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“Talking History, Talking Future”
Today we officially kick off our project for this year with our first webinar! We are working with a small group of expert history teachers from Germany, Moldova, Poland and Russia to create a multiperspective methodological guide on the use of WWII memorial sites in history education. That’s a bit of a mouthful, so let’s break it down:
Multiperspectivity is the key aim of Confronting Memories. By involving, learning about and embracing other perspectives, we can overcome stereotypes, learn sympathy for other points of view, and become more critical-thinking individuals.
Our methodological guide will provide history teachers in many countries with different tools to bring memorial sites into their lessons, both involving class trips to a site, and also learning about memorial sites from the classroom, if a trip is not possible.
Memorial sites are places where history becomes tangible and alive; they are a way to bring local history to the forefront which can be much more engaging for students. Memorial sites, particularly those relating to WWII and the Holocaust, can help maintain a culture of remembrance and serve as a warning against nationalist movements nowadays.
History education is not just about learning about the past. The past shapes the present and future; we learn so that past mistakes might be avoided. History education also increases values and competences such as empathy, respect, civic-mindedness, as well as analytical skills.
Especially with the backdrop of the ongoing war in Ukraine, we think multiperspective history education is now more important than ever. The one-sided propaganda being fed to the Russian population by the Kremlin, as well as a firm grasp on the education system, is responsible for the mass justification of a terrible war.