Gigantic monuments, silent graveyards, commemorative plaques at central places – which of the First World War monuments do you come across in your hometown? Do they appeal to you, are they still up to date or do you have new ideas for forms of commemoration? Then this is the chance to put your thoughts into action!
Together with young people from different European countries, you will analyse the First World War monuments as historical sources and as representatives of local and national memory. To prepare for the workshop, you will be asked to choose and describe one local monument on an internet platform.
When you meet your fellow workshop members in Berlin, you will discuss the political messages these objects transmit. Are they vindications for the miseries of war and violence? You will talk about how locals deal with their war monument next door and you will examine to what extent various local memorials resemble but also differ from one another.
After having reflected on aspects of the past, you will move on and discuss what a European remembrance of the First World War should look like in the future: What content, perspectives and forms would be adequate? Apart from discussing these issues, you will also meet a stage designer and learn how she goes about visualising abstract ideas.
At the end of the HistoryCampus you can develop and possibly realise either a monument or another form of European remembrance that you believe suits the present time better.
Be creative! Get involved with other Europeans, share your views on memorials and commemoration and thereby contribute to the shaping of new forms of European memory!
Workshop speakers:
Caroline Gritschke, historian, House of History Baden-Württemberg, Externer Link: www.hdgbw.de