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Reconstructing individual fates in World War One
Subject: The great catastrophe of the 20th century: World War I from the individuals perspective.
The European Union has secured peace in central Europe for seventy years. Unfortunately, now the unique peace project "EU" is in danger. Populist politicians are trying to blame the European Union for national problems, playing with nationalist resentments, distorting facts, fuelling intolerance and racism, and raising new border fences between nations. However, looking for salvation in nationalism sets a nation apart from its neighboring states and can lead to them becoming opponents. One look at history is enough to recognize the disastrous consequences of nationalistic thinking. The First World War is considered "the great catastrophe of the 20th century" (George F. Kennan). A single spark was enough to trigger the disaster. The war broke out and claimed more than 17 million lives.
The five participating schools from Germany, France, Croatia, Portugal and Romania want to make their students aware of the above-mentioned dangers. The focus is on the individual fates of the people from the five different regions who lived in that period. After they have worked out the implications of their own country in the subject "history" or in interdisciplinary classes , the students went on a local/regional search for traces of that period. With the help of visual, written and representational sources, they developed the "stories" of combatants and their relatives. The students documented individual fates on film by replaying historical scenes, reading letters and newspaper reports, recording on battlefields and in cemeteries.
One result of the project consists in film documentaries from different perspectives, which provide an insight into the thinking processes, feelings and actions of the soldiers and their relatives. There is also a combined documentary that shows the negative consequences of the war.
Both the film documentaries and other project results convey the general the message of the project - we should honour our heroes and value peace.
Subject: The great catastrophe of the 20th century: World War I from the individuals perspective.
The European Union has secured peace in central Europe for seventy years. Unfortunately, now the unique peace project "EU" is in danger. Populist politicians are trying to blame the European Union for national problems, playing with nationalist resentments, distorting facts, fuelling intolerance and racism, and raising new border fences between nations. However, looking for salvation in nationalism sets a nation apart from its neighboring states and can lead to them becoming opponents. One look at history is enough to recognize the disastrous consequences of nationalistic thinking. The First World War is considered "the great catastrophe of the 20th century" (George F. Kennan). A single spark was enough to trigger the disaster. The war broke out and claimed more than 17 million lives.
The five participating schools from Germany, France, Croatia, Portugal and Romania want to make their students aware of the above-mentioned dangers. The focus is on the individual fates of the people from the five different regions who lived in that period. After they have worked out the implications of their own country in the subject "history" or in interdisciplinary classes , the students went on a local/regional search for traces of that period. With the help of visual, written and representational sources, they developed the "stories" of combatants and their relatives. The students documented individual fates on film by replaying historical scenes, reading letters and newspaper reports, recording on battlefields and in cemeteries.
One result of the project consists in film documentaries from different perspectives, which provide an insight into the thinking processes, feelings and actions of the soldiers and their relatives. There is also a combined documentary that shows the negative consequences of the war.
Both the film documentaries and other project results convey the general the message of the project - we should honour our heroes and value peace.
