Marianne Birthler to Open EUSTORY Next Generation Summit 2017
More than one hundred young prize winners from more than twenty countries will gather from 6 to 10 October at RADIALSYSTEM V in Berlin for an exchange at the EUSTORY Next Generation Summit 2017.
History holds important keys to understanding the present and to carrying on a dialogue about the future: Based on current challenges such as renationalisation, political radicalisation, migration and the return of war to Europe, the 16 to 25 year-olds will engage in a cross-border dialogue with international experts, artists, journalists and educators on the question of how to shape the present and future together, against a background of historical experiences.
The event will be opened on Friday, 6 October at 7.30 pm by Marianne Birthler who served as the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records for a long time. In her keynote speech she will reflect on a forward-looking approach in dealing with painful history. Following her speech she will discuss her experiences with Yolanda Trujillo Adriá, EUSTORY Alumna from Spain and Anna Sievälä, EUSTORY Alumna from Finland.
At the opening, guests will see excerpts from the performance "Borderliner. A European Family Constellation" by Katja Hensel, commenting artistically on the current state of Europe. Guests will also have a chance to meet all participants of the EUSTORY Summit as well as the Workshop leaders, for example musician Marc Sinan, representatives of the Russian human rights organisation MEMORIAL Moscow, the Polish NGO Kultura Liberalna, the House of European History in Brussels and others.
Preparing in a virtual classroom
The more than one hundred young Europeans have been preparing for weeks in virtual classrooms of the History Campus Portal. "I will never forget the moment I heard explosions when walking through the park. In panic, I ran home. Even though projectiles were flying through the air I was not afraid for myself but for my parents. I will never forget the tears in my mother’s eyes when she saw me. We spent the entire evening in the corridor because of heavy explosions. We could hear shooting every morning. And the worst thing is that you start to get used to it." A 17-year-old Ukrainian reported about her experiences in Donbass in her workshop "Resist Violence". This workshop is about the causes and consequences of violence that young Europeans either experienced themselves or that happened in their family history. The workshop is led by the German-Turkish-Armenian musician Marc Sinan. Together with him the students will deal with their topic artistically in a performance which will be presented at the closing event.
Prior to coming to Berlin, participants of the workshop “Analysing Populism” carried out research into radical language in the media of their home countries and shared their findings with the other participants on the History Campus platform. While in Berlin, participants, together with scientists from Poland, Italy and Austria, will compare populist verbal images and discuss the question of how history can be used as a weapon.
Populism is also a central topic for the participants of the workshop "Fake or Real?". They will develop personal strategies for dealing with fake messages and hate messages on the Internet. Other groups analyse the way in which museums present history, explore the consequences of the Russian Revolution that are still being felt in Europe today, and learn how (forced) migration affects children.
The young people will present their results in films, debates and artistic contributions at the public closing event of the summit on Monday, 9 October 2017.
Find more details about the EUSTORY Next Generation Summit on the History Campus.