Page 68 - Balancing between the present and the past

Chapter 3
3.5.2.1 Viewing the past from a present-oriented perspective
Only one student (Ben) in the sample viewed Hannes as stupid or ignorant. Moreover, this perspective was only apparent when Ben thought about the second item of the HPT instrument (“He will see that only in a democracy can people take part in decision making. He will decide wisely and not choose NSDAP.”). Ben applied his historical economic knowledge (high rate of unemployment) but did not include in his reasoning that democracy was uncommon in Germany in the 1930s, which caused Ben to perceive Hannes as being naïve:
Honestly, I think that he is too naïve to understand that only in a democracy can people take part in decision making. He is only afraid that his business, more specifically, his fathers’ business, is going to be bankrupt. Nobody had a job, and he only wants economic welfare. (Ben, reasoning about Item 2)
Five other students (Sean, Rose, Peter, Mark, and Sophie) also exhibited a present- oriented perspective when working on the HPT instrument. Though they did not view Hannes as stupid or ignorant, none of them included in their reasoning that the knowledge we have now was not available to people in the 1930s. For example, Rose appeared unaware that Hannes could not have known the outcome (e.g., the beginning of the Second World War) of Hitler’s political rise:
Rose: He will definitely not vote for the NSDAP. No one can approve of what this party has done to the world. Hitler was responsible for the Second World War.
Interviewer: Is Hannes going to consider this?
Rose: Yes, I think so. Hannes might vote for the NSDAP because he is not satisfied with the current government, but I think that he will not vote for the NSDAP because Hitler murdered thousands of people. (Rose, reasoning about Item 1)
In addition, Sophie, Mark, Sean, and Peter indicated in their reasoning that Hannes knew that voting for the NSDAP would result in violence and terror. Therefore, these students concluded that Hannes could not vote for the NSDAP. Out of the six students who displayed a present-oriented perspective, two students (Rose and Sean) recorded mean HPT scores > 3.50, three students (Ben, Peter, and Mark) achieved mean HPT scores ≥ 3.00 < 3.50, and one student (Sophie) had a mean HPT score < 2.50.
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