Walter Benjamin 1940 On the Concept of History

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The true picture of the past whizzes by. Only as a picture, which flashes its final farewell in the moment of its recognizability, is the past to be held fast. “The truth will not run away from us” – this remark by Gottfried Keller denotes the exact place where historical materialism breaks through historicism’s picture of history. For it is an irretrievable picture of the past, which threatens to disappear with every present, which does not recognize itself as meant in it. - Walter Benjamin

Benjamin is saying in this quote that historians have an uphill battle that they will ultimately fail at.  History can not be told over in second hand accounts especially when the person is in another time.  People do things at certain times because of the times they are in and the situations that they are dealing with.  Many times historians can not know the whole story of what is going on at that time and they interpret situations incorrectly.  However as the quote says that a picture is only good at the time it is taken, this is saying that even first hand recounts are not a hundred percent accurate.  Many times when we ask people what they experienced in the past they do not fully remember what happened and when we interpret their accounts we are interpreting on false accounts.  I choose this quote because I feel it is sad that this is true.  Historians try to tell the past with the most truth as possible but it is impossible for them to get the whole truth.  We as a nation try to learn from the past and their mistakes, but if we are not getting the whole truth how can we properly learn from our mistakes.