EASTORY project – meeting of witnesses with high school students
The City of Pilsen acts as a partner in the project, others partners are the Bastogne War Museum, the Museum of the Armii Krajowej Kraków and the Deutsch-Russisches Museum Berlin-Karlshorst. The target group of the project are high school students who will get acquainted with the history of World War II and also the history of Europe in the second half 20th century through various activities, including discussions with witnesses.
One of the aims of the project is to compare the different development of the history of the Eastern Bloc and Western Europe after World War II. The city of Pilsen will take part in a conference entitled Roads to Freedom, Understanding the Transition to Democracy. Due to long-term cooperation with other partners, the city of Pilsen managed to get involved specific witnesses who experienced both totalitarian regimes, and establish cooperation with the non-profit organization Memory of the Nation.
The discussion with the witnesses will take place in Pilsen at the Moving Station (Jižní nádraží) at the beginning of May. In addition to the students’ participation in the discussion, we plan to involve historians, etc. and add for example, The conference will include not only discussions with witnesses, but also a seminar that will introduce students to the lives of their peers during World War II or totalitarianism.
Banners dealing with the stories of the eye witnesses were already produced. Even more stories may be found on the project webpage:
https://stichting-liberation-route-europe.foleon.com/libre-magazine-1/eastorymagazine/ welcome /
The project is under the auspice by the international foundation Liberation Route Europe (LRE), the city of Pilsen has been a member since 2018 of. Its aim is the popularization, promotion and presentation of the history associated with World War II and the Allied advance from the beaches of Normandy to Berlin. The foundation was founded in 2008 in the Netherlands and its activities were officially presented on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy in Arromanches in 2014. The foundation’s services include promotion, presentation and visibility of historic sites in Western, Central and Southern Europe. international projects with the possibility of financial support from the European Union, the creation of a special tourist product and tourist offices, mutual cooperation and exchange of information between members and partners of the foundation.
The project was launched and presented on November 9, 2021 at the Dutch Vrijheidsmuseum in Groesbeek.
