Switzerland

"Youth on the Move" was the topic of the 2019/2021 Swiss History Competition HISTORIA. Due to coronavirus restrictions, this year’s HISTORIA Award Ceremony took place online via Zoom on 29 May 2021. About 40 participants joined the bilingual live event (German and French), including members of the HISTORIA team, the young researchers, as well as some parents, guests and teachers. They spent an informative and varied 90 minutes in front of their screens with the highlight being, of course, the announcement of the award winners.

A total of 24 contributions, written in German and French, were sent in by 25 participants. No works arrived from the Italian speaking Canton of Ticino this time, but one paper was submitted from as far away as a Swiss school in Colombia. “Unfortunately, we did not receive any research works from younger pupils”, remarked Kerstin Peter, HISTORIA’s President, who hosted the event. “This probably had something to do with the difficult teaching conditions in times of the pandemic. However, the works we did receive were of a high quality, the Jury attested.”

As is customary at HISTORIA’s award ceremonies, all participants, be they award winners or not, present their works to each other briefly in small groups. This year the participants were split up in five separate “breakout rooms” in Zoom. When the participants were "beamed" back to the main room after twenty minutes, the atmosphere had noticeably relaxed. It was then that the award winners were invited to apply for the next EUSTORY Youth Activities. It was emphasised that participation in EUSTORY Youth Activities is a wonderful opportunity to get to know like-minded people from all over Europe, to exchange ideas about history with them and to do research together. In addition to the winners’ certificates and cash prizes, this is really the main prize, Kerstin Peters added.

These words led to the actual award giving part of the event. The 15-member jury had chosen the following winners in the two categories "Matura Work" and "Creative Work".

First prizes:

Joachim Lalou, Collège Sainte Croix (Fribourg): Le conseiller d'Etat radical fribourgeois Jean Folly (1810-1854), législateur et pionnier de l'humanisation de la justice (The radical Fribourg State Councillor Jean Folly (1810-1854), legislator and pioneer of the humanisation of justice)

Nadia Tamm, Gymnasium Bäumlihof (Basel): Im letzten Moment. Die Flucht meiner Auslandschweizerfamilie aus Westpreussen 1945 (At the last minute. The escape of my Swiss family from West Prussia in 1945)

Second prize:

Flurina Campell, Kantonsschule Glarus: Im Auftrag des Königs auf 2000 m.ü.M. Untertitel: Untersuchung der Rolle des Bergrichters im Bergbau S-charl im Jahr 1549 (On behalf of the King at 2000 m above sea lovel. Subtitle: Investigation of the role of the mountain judge in the S-charl mine in 1549.)

Third prizes:

Gian-Luca Wittwer, Bündner Kantonsschule: Die Spanische Grippe in Chur 1918/19 (The Spanish influenza in Chur in 1918/19)

Anja Schröter, Kantonsschule Reussbühl (Lucerne): Ein freies Volk braucht freie Frau - Das Frauenstimm- und Wahlrecht in der Schweiz - Eine Gesellschaft im Wandel 1945 – 1993 (A free people needs a free woman - Women's suffrage in Switzerland - A changing society 1945 – 1993)

First prize Creative Work:

Daniela Wildi, Kantonsschule Wohlen: «J'étais un enfant qu'on ne voyait pas». Produktion eines Dokumentarfilms zum Thema «Verdingkinder» ("I was a child who was not seen". Production of a documentary film on the topic of "Verdingkinder" (indentured child labourers))

The event was framed by two informative and entertaining contributions by Benedikt Meyer, historian and author specialising in historical cabaret: "Old Times in Basel" dealt with the two railway station clocks in Basel and "103 Years for a Grammar Lesson" addressed the subject of women's suffrage.