Historiekultur – Helsingfors som case

Abstract

With Helsinki as a case, this article deals with the appropriation of history and the political use of history. The attitude towards history comprehends both a contemporary reflexive awareness of and responsibility towards history with a submission of history as intention, and a common sense-attitude which an acknowledgement of history as a past which is fundamentally different from us. The main point is that people normally oscillate between these two relations to history, bound to special situations and needs.