Youth, remembrance and creativity in face of society’s identity crisis - the role of memorial sites in Europe
Content & Program (23-29 May 2018)
The third blended mobility took place in Berlin where the OSZ Lotis high school hosted the international groups of students and their teachers from the Liceo Rosmini (Italy), Lycée Aristide Maillol and Collège Pagnol (France), Institut Monturiol (Spain) as well as representatives of the project partners from the European Observatory on Memories (EUROM), Culture Hub Croatia (CHC), Memorial Museum of Exile (MUME) and Istituto Storico Grossetano (ISGREC).
The program also included guided tours and visits around the topic of the Berlin Wall, the separation of the two parts of the city and the migration of refugees in this period. We had a very fruitful meeting and lots of interesting and friendly exchanges.
Wednesday, 23rd of May was the arrival day. The partners and the students were welcomed by the hosts and their host families.
On Thursday, 24th of May, the official welcome session was organized in the OSZ Lotis. The students were presented with the program of the whole week which was followed by the visit to the Berlin Wall Memorial (Berliner Mauer Gedenkstate).
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Visit and workshop at the Berlin Wall Memorial
The Berlin Wall Memorial welcomed a group of international students and organized a guided visit together with an educational workshop. They have worked on the topic of remembrance of the Berlin Wall with the main aim to get acquainted with its history through the exhibition and the pedagogical activity. The aim was to analyze the site and present their impressions to the rest of the partners and the teachers. Later this day, the group also visited the Asisi Panorama of the Wall near the Checkpoint Charlie.
On Friday 25th of May in the morning, the students worked in the OSZ Lotis school on comparison of different European memorials they have visited in their countries and together during mobilities. They were working in international groups together with local students ambassadors. This workshop allowed them to discover and discuss various methods and forms to express remembrance. Later that day, a guided city tour was organized in small international groups led by the OSZ Lotis students accompanied by the teachers. We visited the Platz der Luftbrucke, Checkpoint Charlie, Bebelplatz, Brandenburger Tor, Holocaust Memorial, Memorial of Sinti and Roma and the Reichstag.
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Visit to Potsdam
The excursion to Potsdam was organized on Saturday 26th of May. On the way there, we have stopped at the Glienicker Brucke - a bridge across the Havel River connecting the Wannsee district of Berlin with the Brandenburg capital Potsdam. The existing bridge was completed in 1907, although major reconstruction was necessary after it was damaged during World War II. During the Cold War, as this portion of the Havel River formed the border between West Berlin and East Germany, the bridge was used several times for the exchange of captured spies and thus became known as the Bridge of Spies.
Afterwards, we have visited the Cecilienhof - built from 1914 to 1917 in the layout of an English Tudor manor house. Cecilienhof was the last palace built by the House of Hohenzollern that ruled the Kingdom of Prussia and the German Empire until the end of World War I. It is famous for having been the location of the Potsdam Conference in 1945, in which the leaders of the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States made important decisions affecting the shape of post World War II Europe and Asia. Cecilienhof has been part of the Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990.
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Opening of the exhibition in the OSZ Lotis
The students from the OSZ Lotis who participated in the interdisciplinary art-workshop led by the artist Roman Kroke end of April, inaugurated the exhibition on the 28th of May in the presence of the artist, and presented their works to their peers, teachers and partners of the project. The topic of the artistic workshop was centered around the metaphor of the “wall” and took as a starting point various objects exhibited in the Berlin Wall Memorial – personal objects which had belonged to people whose lives had been marked by the separation of West and East Germany during the times of the Cold War. The workshop took place in a historic building which used to be a part of the Berlin Wall, located at the exact division line.
Later the same day, the students worked in groups on creation of the "Memorial of our Time" - the final workshop focused on the connection between past, present and future related to our history, our memories and our forms to remember. It combined experiences with the analysis of our current situation. In the afternoon, the teachers and the partners held their meeting for the preparation of the upcoming activities. The 29th of May was the departure day for all participants.
