Unrehabilitated historical figures

Within official religions and ideologies, people condemned in earlier periods may remain unrehabilitated in official documents even though later understanding reveals the merit of their position. Examples include Galileo (only rehabilitated in the 1980s by the Catholic Church) and Trotsky (who remains unrehabilitated with the USSR). As a result of what is considered the first political trial of modern history, Louis XVI of France was executed in 1793. This execution and the failure to rehabilitate the king remains an active issue that continues to divide France, many of whom consider that a grave error was made which should be acknowledged rather than be exacerbated by misleading treatments in school textbooks.

There may also be considerable reluctance to rehabilitate whistleblowers who become the victims of harassment by major institutions.