crimes committed by totalitarian regimes - Ministrstvo za pravosodje

Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes
This complex beginning is to be realized in the symposium of 10–13June 2008, at the Institute of
the Borderland Museum in Teistungen. On the basis of the Polish, Czech, and German representatives’
own local success, the participants will discuss, in a lively exchange of ideas and experience, how to
exhibit the historical aspects of a constitutional democracy, on a national and European scale, that are
inextricably intertwined with the memories of the successful struggle against fascism, Stalinism, and
party dictatorship.
4. Lasting results
First, the above-mentioned international symposium should not only offer seminars and forums
for discussion but also include workshops in which actions and projects (i.e. exhibits, excursions,
scenic offerings, photo galleries) will be organized. We will be looking for model projects that take into
consideration the interaction between cognitive and emotional aspects of political education. New paths
are to be found, to show how the memory of willing sacrifice in the struggle against totalitarianism
can generate motivation for a vibrant European society. The regional and national memories of the
European Union should not be belittled but, instead, be enriched by reference to the overcoming of
totalitarianism in Europe and beyond.
Second, we believe there is a good chance that in the June 2008 symposium new impulses for educational
concepts and projects, joint exhibitions, and communication via the Internet will be discussed. This should
help to establish political education at museums and places of remembrance in an even more differentiated
manner, and more closely oriented to its audience. The proponents of remembrance who work within the
network are expected to increase their work with the public in their regions and countries. Already, plans are
being made to ensure a broad response in the media and the Internet. In extensive contacts with the media and
on our own website, we will state that establishing a “network of places of remembrance” serves to promote
European values and the achievements of democratic society. We know that the speakers at the symposium
in Teistungen (Eichsfeld) will favour themes that illustrate the memory of the great quest for liberty and
democracy of the Eastern and Central European people. Last year in Katowice, and in the spring of 2008 in
Opava, representatives of the field of remembrance and museology, as well as sculptors, met to prepare for
the symposium. In this framework, there were a number of interesting suggestions which were used in the
creation of our joint website www.comemo.de.
Third, at the start of the EU project, a conceptual perspective was established for a “Central
European excursion path” intended, foremost, to attract high school students. Here we would specifically
like to make use of what we learned from innovative projects for youth, in order to plan the stages
and destinations of the excursion path. Summing up, we want to stress that all partners – whether in
Bohemia, Upper Silesia, or in Eichsfeld – have offered new ideas for political education and working
with the planners of exhibitions. Our team from the GLM Eichsfeld Institute experienced this during a
three-day excursion to Opava in Czech Republic and a visit at the Youth Institute in Auschwitz in March
2008. Our international project is not limited to the organization of the above-mentioned Symposium
2008 but can already count on a vibrant structure of networking and communication.
5. Sum total
Everywhere in Europe, different types of remembrance activities have developed to demonstrate
democratic traditions that show specific facets of an all-European identity. The above European Union
project would like to take this into account by promoting the interaction between the citizens and
organizations of civilian society in Central Europe. An exchange of experiences across the borders
shall serve this purpose within a network of places of remembrance that show the anti-fascist and antitotalitarian
struggle for the establishment of democracy and human rights. The cooperating German,
Polish, and Czech partners, who participated in the successful application to the European Union
in Brussels in 2007, are aware that an international comparison of methods for the development of
remembrance of anti-fascist and anti-totalitarian struggle is a more and more important prerequisite for
the safe-keeping of democratic values in a united Europe.
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