Between “Never Forget” and the Bending of History

November 6, 2026 Mobilized Productions Democracy, Human Rights
Mon, Nov 16, 2026 1:00 PM EST

“Never forget!,” a phrase borrowed from the Holocaust, became the slogan of 9/11, if there could be a slogan of a terrorist attack: emblazoned on bumper stickers and flags and incorporated into the very conception of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.

The words carried an implied faith that remembering could somehow inoculate humanity from repeating its horrors.

Twenty years after 9/11, another attack occurred on the U.S.: the January 6, 2021, siege of the Capitol. Despite reams of documentary evidence to the contrary, President Trump has used the term “hostages” to describe the men and women who bludgeoned police officers with flag poles, crushed them in doorways, and gouged their eyes. On his first day back in office, he gave full pardons to nearly all fifteen hundred demonstrators. He’s run out of government scores of prosecutors and law enforcement who investigated the attacks. No one who says that the 2020 election was fair can today hold an important administration post, or even a federal judgeship.

We are living in an age, where, as Hannah Arendt wrote: “The chances of factual truth’s surviving the onslaught of power are very slim indeed; it is always in danger of being maneuvered out of the world not only for a time but, potentially, forever.” And yet, Arendt also fervently believed in the ever-present possibility of better outcomes.

America appears to be on a long slide towards erasing factual truth forever. This lecture will ask: what is the path back to truth, memory, facts, and historical understanding?

Andrea Bernstein is a Peabody and duPont-Columbia award-winning investigative journalist, and accomplished author, speaker, and Visiting Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. She is also a frequent expert guest on well-known news shows, including Frontline, PBS Newshour, CNN, BBC, and CBC Documentary. Bernstein holds a BA cum laude from Yale University and was a JSK Journalism Fellow at Stanford University. She is the New York Times bestselling author of American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power (W.W. Norton, 2020) and podcast creator and co-host of Trump, Inc.(WNYC and ProPublica), Will Be Wild (Pineapple Street Studios, Amazon, & Wondery), We Don’t Talk About Leonard (ProPublica and On The Media), and The Law According to Trump (Slate). She covered all five trials of Donald J. Trump and his business for NPR.

The talk is a cooperation with the American Academy in Berlin for the Einstein Forum series “What’s to Celebrate? America at 250.”

Between “Never Forget” and the Bending of History

Date: Monday, November 16, 2026
Time: 1:00 PM EST / 7:00 PM Berlin time
Speaker: Andrea Bernstein, award-winning investigative journalist
Organizer: Einstein Forum, in cooperation with the American Academy in Berlin
Format: Public lecture with live Zoom broadcast

Primary sector: Media & Storytelling
Secondary sector: Personal & Digital Democracy

The event is confirmed by the Einstein Forum and the American Academy in Berlin.

What you’ll learn

Explore how historical memory, journalism and political power shape what societies accept as truth. Through the experiences of September 11 and January 6, Andrea Bernstein examines how public narratives are constructed, challenged and sometimes rewritten.

Why this matters

Democracy depends on more than elections. It requires reliable evidence, accurate historical records and a public capable of distinguishing documented facts from political narratives.

When historical events are distorted, public trust and democratic accountability are weakened. Preserving factual truth is essential to building informed, resilient societies.

Choose the primary purpose

Education and civic understanding.

The lecture’s primary purpose is to deepen public understanding of historical truth, political accountability and the role of independent journalism in democratic life.

What you will leave with

A stronger understanding of how misinformation and historical revisionism influence society, why independent investigations matter, and how evidence-based journalism can help communities protect public memory and democratic accountability.

Who is this best for?

Journalists, educators, historians, students, civic organizations, democracy advocates, media literacy practitioners and anyone concerned about factual truth, institutional accountability and the future of democracy.

What systems does this connect to?

Media & Storytelling: Independent investigations, historical documentation, ethical journalism and public-interest information.

Personal & Digital Democracy: Democratic institutions, political accountability, civic participation and informed decision-making.

ICT & Cybersecurity: Digital misinformation, information integrity, online manipulation and preservation of reliable public records.

Education and Human Rights: Historical literacy, freedom of expression, collective memory and the public’s access to trustworthy information.

Event links and participation

The Einstein Forum directs online attendees to register through Zoom. The American Academy indicates that no registration is required for in-person attendance.

Suggested next step: After the lecture, select one important public claim, trace it to original evidence, and share a concise, sourced explanation. This turns the discussion about protecting factual truth into a practical exercise in media literacy and civic participation.

Mobilized News editorial connection: A well-informed public needs more than access to information. It needs the ability to verify facts, preserve historical memory and hold institutions accountable.