The Aims:
The goal of the project is to offer the students at the age of 12 - 18 years new questions on the basis of
first-hand information and always
of a certain and very close locality. Those are questions regarding the fate of the people who were part of social life of Czech and Moravian municipalities and who suddenly disappeared mainly within the period of the World War II from close neighborhood of past generations.
Individual or team work on the project inspires the participants to:
· take interest in something else apart from "my own individual" and simultaneously
· the work paradoxically puts stress on self-reflection
· that means personal contribution and searching for one's own place in this world
· answer the question if it is really possible to find out some concrete facts within closest neighborhood, in a district archive, in local chronicles, at a building control office, in the databases of the Jewish Museum, Prague Jewish Community, Terezín Memorial, Pinkas Synagogue and if young people can appeal to these institutions by themselves or with the help of adults only.
· pose questions to the generation that as the last one have experienced the World War II, without an outside help the young people do not often ask even their own grandparents.
· Trace and save the documents that would otherwise get lost
· realize that learning is an adventure (still not usual way how to study history in Czech Lands)
How to participate
· The work should not include well known historical dates or essay on the topic of Jewish history or traditions, customs and culture. Project emphasezes new and local researches based on testimonies from local and close neighborhood, not just survivors but also witnesses and so called by-standers. The personal point of view and your own experience are preferred more than well known facts.
· the research should be not longer than 30 pages, not shorter than 7, including attachments (documents, photos, letters etc…)
· we would like to recommend this structure:
the entrance text, the main text (it could be coverage, news, investigative report, essay or these forms together), conclusion and in attachment or as a par ot your text documents, photos, letters. Do not forget to published sources of your research, index etc…..
· technical marks - photos should be at least in origin or at least 300 DPI
plese consult with Marta Vančurová, +420 603 147 074,
martavan@gmail.com
· if you want to write a script: the script should be not longer than 3 pages, it should cover basic topics, it should include not just testimonies of eye wittnesses but also your commentary and notes, your approach and attitude
Outputs
·
Web-sites - we would be happy to put your link on our web
·
Brochures - it is recomended to ask municipal authorities for help
·
Poster, memorial plaque
·
exhibition - you can prepare you own exhibition as an accompanying activity toghether with an official exhibition of the II. Stage of the project - The Tribute to the Child Holocaust Victims
If you are planning to create your own memorial plaque, we would like to reccomand to prepare all project from the beginning under the agreement with a principal of your school, local culture center or museum. Thus you can get a huge support not only with collecting testimonies or material, but also with presentation
What is significant for best works:
· an original approach (writing about your feelings and cognition, experience)
· focus on one's own roots (to not be afraid to ask into my own family)
· at least three independent local or regional sources
· first- hand information from at least one eye-witnes from close neighborhood
What we can learned from this project:
From social and psychological point of view:
· to explore our shared past and to realize the need for self-reflection (see Stříbro)
· we can become to be actively involved in searching for source material - archives, chronicles, building authority records, databases, etc. (see Velhartice, Maśtov, Stříbro)
and it could have a broad social impact
· we can become to be actively involved in searching for the past in our own family (see Z.Elbertová)
· we can find out information by asking questions to people with personal experience of the past, including our grandparents (see Velhartice, Lipník, Ostrava)
· we can realize that knowledge is adventure (see Prague 8)
From historical point of view:
There are three temporal levels distinguishable in the exhibits.
The presence
As for the level of the present day, the different circumstances under which the project came to being are discernible - the personal stories of the participants, the differences in their method and sources of information etc.
The Holocaust
On the level of the Holocaust the individual tragic destinies of the people concerned by the Nuremberg Laws and affected by their application (up to 2 000 bans) are being traced on the background of the history of WWII.
The deep history
On this level the moving history of the Central European Jewry is reflected (the full isolation in the ghettos in the middle ages, the expulsions, the issuance of the Translocation Edict in 1726, the emancipation, the opening of the ghettos in 1848 etc.)
The positions of participants:
· As for the adults (teachers, workers of archives and of the Jewish Museum, members of Jewish communities, eyewitnesses, chronicle writers) the assistance with making information regarding this topic accessible (internet, collections and databases) is most important. The final works can present the school on the website connected with ours.
· The task of the ECC JMP and the Forgotten Ones NGO is mainly to present the outcome in collaboration with non-profit-making organizations and with local administration as well. Further it is the assistance (also editorial) with compiling volumes, carrying out exhibitions and film stories.
We consider the entire project including its social appreciation, apart from other
things, as an important counterbalance to displays of violence of various kinds.
·
The students collect testimonies of witnesses about their neighbors and events of that time not just from survivors but also from people, who "didn't go through" from eyewitnesses (their grand parents or great grand parents and their friends), moreover from so called bystanders. They also gather archive documents, photographs, diaries, letters etc. The outcome of this effort is literary and research works that become an extraordinary authentic testimony of one tragic chapter of mankind's history. They can become co-designers of the school website focused on neighbors who disappeared in the vicinity.
