Element contents
Censorship of History
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2026
Summary
Censorship is the dark side of historical writing. Because much censorship is shrouded in secrecy, the subject tends to stay outside mainstream histories of historical writing. Consequently, many such histories offer unduly optimistic accounts of historical writing. They assume that historians produced their works in a political vacuum. This view is challenged here through an examination of the post-1945 censorship of history and its entanglement with power and freedom. This Element can be explored in three ways. The main overview discusses the international standards on freedom of expression, the demarcation debates on censorship, and the problems in tracing it; it also reviews censorship's reasons, key players, and effects. Furthermore, a dozen spotlights present significant themes or patterns of censorship. Finally, a glossary locates the concepts related to the censorship of history within the broader network of terms related to the freedom of expression about the past.
Keywords
Information
- Type
- Element
- Information
- Online ISBN: 9781009272520Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication: 27 August 2026
References
Abbattista, Guido, “The Digital Cuckoo: Artificial Intelligence and Historical Falsification,” Storia della Storiografia, nos. 85–86 (2024), 157–180.Google Scholar
Amnesty International, Laws Designed To Silence: The Global Crackdown on Civil Society Organizations. London: Amnesty International, 2019.Google Scholar
Barata, Joan, The “Misuse” of the Judicial System to Attack Freedom of Expression: Trends, Challenges and Responses. Paris: UNESCO, 2022.Google Scholar
Bunn, Matthew, “Reimagining Repression: New Censorship Theory and after,” History and Theory, 54 no. 1 (2015), 25–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cacciottolo, Mario, “The Streisand Effect: When Censorship Backfires,” BBC News (June 15, 2012).Google Scholar
Carter, Erin, and Carter, Brett, Propaganda in Autocracies: Institutions, Information, and the Politics of Belief. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dabhoiwala, Fara, What Is Free Speech? The History of a Dangerous Idea. London: Penguin, 2025.Google Scholar
De Baets, Antoon, Censorship of Historical Thought: A World Guide 1945–2000. Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 2002.Google Scholar
De Baets, Antoon “Laws Governing the Historian’s Free Expression,” in Palgrave Handbook of State-Sponsored History after 1945, eds. Bevernage, Berber and Wouters, Nico. London: Palgrave, 2018, 39–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Baets, Antoon “The Historian-King: Political Leaders, Historical Consciousness, and Wise Government,” in The Engaged Historian: Perspectives on the Intersections of Politics, Activism and the Historical Profession, ed. Berger, Stefan. Oxford: Berghahn, 2019b, 79–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Baets, Antoon “The Abuse of History,” Bloomsbury History: Theory & Method. London: Bloomsbury, 2021a, 1–27.Google Scholar
De Baets, Antoon “Historians Killed for Political Reasons in Ibero-America (1920–2020),” Revista de História das Ideias, 39 no. 2 (2021b), 13–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Baets, Antoon “The Long Arm of the Dictator: Cross-Border Persecution of Exiled Historians,” in Dynamics of Emigration: Émigré Scholars and the Production of Historical Knowledge in the Twentieth Century, eds. Berger, Stefan and Müller, Philipp. Oxford: Berghahn, 2022, 58–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Baets, Antoon “Historians Resisting Tyranny: A Preliminary Evaluation,” Hungarian Historical Review, 13 no. 1 (2024), 39–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Baets, Antoon A Human Rights View of the Past. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Baets, Antoon (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Attacks on History. London: Palgrave, forthcoming 2027.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel, Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972–1977, ed. Gordon, Colin. New York: Pantheon Books, 1980.Google Scholar
Freshwater, Helen, “Towards a Redefinition of Censorship,” in Censorship & Cultural Regulation in the Modern Age, ed. Müller, Beate. Leiden: Brill, 2004, 217–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerards, Janneke, and Schattevoet, Niels, The Safety of Scientific Researchers: Data, Trends and a Typology of Threats. Paris: UNESCO, 2024.Google Scholar
Hansson, Sven Ove, “Science and Pseudo-Science,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Fall 2025, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pseudo-science.Google Scholar
International Mechanisms for Promoting Freedom of Expression, Joint Declaration on Crimes against Freedom of Expression (2012), www.osce.org/files/f/documents/c/2/91595.pdf.Google Scholar
Jones, Derek, ed., Censorship: A World Encyclopedia. London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Motadel, David, “The Political Role of the Historian,” Contemporary European History, 32 (2023), 38–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Müller, Beate, “Censorship and Cultural Regulation: Mapping the Territory,” in Censorship & Cultural Regulation in the Modern Age, ed. Müller, Beate. Leiden: Brill, 2004, 1–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Network of Concerned Historians, Annual Reports 1995–Present, www.concernedhistorians.org/ar.Google Scholar
Network of Concerned Historians, Historians & Defamation Cases, www.concernedhistorians.org/defamation.Google Scholar
Network of Concerned Historians, Provisional Memorial for Historians Killed for Political Reasons (From Ancient Times to the Present), www.concernedhistorians.org/memorial.Google Scholar
Post, Robert, “Censorship and Silencing,” in Censorship and Silencing: Practices of Cultural Regulation, ed. Post, Robert. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1998, 1–12.Google Scholar
Scammell, Michael, “Censorship and Its History: A Personal View,” in Information, Freedom and Censorship: World Report 1988, ed. Article 19. London: Times Books, 1988, 1–18.Google Scholar
Schauer, Frederick, “The Ontology of Censorship,” in Censorship and Silencing: Practices of Cultural Regulation, ed. Post, Robert. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1998, 147–168.Google Scholar
Tripathi, Salil, “History Is Being Written by the AI Victors,” Index on Censorship, 54 no. 3 (2025), 64–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tucker, Aviezer, Historiographic Reasoning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Nations Human Rights Committee, General Comment 34 [Freedoms of opinion and expression] (CCPR/C/GC/34) (2011).Google Scholar
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Interim Report [Freedom of thought] (A/76/380) (2021).Google Scholar
Tim, Wu, Is the First Amendment Obsolete? New York: Knight First Amendment Institute, 2017.Google Scholar
Wurgraft, Benjamin, “The Twice Unearthed: The Trope of Censorship and the Sense of History” [Review of De Baets 2019a], History and Theory, 61 no. 1 (March 2022), 172–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yudof, Mark, “When Governments Speak: Toward a Theory of Government Expression and the First Amendment,” Texas Law Review, 57 no. 6 (1979), 863–918.Google Scholar
Accessibility standard: WCAG 2.1 AA
Why this information is here
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.Accessibility Information
The HTML of this Element
complies with version 2.1 of the
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG), covering newer accessibility requirements and improved
user experiences and achieves the intermediate
(AA)
level of WCAG compliance, covering a wider range of accessibility requirements.
Content Navigation
Table of contents navigation
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Reading Order & Textual Equivalents
Single logical reading order
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
Short alternative textual descriptions
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
Visual Accessibility
Use of colour is not sole means of conveying information
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.
Structural and Technical Features
ARIA roles provided
You gain clarity from ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) roles and attributes, as they help assistive technologies interpret how each part of the content functions.
You gain clarity from ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) roles and attributes, as they help assistive technologies interpret how each part of the content functions.