Subtitle: Ein halbes Jahrhundert deutsch-französischer Schulbuchgespräche
[Understanding and comprehension. Half a century of Franco-German textbook discussions]
published in Verständigen und Verstehen, 1990 (Jahrbuch für Geschichtsdidaktik), Hans-Jürgen Pandel (ed.), Pfaffenweiler, 1999, pp. 137-148
The intensity of the debate surrounding the German-Polish recommendations has led to the Eckert Institute sometimes being characterised as a German-Polish institute, meaning that the numerous other fields in which the Institute is active have had scant or limited public attention. Among such activities are the Franco-German textbook discussions, which resumed in 1981 and have taken place regularly since. Their results have recently been presented in a series of publications, including a volume with textbook recommendations, relating to the subjects of history and geography. I have chosen [...] the German-French textbook discussions as an example to illustrate a conference topic because these discussions probably demonstrate the longest tradition of bilateral contacts on the subject of history teaching and because, due to the comparatively long period over which they have been conducted, the possibilities and limits of understanding the history of a common relationship in transnational dialogue are impressively illustrated.
