A European history textbook

The German EU presidency plans to propose the compilation of a pan-European history textbook at an EU education ministers' conference on Thursday and Friday. In view of an attempt by Slovakia and Hungary to produce a similar textbook that has yet to bear fruit after years of effort, Marius Kopcsay has serious doubts about the success of the German initiative: "Each nation has its own view of history, which in part may differ radically from that of others. In Hungary, the Treaty of Trianon (by which Hungary lost most of its territory) is interpreted as a decision that unjustly split up a prospering nation. In Slovakia, on the other hand, the focus is on the country's thousand years of servitude to Hungary, as if the Slovaks had failed to produce anything of value during all this time... At least today these things can be discussed, one can try to understand the other side and admit that there can be different interpretations of historical events... It would be a step forwards if we simply used this insight to improve the textbooks of the different countries."

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