Holocaust and human behavior in Germany and Belarus

Research on the Holocaust and Human behavior in Belarus and Germany

1. Project summary

Summary:

We believe that students and teachers are moral philosophers-able and willing to think about tough moral and ethical dilemmas in surprisingly sophisticated ways. Our materials and our approach help students with a wide range of abilities and learning styles understand that their choices and actions matter, and that young people can, and should, be agents of change. We provide teachers with the tools they need to educate students so that they can act on their knowledge. Students from both countries Germany and Belarus made their own research about WW2 and Holocaust issues, found witnesses and survivors from Minsk Ghetto and concentration camps , made an interview with them and recorded a video film for the future generation. The idea about the project was born in Smorgon because head of SICCHRE has been in Ghent University at the HRE training programme and has met colleagues from Germany and invited them to work together on the topic of Holocaust and human behavior.
Our objective is to engage students and teachers of diverse backgrounds in an examination of racism, prejudice, and anti-Semitism in order to promote the development of a more humane and informed citizenry. By studying the historical development and lessons of the Holocaust and other examples of genocide, students make the essential connection between history and the moral choices they confront in their own lives.
The project aims are to raise awareness in the field of Holocaust and HR, democracy values among teachers and youth leaders from local schools in Smorgon and Franfurt am Main, spread information about EU-CE way of teaching Holocaust ,children and HR by using ICT and connect local schools with schools in EU countries.
To do that SICCHRE has done the next activities:
• trained teachers from 7 local schools (15 teachers) and youth leaders from 7 town schools (15 leaders) in the field of HRE and Holocaust in Belarus and Franfurt am Main, how to use ICT in teaching and exploring HR in everyday life , connect target groups with colleagues and peers
• wrote and disseminated SICCHRE’s manual dedicated to very practical steps in ICT and good practices on Holocaust teaching, international cooperation and collaboration
• made a video film about Holocaust survivors and witnesses as local heroes in our countries we have to know about
• supported 37 local schools with information support and materials made by students from Germany and Smorgon to carry out seminars for their colleagues and peers at schools.

2. Country (City / Region)

State:

Belarus

City:

Smorgon

3. Company/organization/institute presenting the project

Organization:

Information centre on children and human rights education

4. Type of organization

Select type:

Research center

5. Project coordinator

Name and Surname:

Mr.Vladimir Kalinin

E-Mail:

vladltd11@gmail.com

7. Please select the category in which you candidate your project

Youth Education Project. Select Project Users by age:

Up to 15 years

Helping youth step in the job market:

NOT Helping youth step in the job market

Creativity and Social Innovation:

NOT in Creativity and Social Innovation

8. How long has your project been running?

From:

01/09/2007

9. Targets and Elements of Innovation

Please explain the targets and the background of your project:

Smorgon information centre is working on Holocaust education in Belarus for the last 3 years.
The last project informcentre carried out in cooperation with gymnasium from Germany
( Frankfurt am Main European gymnasium), ICT iEARN- US “The Holocaust project” and achieved great success in this field. We started an International project because country isolated in Europe after the collapse of the USSR and most of our people and youth still living at iron curtain, so we would like to cooperate and collaborate with EU-CE schools just to connect our youth as future Europeans living at one European house and spread materials and information about Holocaust in our countries among schools in both countries.
So , we took a decision to motivate our students and teachers to work with people who survived after Holocaust , carry out seminars for our target groups , publish manual for other schools –how to use ICT in Holocaust projects and exchange visits ,make video film about our local heroes with rememberings and stories and use our materials at schools during history classes. It is important for us because we have some years to do that because of the age of our heroes ( just to keep the information for the next generations). Our neighbors in Baltic states are trying to re-write the history and people who has nazi past are heroes in Latvia and Estonia and even top officials do not want to recognize Holocaust and saying about concentration camps that it was a professional schools for getting new skills there(former president of Latvia was saying that openly) and top officials in Estonia built some monuments for nazi SS soldiers and crushed a monument for soviet soldiers in Tallin. It was an additional motivation to make our own research and talk to people who passed through the WW2 ,Holocaust and concentration camps.

What does it try to achieve and how:

We are seeking to achieve an exchange of good practices , ideas , materials
during seminars on Holocaust issues , make video film about Holocaust survivors and Righteous people in our countries, publish manual for schools in our countries and motivate teachers and students from our countries take part in the future International exchange .

Which opportunities/problems does it address to:

We want to raise awareness among new generations in our countries dedicated to Holocaust issues .It is very important for our youth to remember about WW2 and Holocaust because in Latvia top officials are trying to keep silence about it ( they named concentration camp in Salaspils as a working camp to get new professional training, a lot of Nazi books you can find in shops, former Nazi soldiers have manifestations-demonstrations ,saved and wear their uniform still now) .In Belarus we have lack of information about Holocaust , at school history books very few information (just one paragraph about it), so we face severe resource constraints .
We are going to fill the information gap and share our way of work and materials with other schools in our countries. Education departments in both countries are supporting us in this field , providing free of charge space for seminars, utilities, equipment

Please explain what is unique or special in your project:

The unique issue is that ordinary pupils and teachers took a decision to seek a true information about our past and to learn a lesson from the history , made a research and record witnesses stories and use our materials during history classes in our countries , carry out an exchange visits and International Conference dedicated to Holocaust in Germany and Belarus ( in a situation of full isolation of one of the partner country, who cannot cross the border with neighboring EU countries) and we did that.

10. Results

Describe the results of your project as per today:

-Teachers and youth leaders got our manual :“ Holocaust and ICT and Internet projects with EU-CE countries, SICCHRE’s experience and good practices of International cooperation and collaboration in the field of active citizenship and human rights”. Our materials and information reach in Belarus:37 schools , more than 10 000 pupils and students ,2500 teachers . We are putting democracy values seeds into minds and heads of our future –youth with the hope for future social challenges and changes.
-Video film about our school activities , how youth leaders and teachers are promoting human rights at schools and society, record interviews with Holocaust heroes and survivors, Righteous people living next to us but still unknown in our societies. Our video film we distributed among schools in our countries and they could learn from our experience of active citizenship and moving towards democracy and rule of law ,peace and dignity , tolerance. Our experience could be accepted in other schools in NIS,CE-EU to follow in and develop civil society values such as freedom of speech, assembly, dignity, peace.
The project outcome surprised us too much (the project got a good media coverage in Germany and Smorgon, mayors of cities invited our teams to the official ceremony in Frankfurt am Main and Smorgon , so about the project local societies got good information) because top officials in Belarus and Frankfurt am Main administration are working on the issue where and how to place a monument(Germans are ready to cover all costs of the monument) dedicated to Frankfurt am Main Jews died in Minsk Ghetto .
As a result of the project we hope will happen a positive changes at schools we are working with because of our training seminars and practical materials with good practices (it could be very easily to replicate in any former USSR country because education systems and teaching approaches are very similar ). We will support youth and teachers with new approach in teaching Holocaust by using ICT and Internet connecting schools and people, finding survivors and making video films about local heroes, using our materials during classes and upbringing activities at schools to save peace and tolerance in our communities.

At the heart of our work is the resource book Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior(SICCHRE got from USA), which explores the consequences of hatred. Students and teachers in our countries will learn to recognize bigotry and indifference. They also meet exemplars of courage and compassion in the face of injustice and see that their own daily choices can have major impacts and perhaps even be a critical link to a safer future.

How does it fulfill the users’ needs:

Pupils got the possibility to learn about research work, write a history by themselves and develop critical thinking and compare information from different sources, got new knowledge and skills about digital equipment, video filming active and participative way of studying. Teachers got the new vision how to motivate pupils in project oriented work to make a study process very flexible and innovative.

How many users interact with your project per month and what are the preferred forms of interaction:

Internet connection in Belarus schools is very low( not all schools could work in Internet or have access to it) so we are conducting schools visits , presentations and at least near 10 000 pupils have information and access to our materials thorough school libraries .

How has it improved the quality of educational and/or training services:

Our innovative International project showed a new way for Belarus schools of teaching history by using active and participative approach and connect youth in Europe despite of political situation.

How has it improved the participation of professionals, children, youth and other stakeholders:

We have volunteers at all 37 schools who continue to work in the same direction and using our pedagogical approach to motivate teachers and pupils to use ICT and reach their goals .

How does it promote the use of ICT for the educational and cultural development by professionals, children and youth:

SICCHRE’s main achievements in the field of teaching, promoting children and HR, ICT cooperation with EU-CE countries:
* 7 years of cooperation and collaboration with Ministry of Education republic of Belarus as leading body of experimental room on children and human rights education for secondary school at the base of gymnasium N4( from 2000 till 2007)
* As head of SICCHRE I am a National Coordinator for EU and CE educational ICT projects (I manage ICT projects for the biggest EU project NEAC-Network of European Alimentary Culture- and Network of European Active Citizenship(http://www.neac.eat-online.net)
- USA iEARN project “ My Hero”- (http://myhero.com we got 2nd place in 2006 for the video film dedicated to human rights heroes in Smorgon “My Hero Vladimir”)
- The Netherlands ICT project “This is our Time “ for ASP UNESCO
http://www.timeproject.org
- UNESCO ICT project “Mondialogo” www.mondialogo.org .In 2006 SICCHRE won UNESCO prize in the world school contest and have been invited to the International Conference in Rome
- Several times SICCHRE won EU prizes in the field of children rights in UK
www.timeforcitizenship.org
- Child Helpline International –Amsterdam www.childhelplineinternational.org
- myEurope -project with Austria Business school
http://home.schule.at/teacher/website/vbs_myEurope_spring_belarus_austri...
More than 200 students are working in ICT projects with the centre support.

Describe how you measure (parameters) these results:

We have questionnaire for participants for evaluation purposes and going critically analyze positive and negative feedback of the project implementation.
Number of teachers and students who will work in Internet projects with EU-CE countries will be a factor for evaluation of the project.
We are going to collect information from our new partners and their way of teaching Holocaust, school activities just to improve our way of work with and for students and teachers.

11. Sustainability

What is the full duration of your project:

From 1 to 3 years

What is the approximate total budget for your project (in USD):

From 10.001 to 30.000

What is the source of funding for your project:

Grants

Is your project economically self sufficient now:

Yes

Insert date:

09/01/2008

12. Transferability

Has your project been replicated/adapted elsewhere:

Yes

Specify:

37 local schools have volunteer teachers and students to follow our experience in Smorgon and Frankfurt am Main European gymnasium.

What lessons can others learn from your project:

As a result of the project we hope will happen a positive changes at schools we are working with because of our training seminars and practical materials with good practices (it could be very easily to replicate in any former USSR country because education systems and teaching approaches are very similar ).
Critical thinking development ,real goals and way of implementation ,motivation of students and teachers to reach your project aims the thing others could learn from us. Finding survivors and making video films about local heroes, publishing materials and share them with others, using students materials during history classes and upbringing activities at schools to save peace and tolerance in our communities will be another lesson what others could learn from us..

We are available to help others starting or working on similar projects:

We are available to help others starting or working on similar projects.

13. Background information

Background:

The project came about during my study at Ghent University where I have met German teachers to work with. We motivated some teachers in our schools and teams of 10 students from both countries to work in the project. We were applying to the grant support and German team got it from Europeans for peace foundation(in Belarus we have not any foundations to apply for support).

Barriers:

Lack of financial resources could be the main barrier in our project implementation, lack of well trained teachers and good practices on practical steps how to start and develop Holocaust projects by using ICT and Internet. Both countries declared that their work is based on the premise that educational bodies need to-and can-teach civic responsibility, tolerance, and social action to young people, as a way of fostering moral adulthood. If we do not educate students for dignity and equity, then we have failed both them and ourselves.

Solutions:

German team found money for the project implementation and we have enough creative and active teachers and students to work in an innovative and flexible way.
16.4 Future plans and wish list: Briefly describe future plans or ambitions for your project
and what you would require to make them true.
In 2006 we already won UNESCO ASP school contest and have been invited to take part at Rome UNESCO Conference , so the next step in our project work will be to find a way for cooperation with EU –CE school in the field of HRE and visit Strasbourg Court of Human Rights because we are working in the field of human and children rights for 10 years and get the possibility to see how the Human rights system in Europe is working.
In cooperation with education departments we will try to disseminate our materials and information as wider as possible among our educational bodies in Belarus.
We will select active and motivated students and teachers working in our projects for future student –teacher international exchanges just to break down an international isolation and connect youth .

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