existence

[Taka]

The sentences:

With the historian the case is different. HIs facts belong to the past, and the past is gone forever. We cannot reconstruct it; we cannot waken it to a new life in a mere physical, objective sense. All we can do is to "remember" it--give it a new existence.

What exactly does "a new existence" mean here? Why does it exist though we cannot reconstruct it?

[Tdol]

We give life to the past through recalling it. If we forget, then it's dead.

[Taka]

We give life to the past through recalling it. If we forget, then it's dead.

I see.

Thanks, tdol! :)