Projects
Searching for local historical evidence
Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge
They can be found in almost every town or community: so-called cenotaphs or war memorials. They usually show the names of local soldiers who have died in various wars. Only rarely do local chronicles, for example, provide further information about the fate of these people. However, the Volksbund war graves database "Gräbersuche online" often provides more details such as how old the soldiers were when they died, and where they died. The project outline explains how schools can develop a project based on the memorials and the database.
Handout Projektmöglichkeiten auf Kriegsgräberstätten (in German).
Handout Projektmöglichkeiten auf Kriegsgräberstätten (in German)
Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge
The Volksbund German war graves commission believes that four decades after the end of the Second World War, national and international war cemeteries are more than just places of mourning and remembrance. They show students the consequences of the wars and dictatorships that governed the first half of the 20th century. The graves of men and women, soldiers and civilians, and people of all nationalities inspire questions which allow the subject to be approached on a different, tangible and regional history related level.
Using the Schlüchtern war cemetery as an example, this handout designed by the Hessen regional branch explains the various options for establishing a project group and focusing on a particular war graves site in order to learn in a research based way.
Hessische Landgemeinden im Ersten Weltkrieg
Heimat- und Geschichtsverein Ostheim e. V.
This project by the Ostheim local history association explains how the rural population experienced the war, using selected villages in the Main-Kinzig region as examples. On the basis of academic research in the local archives, the impact of the war on the lives of the people living in those villages is shown in an exhibition, in lectures, and in cultural as well as educational projects and projects initiated by local churches.
Series of exhibitions on the First World War
In 2014, more than 25 museums and institutions in the Upper Rhine region will be holding exhibitions on the First World War. The joint series of exhibitions organised by a tri-national museum network will be looking at the Great War from a variety of regional and thematic perspectives. Particularly interesting: visitors can attend exhibitions on the First World War in Alsace in France, Northwestern Switzerland, and Baden-Württemberg and the Palatinate in Germany to in order to explore different perspectives.
Please go directly to the bilingual (French/German) Netzwerk Museum-Réseau Musées website for further information.
European Film Gateway 1914
The European Film Gateway 1914 project (EFG1914) involves twenty European film archives and cinematheques that will digitalise around 650 hours of visual material which will then be available on the internet. The project focuses on the years around 1910, and particularly on the period of the First World War, 1914-1918. Archives from countries such as France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands are involved. The visual media section of the Imperial War Museum in London represents the largest collection of visual material from the First World War held by an institution. The museum is involved in this project.
See the films here
See the photographs and films listed according to category here
Youth competition 1914-1918: Heimat im Krieg
1914-1918: Heimat im Krieg ('1914-1918: Our Region at War') is a youth competition about everyday life during the First World War.
As 'history detectives', the participants can focus on the First World War and its impact on their local region, far away from the battlefields. They will realise that historical research is fun and will also learn something about the history of what is today Saxony-Anhalt in its course. The competition entries should have a regional focus, and they should cover a wide range of subjects. The various themes addressed by the travelling exhibition 'Our Region at War – War in Our Region' provide inspiration for possible contents. Some examples are 'Not with us!' – resistance to and objections against the war, or 'Learning during the war'.
An expert jury will select the best competition entries, and the prize winners will receive their awards in an awards ceremony coinciding with the start of the travelling exhibition in August 2014.
A total of 8,000 euros will be distributed amongst the best entries. A particular project highlight is the planned group trip to France. In addition, some of the contributions will be shown in the regional travelling exhibition 'Our Region at War', which will travel through Saxony-Anhalt for four years.
Please see the above link to the respective homepage for further information and contact details.
Contact:
Torsten Sowada
Sachsen-Anhalt e.V.
Liebigstr. 5
39104 Magdeburg
Tel: 0049 (0) 391-2445174
Email:
German-French-English Work Camp Compiègne
This youth camp will allow young adults from France, England and Germany to spend time together in France during the year of remembrance, 2014.
One some mornings, they will do some work together at various memorials and war cemeteries; the railway carriage where the 1918 armistice was called and signed at Compiègne is still there, for example, and they will of course visit this as well as the Eiffel Tower in Paris and numerous other sights.
Ultimately, besides joint sports and leisure time activities, the forging of new friendships is on top of the work camp's agenda. The camp will run for a fortnight.
See the link to the flyer in the headline for more information such as travel advice and application forms.
When:
18 August - 1 September 2014
"Der Erste Weltkrieg! - Was hat das mit mir zu tun?!"
To mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) in cooperation with the Koerber-Foundation, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) will be hosting the HistoryCampus 'Europe 14|14' in Berlin from 7 to 11 May.
We are looking for young people aged between 18 and 25 who are interested in submitting their ideas for projects on the subject of 'The First World War - What does it mean to me?'.
The project should illustrate how the First World War still affects today's young people and their lives or where they encounter traces of the war or its impact in their everyday lives (e.g. memorials, songs, films or computer games). We are also interested in what young adults think about the relevance of the First World War and its effects on Europe in 2014.
Anything is possible, from exhibitions and interviews with contemporary witnesses to science slams and staged readings or the development of games and educational material.
A jury will select the most creative project ideas, which will then be funded by the bpb with up to 1,500 euros. The funded projects will be included in the 'Europe 14/14 HistoryCampus Berlin' programme, and the young adults who submitted the ideas will be invited to Berlin, where they are given the opportunity to present your projects, and to develop them further together with 400 young people from all over Europe. The bpb will pay for travel expenses and accommodation.
Funding may be applied for until 14 February 2014. Interested young adults should submit their project ideas and outlines to .
See here for more information (application form and funding guidelines)
At a glance:
Project competition 'Europe 14/14' - up to 1,500 euros funding
Closing date for project ideas: 15 February 2014
Target group: Young adults aged 18-25
The winning projects will be invited to HistoryCampus Europe 14/14, which runs from 7-11 May 2014
For content related questions, please contact:
Andrea Rögner-Francke
Tel.: 030 254 504 415
"Projet franco-allemand sur la Première Guerre mondiale"
A Franco-German First World War research project.
There are an increasing number of remembrance events to mark the centenary of the First World War. Project 'Ridge 108' may help you to keep track of things.
French and German students will be working together on this research project. 'Ridge 108' kicks off in February with a first Franco-German meeting, and will run until 2018.
Under the title 'Ridge 108 in Berry-au-Bac: Frontline and Home Front in National History and European Memory', the project will attempt to write a European history of the Great War by motivating graduates from both countries to work in both the French and the German archives. A particular topic will be focused on in every year of the project (starting with war experiences and finishing with the memories the two societies have of the war).
Three meetings will be held in Berry-au-Bac (Aisne), at the end of the Chemins des Dames.
La passion des soldats de la grande guerre
The passion of the soldiers who fought in the Great War.
Two educated and sensitive men describe their experiences uncompromisingly with brutal honesty. Two similar fates, divided by history, a border and the war.
The project consists of alternating encounters with the war experiences recounted by Maurice Genevoix and Ernst Jünger, and wants to give them substance and lend the men a voice. These are two uniquely balanced tales about commitment and courage. They communicate the unimaginable and unspeakable to those who have not experienced the war, the frontline and the everyday violence.
We are currently developing a bilingual, German-French theatrical work based on the French and the German text. We want this unique and unusual play to be a special occasion as well as an educational event in order to appeal to an extremely wide audience in Germany and France.
Please see the above link to the respective homepage for further information and insights.
6,000 pairs of socks
To coincide with the exhibition 'A German City during the First World War. Osnabrück 1914-18', the Museum Industriekultur will be repeating the historic appeal for '6,000 pairs of socks' – however, this time round, they will be knitted in aid of peace education.
The socks will be sold, and the income will be donated to the Osnabrück based children's charity terre des hommes, which supports children's projects in war-torn countries.
Whilst the exhibition is on, the socks can be dropped off at the museum, where they will gradually be formed into an installation which will be displayed as a colourful counter-image.
The socks will then be sold by schoolchildren on this year's Universal Children's Day – Saturday, 20 September 2014 – with the help of celebrities.
Download the project flyer free of charge here.
If you would like to contribute socks, please drop them in to the Museum Industriekultur Osnabrück at Fürstenauer Weg 17.
Follow this link for more information about the exhibition Eine deutsche Stadt im Ersten Weltkrieg. Osnabrück 1914-18.
Where:
Museum Industriekultur Osnabrück
Magazingebäude
Süberweg 50a
49090 Osnabrück
In Treue Fest!
Knitting and death during the First World War
Karin Bienek of the magic lantern company Illuminago and the Frankfurt based actor Cornelia Niemann will be showing a piece of everyday patriotic middle-class life.
They will project photographs from the 1914-1918 era onto a screen using a historic magic lantern. Victorious campaigns become visual life experiences, there are realistic images of theatres of war and of life at the front; there are even exercise instructions get young men fit for military service. Germany's glorious past is also brought to life through drawn projection images, all in black and white. Colourful pictures for toy magic lanterns allowed the patriotic spirit to invade middle-class nurseries. For added entertainment, this nationalistic edification is given a slightly less intense touch by chromathrope slides with humorous hand-painted moving pictures, bright colours and intricate drawings.
For one of the series of projections, the original lecture accompanying it has survived. Patriotic texts from authors such as Ludwig Ganghofer and Thomas Mann will also be quoted.
And there will be readings: from classic works of German children's literature such as Else Uhry's 'Nesthäkchen and the World War', or from 'Heia Safari' by General von Lettow-Vorbeck – however also from some not quite as patriotic works by Karl Kraus, Rosa Luxemburg and Siegfried Kracauer.
Please see the above linked PDF for further information and contact details.
