Nonviolent Communication Approach in Adult Education in Historical Museums and Memorial Sites. Erasmus Project

Project Title

Nonviolent Communication Approach in Adult Education in Historical Museums and Memorial Sites.

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Social dialogue; Disabilities – special needs; Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development)

Project Summary

The project “Nonviolent Communication Approach in Adult Education in Historical Museums and Memorial Sites” will be carried out by 4 partners: POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews (Poland, project coordinator), Mémorial de la Shoah (France), Žanis Lipke Memorial (Latvia) and the Holocaust Fund of the Jews from Macedonia (North Macedonia). The project will be implemented in the years 2020–2022.
The long-term objective of the project is to mobilise groups of adult addressees of the partners’ programme in order to increase their knowledge about the Holocaust of Jews in Europe. The issue continues to generate invariably challenging questions which significantly influence the contemporary perception of such concepts as anti-Semitism, racism,or social memory of the Holocaust and World War II in European countries. In view of the emotional attitude displayed by many people seeking information on the subject, as well as various types of exclusion (age, disability, provenance), it is necessary to develop a set of recommendations on attending to such visitors in institutions with similar profiles. To address the problem, the partners have decided to train the project participants in elementary skills in Nonviolent Communication (NVC) in order to contribute to reaching common understanding and achieving dialogue in their contacts with adult visitors to the above institutions.
The target groups: adults interested in the Holocaust but biased in their opinions on the subject due to the absorption of stereotypes; elderly people; digitally disadvantaged persons, including those with disabilities who, for a variety of reasons, may have limited access to knowledge. Among the direct participants of the project (18 people at each seminar), priority will be given to employees of documentation and historical information centres (daily contact with adult visitors – consultations, search queries), educators presenting the content of permanent exhibitions to adult visitors, employees responsible for disseminating knowledge via the Internet (consultations via e-mail, researching themes popular among recipients, producing reliable historical content for on-line sharing).
5 seminars will be organised to discuss the needs of the above-mentioned target groups – in Warsaw (twice), Paris, Riga, Skopje. During the first seminar, an expert trainer will introduce the basics of NVC method. In the subsequent meetings, the participants will analyse selected needs of the target groups with the use of the aforementioned communication method.
One of the anticipated results of the project will be forging closer links between the partner institutions, which in turn will help their employees deepen their expert knowledge and develop a sense of community in their professional experiences on the European level. As far as long-term benefits are concerned, we hope that the development of communication skills among museum and memorial site employees will ease the tensions in their communication with the visitors, who will consequently be encouraged to challenge and uproot their stereotypes and extend the horizons of their thinking – all of which fall in line with the mission of the project partners, which has at its foundations intercultural dialogue, social inclusion and building respect and understanding.
The outcomes of the project will be compiled into a compendium of best practices and recommendations published on the EPALE (European Platform for Adult Learning in Europe), available to all users of the Erasmus+ platform. In addition, they will be disseminated by the partner institutions on their websites and knowledge portals, also on such significant occasions as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the European Day of the Righteous, the Holocaust Memorial Day in Latvia, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising anniversary, the anniversary of the Vél d’Hiv roundup in Paris and the Day of the Deportation of the Macedonian Jews.
As part of our dissemination efforts, the knowledge gained in the project will be transferred to other employees (e.g. guides and educators in POLIN Museum and Mémorial de la Shoah – 130 people in total) and will be shared during important meetings of museum workers: the international conference “What is New, What is Next? Innovative Methods, New Sources and Paradigm Shifts in Jewish Studies” (held in 2021 at POLIN Museum); the annual seminar for museum workers, archivists and memorial sites titled “Digitization of Nazi Era Victims’ Data” (with the participation of the Yad Vashem Institute and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum); meetings of the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure Consortium and the International Committee of Memorial Museums in Remembrance of the Victims of Public Crimes, working under the ICOM (International Council of Museums).
In view of the unstable situation resulting from the COVID–19 pandemic, we are ready to implement the project with the use of alternative methods, such as video conference

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 83130 Eur

Project Coordinator

MUZEUM HISTORII ZYDOW POLSKICH POLIN & Country: PL

Project Partners

• Mémorial de la Shoah
• Zanis Lipke Memorial
• Holocaust Fund of the Jews from Macedonia