crimes committed by totalitarian regimes - Ministrstvo za pravosodje

Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes
On this conceptual foundation, the Institute at the Borderland Museum Eichsfeld has succeeded,
since the year 2003, in implementing a series of international youth projects. Meetings for young
people, especially with Polish students and youth from Upper Silesia, were organized in German schools.
This resulted in a number of impulses for lasting contacts between the students of the two countries.
3. Integrative goals of the international EU project
The planned European Union project, which aims to assist German, Polish, and Czech partners in
cooperating in a transnational network, is to be implemented under the EU Program Action 4, “Europe
for citizens – promoting active citizenship in Europe”. An international symposium dedicated to this
goal will take place from 10–13 June 2008, in Teistungen. Through this international conference the
organizers hope to intensify the exchange of experience in the culture of remembrance, in order to
call attention to the innovative efforts in the pedagogical work of museums. The focal point of the
symposium will be discussion of questions regarding the interaction between regional, national and
European-wide aspects. The following themes belong to this focus:
– Remembrance in respect to the victims of war and fascist persecution during the time of the
Second World War (1939–45);
– Remembrance regarding the resistance against the Communist dictatorship during the Cold War;
– Remembrance regarding the fall of the border administration in Europe during the time of the
attempts to gain freedom and reforms, up to the democratic revolutions at the end of the 1980’s
and the beginning of the 1990’s;
– Remembrance in the context of a lasting ecology for the safekeeping of the “memory” of the
landscape.
Beyond that, the overall aim of the planned symposium consists in giving the public a more
sensitive understanding of the epochal achievements of the Eastern and Central European people in
establishing a united and democratic Europe. It is our desire, in this connection, that the museums
and places of remembrance dedicated to the more or less peaceful revolutions of 1989–90 should not
merely see themselves as the “multipliers” of a regional and national remembrance culture but also,
being situated at the authentic places of resistance against totalitarianism in Central and Eastern Europe,
see themselves as part of an overall European culture of remembrance, and continue to develop in this
direction. The growing network of institutions of remembrance plays an important part in the humanist
cultural heritage of Europe by emphasizing the democratic tradition in the struggle against fascism and
Stalinism, and the fight for freedom, democracy, and human rights.
Against this background, our EU project will contribute to the success of the ensemble of museums
and remembrance centres in increasingly presenting themselves as regional learning centres of democracy.
In their work of political education, the staff of these institutions will receive support from the universities,
colleges, and research institutes. Only in this way can scientifically based concepts be developed for
democratic remembrance culture and for the analysis of the mechanisms of totalitarian systems.
As the experiences in old and new democracies demonstrate, remembrance culture is not a
purpose in itself. Its real goal is to inspire citizens, and especially young people, to admire civilian
courage in history as well as in active democracies today. This means that the target audience of active
remembrance needs to become active itself. The audience should be motivated to participate more
intensely in the implementation of exhibit projects, including the documentation of interviews with the
witnesses of history, thematic photo series, phonotheques, videos, and theatre projects. Youth should
participate in history workshops. When the creativity of young people is integrated into the work of
museums and places of remembrance, many opportunities open up for a dialogue between generations
and for keeping the memory of the downfall of totalitarianism and the rise of democracy in Europe
alive.
Our concern, finally, is facilitating the give and take that arises from the manifold interaction
between professional representatives of remembrance work and people whose biographies are painfully
connected to memories of totalitarianism.
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