence what will happen after. If we don't care about history, we find ourselves in an eternal present, denied any sort of imagination about the future, and nurtured on lies about a past in which we were innocent. History does not mean these misleading tales; it means a search for knowledge, using a certain set of tools; it means a process that enriches and humanizes, one that allows us to name things by their proper names.

Readings:
• Tadeusz Borowski, "Here in Our Auschwitz"
• Snyder, "The War on History is a War on Democracy," NYTM, 2021