Multimedia | image
Broadsheet: “The Great and Terrible Flood,” January 1651
Potrayal of the devastation caused by a massive flood along stretches of the Danube, Neckar, Main, and Rhein in January 1651.
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Multimedia | book profile
Villes et catastrophes: Réactions face a l'urgence dans l'histoire européenne
Covering a wide geographical range of European countries, the articles in this edited collection investigate urban disasters such as floods, fires, earthquakes, and epidemic diseases.
Multimedia | image
Broadsheet: “The Great Waters,” January 1682
An account of the destruction in Nuremberg by major flooding along the Pegnitz River.
Perspectives
“The Monster Swallows You”: Disaster Memory and Risk Culture in Western Europe, 1500–2000
In this issue of RCC Perspectives, Christian Pfister examines disaster memory and risk culture. In contrast to the memory of war, the memory of natural disaster is markedly short-lived in a globalized world, yet such memory should be preserved in order to minimize the impact of similar disasters in the future.
Perspectives Article
Fukushima and the Lessons of History: Remarks on the Past and Future of Nuclear Power
The essay presents a brief summary of the development of nuclear power in Germany, arguing that the decision of 2011 was the final step in a long farewell and discusses how the methodological arsenal of the historical profession can shed light on future developments.
Perspectives Article
A Farewell to Residual Risk? A Legal Perspective on the Risks of Nuclear Power after Fukushima
With reference to Ulrich Beck’s Risk Society, this article considers the paradoxical managing of nuclear risk, considered at once too risky for German risk society and yet socially acceptable for a further ten years.
Multimedia | film profile
Das Ding am Deich [The Thing at the Dike]
This film examines the life of a German town some decades after a nuclear plant inspired nationwide resistance.
Multimedia | journal article
"Radiation and Borders: Chernobyl as a National and Transnational Site of Memory"
The essay sheds light on the implications of Chernobyl as a national site of memory in Germany, France, and Belarus. The comparative perspective reveals the importance of underlying structures such as national (nuclear) politics, elite and expert culture, environmentalism, and the role of individual agency.
Multimedia | journal article
"GAU: Nuclear Reactors and the 'Maximum Credible Accident'"
This essay traces the history of the nuclear risk discourse and policy in West Germany from the first use of the term GAU in the 1960s to the present. A close examination of the term reveals that it is in fact ambiguous, oscillating between support of nuclear energy and criticism of it.
Multimedia | book excerpt
Der gezähmte Prometheus: Feuer und Sicherheit zwischen Früher Neuzeit und Moderne
Der gezähmte Prometheus traces large fire catastrophes and the rise of the insurance business from its beginnings in fifteenth century Europe to its boom in nineteenth century globalized metropoles across the world.