On issues ranging from the Holocaust to Srebrenica, contemporary historians are being asked to serve as 'expert witnesses' to painful events in the recent past - in the courtroom and in the media. Leading historians from across Europe reflect upon their experiences in this emerging public role.

Harriet Jones is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. Kjell Ostberg is Professor of History and Research Director at the Swedish Institute of Contemporary History at Sodertorn University College. Nico Randeraad is Lecturer in History and European Studies, Universiteit Maastricht

Introduction - Harriet Jones, Kjell Östberg, and Nico Randeraad
1. The responsibility of the historian - Peter Mandler
2. Public uses of history in contemporary Europe - Klas-Göran Karlsson
3. Coming to terms with the (post-)colonial past in Belgium.The inquiry into the assassination of Patrice Lumumba - Georgi Verbeeck
4. The Bloody Sunday tribunal and the role of the historian - Paul Bew
5. Between scholarship and politics: experiences from the Commission on the Swedish Security Services - Karl Molin
6. Historical research where scholarship and politics meet. The case of Srebrenica - Hans Blom
7. Negotiated history? Bilateral historical commissions in twentieth-century Europe - Marina Cattaruzza and Sacha Zala
8. The Italo-Slovenian historico-cultural commission - Raoul Pupo
9. The state, the historians and the Algerian War in French memory, 1991-2004 - Raphaëlle Branche
10. The German historians' debate about the upheavals of 1989 - Martin Sabrow
Conclusion - Harriet Jones, Kjell Östberg, and Nico Randeraad
Index