Widerstand – ein europäisches Ideal?! Auseinandersetzung mit Orten der Erinnerung bzw. Gedenkstätten als zentrale Ereignisse des Widerstands in der polnischen und deutschen Geschichte. Erasmus Project

Project Title

Widerstand – ein europäisches Ideal?! Auseinandersetzung mit Orten der Erinnerung bzw. Gedenkstätten als zentrale Ereignisse des Widerstands in der polnischen und deutschen Geschichte.

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 Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Home and justice affairs (human rights & rule of law)

Project Summary

Resistance – a European ideal? The 20 (10+10) pupils of the hospitality industry and the nutrition and housekeeping of the Powiatowy Zespol Szkol Ponadgimnazjalnych in Jerzego Siwinskiego and the 20 (10+10) pupils of the Berufliches Gymnasium “Gesundheit und Soziales, Fachlicher Schwerpunkt Pädagogik” of the Börde-Berufskolleg of the Kreis Soest in Soest worked together within the framework of the Polish-German remembrance culture. After completion and follow-up of the previous project “On the tracks of Janusz Korczaks/Gedenkstättenpädagogik” it became clear in the reflection that another central field of work is the intensive confrontation with the ideals of resistance in Germany and Poland. This idea was the starting point for this project. Since the cooperation with the Polish partners ran smoothly, a continuation of the work with the school in Legionowo was obvious.

The pupils of both schools are between 16 and 20 years old and, in addition to general study skills at universities and universities of applied sciences, aim to acquire in-depth professional knowledge through their degrees. By dealing with central events (e.g. German occupation, Warsaw ghetto, resistance under National Socialism, Solidarnosc movement) the students build up a sound understanding of the overall development of Poland, Germany and the whole of Europe. These events provide the background for an intensive examination of the common European goods and values of the past, present and future and show the interdependence of the developments. The pupils learn that resignation and passivity and adaptation can be overcome even in times of existential threat and endangerment, but that this may mean a danger to their own lives. In this way the participants acquire qualifications that enable them to participate in the political life of society.

Central didactic approaches for all these events are places of remembrance that symbolize the past in highly concentrated form and authentically depict it. (Ghetto wall, exploration of the old town of Warsaw as a testimony of destruction and reconstruction, transshipment point, Pawiak and Aleja Szucha, Hohenschönhausen, Plötzensee, Steinwache, etc.) Within the framework of this Erasmus+ project, the pupils had the unique opportunity to open up these places with the explicit inclusion of their respective professional focal points. The aim was for the pupils to open up new vocational fields of action for themselves in the context of the culture of remembrance and to deal intensively with the question of their own professional activity within the framework of study and vocational orientation. In order to open up the places of remembrance, visits and sightseeing of these places were necessary. This was the reason for the mobility within the framework of this project. This was the only way the pupils could authentically experience how these places have been opened up so far and they could experience and analyse the necessary professionalism in the context of memory culture in its entirety and open up fields of action in this environment.

Among other things, photo and video documentation, descriptions of the occupational profiles and their necessary competences in the context of the culture of memory, exhibitions, and the production of a radio programme have been carried out on products. The project has a lasting multidimensional effect. All those involved in the Erasmus+ project gained a differentiated knowledge of, in part, common lines of development from the 20th century to the present. The good Polish-German relationship was sustainably strengthened pro-European, as this project is a contribution to sustainable international understanding and rapprochement. In the long term, this Erasmus+ project aims to develop the behavioural disposition of each individual, to stand up for fundamental rights, human dignity and respect in Europe and worldwide, even under difficult conditions.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 44340 Eur

Project Coordinator

Börde-Berufskolleg des Kreises Soest & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Powiatowy Zespol Szkol Ponadgimnazjalnych im. Jerzego Siwinskiego w Legionowie