I 14 Perspectives from Germany activities, usually drawing on recent findings from research into pre- and early history. By contrast, little if anything is usually said about how many imaginary additions – an inevitable part of any historical account – have been made. Many reenactment troupes even set out their own rules and regulations in order to back up their claim to offer authenticity through detailed, well- researched performances. For example, the charter of Pax Celtica, an association bringing together various Celt-themed reenactment troupes, had this to say: One important aim of historical representation is to reconstruct the past as faithfully as possible based on scientific findings. Representations based merely on fantasy and intuition run counter to this fundamental principle. Although it is rarely possible to offer a fully true-to-life and authentic historical representation, [...] the unavoidable compromises made as a result must not be discernible [...].6 In general, attempts like this to provide a true-to-life representation of ages in history through the performative media of reenactment and living history are seen as a legitimate way to present and communicate the past. Besides the abovementioned desire for objects that are “authentic” – perhaps “historically accurate” would be a better description – the notion of the authenticity of the subject also comes to the fore in these performances. This type of authenticity refers to the personal experience of the reenactors, i.e. the immersive, physical and sensual experiencing of historical reconstruction and simulation as the fiction of a precise reliving of the past.7 Many reenactors believe that this can be a way of bridging or even eliminating the gap between past and present and thus, that the past can be simulated apparently seamlessly.8 One can distinguish between various forms of reenactment as a basic principle:9 ❚ Reenactment as representation of (pre-)historical military conflicts, markets and/or lifestyles without making reference to a specific event or spatial context. This form of representation is often associated with events run by museums. ❚ Reenactment as representation of a specific (pre-)historical event, often a particular battle, with reference to a specific location. The spatial aspect is especially important here; a lack of accuracy or historical authenticity in terms of the equipment used will be tolerated provided that it is concealed. ❚ Reenactment as representation of the lifestyle, culture and daily life of a particular age in history. The aim is to enable this long-gone world to be experienced by all the senses by handling and making clothes, tools and objects as authentically as possible and by using reconstructed buildings that are as faithful to the originals as possible. This kind of reenactment is often referred to as “living history”, which the folklorist Jay Anderson has attempted to define as “the simulation of life in another time”.10 Another reenactment-related development has been competitive armed combat (wearing armour), such as reenactment combat fighting (RCF), which is increasingly becoming a discipline in its own right as it builds on depictions of fighting moves and attempts to reconstruct historical combat techniques. This is leading to a situation where people are training and fighting according to all manner of different sets of rules (areas of the body where one is permitted to strike one’s opponent, and so on). Invariably, this means that techniques and tactics are developed that will bring success in sporting contests played to these rules but that have no significance whatsoever for historical fights (for which these rules are irrelevant). In view of the close links between the emergence of reenactment and living history on the one hand and that of the archaeological open-air museums on the other, this article sets out to trace this development with the aid of a few examples to serve as highlights, focusing particularly on Oerlinghausen – an example that still exists to this day. Reenactment and open-air museums: a history The earliest examples of reenactment are generally held to be representations of battles that were staged in the 1960s to mark the centenary of the US Civil War (1861– 1865) in the US, where participants wore contemporary clothing and wielded corresponding equipment. During the decades that followed, these were supplemented by depictions of everyday life away from the battlefield in the form of living history.11 As far as Central Europe is concerned, however, we have evidence dating back as far as the early 16th century of performances of events from proto-history. These include the Bavarian/Austrian Fastnachtspiele (“Shrovetide plays”) about Dietrich von Bern and the Wild Huntsman, the show fights in Kriem-
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