Alex von Tunzelmann: FALLEN IDOLS

Is history erased when statues are pulled down? Or is history then
made?

In her book “Fallen Idols” – in German: “Heldendämmerung” –
British  historian Alex von Tunzelmann explores how
societies deal with their  monuments. In the past few years,
there has been a rush to topple  statues. Black Lives Matter
protesters also defaced of politicians and  philanthropists,
who were slaveholders and/or imperialists. Edward  Colston,
Christopher Columbus, Belgian King Leopold II or Winston
 Churchill: Do they deserve their monuments?


Vienna has its own controversy around the monument for Karl
Lueger,  mayor of Vienna from 1895 to 1910. While praised
for city reforms,  Lueger was also an avid antisemite who
used racism as political  instrument – right in time for
Adolf Hitler to learn the trade.
Statues are a visible form of historical storytelling. The
stories we  tell are vital to how societies understand our
past and make our future.  Shall we contextualize
controversial monuments or take them down? Who  controls
history?


HELDENDÄMMERUNG tells the story of twelve toppled statues around
the  world. Übersetzt von Kristin Lohmann, Goldmann,2022,
384 S, 17 Euro.


Alex von Tunzelmann is a British historian and
 publicist. She is the author of several historical books –
Indian Summer  2007 about the end of colonialsm, Red heat
2011 about Cold War in the  Caribbean – and her articles
appear in The Guardian, The New York Times  and others.


Tessa Szyszkowitz is a foreign affairs
commentator for Falter and a London correspondent for profil
& Cicero. Her last book was Echte Engländer, Britain &
Brexit (2018). She is also Distinguished Fellow at the Royal
United Services Institute in London.