On 1 September 2021, the new Leibniz Research Alliance "Value of the Past" has started its work. The interdisciplinary research alliance focuses on the value of the past for societies in both history and the present – and how this value is produced and communicated. In addition to PRIF, 20 other Leibniz institutes and Leibniz research museums are involved in the Leibniz Research Alliance "Value of the Past", as well as numerous international partners.
Over an initial period of four years, the researchers will investigate how historical evidence is shaped by language, mediality and digitality, how notions of space and time contour images of history, and how the resource of the past is used for communal processes and identity conflicts as well as on a growing history market – in German, European and global dimensions. Leading this effort is the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History (ZFF) in Potsdam.
The new network ties in with the work of the Leibniz Research Network "Historical Authenticity", in which PRIF is also involved.