What kinds of propaganda are there? Under what circumstances does art become propaganda? And can people in totalitarian regimes put up resistance? These are just some questions addressed in the toolkit “Totalitarian Propaganda. Lessons of the 20th and 21st centuries of Ukrainian History”. The project team in Ukraine developed 16 teaching units for the the first part of their toolkit. The second part “History as Propaganda” complements the lesson plans with theoretical explorations. They dive deep in the topic of propaganda, such as the characteristics of the use of history by propaganda or how to deal with modern historical myths.

Theory was also the starting point for the project team from Moldova. In ten theoretical essays they explored history-based propaganda from different vantage points. The topics covered range from propaganda during the Soviet era to the importance of critical thinking in an age of disinformation. Former tutors of the competition 2023/2024 took these texts as a base for conducting lessons, which were then developed into lesson plans by the Moldovan project team. Both theoretical essays and lesson plans are featured in the Moldovan toolkit.

In addition to studies and articles on history-based propaganda, the toolkit created by the project team in Georgia offers teachers a range of materials for developing school lessons on this topic. The main focus of both theoretical and practical material lies on propaganda during the Soviet era. Nevertheless, the Georgian toolkit also deals with contepary examples, such as propaganda in Wikipedia or the Russian history textbooks introduced in 2023.

The Armenian toolkit meanwhile strongly focuses on project-based learning and the development of critical thinking. The project team from Armenia closely collaborated with four tutors who documented their students’ research processes during the competition 2023/2024. The project team used the tutors’ practical experiences to illustrate the steps for implementing project-based learning outlined in the toolkit. Additional materials provide further insights for interested teachers.

The four toolkits have been presented to interested professional audiences. The Ukrainian team also developed and implemented a two-month training course for nearly 180 teachers, that is based on the toolkit. Now, project teams in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine are continuing to raise awareness about their toolkits in order to initiate a lasting development of history teaching in their respective countries.