EUSTORY Summit 2023: Dialogues to Remember
How is history present in buildings? What can an inclusive museum of European history look like? How can we solve conflicts – both personal and political ones? These were just some of the questions the prize winners from current and past national EUSTORY history competitions dealt with during their five-day stay in the capital of the Czech Republic. Participants came from more than 20 active national EUSTORY History Competitions including Ukraine, Armenia, and Israel, three countries that suffer from war and severe military conflicts, that, in case of Armenia and Israel, started immediately before or shortly after the event in Prague.
The workshops were not just about the past; they also looked at the future of remembrance culture. Artificial intelligence was the buzzword that two of the groups focused on. While one tried to predict how AI will influence education and music production, the other one investigated how tools like ChatGPT will affect our understanding of history. They produced four podcasts covering different aspects of the opportunities and threads of AI used in history education. You can listen to them on the EUSTORY History Campus blog.
Parallel to the EUSTORY Summit, the final workshop of the educational pilot project from MEMORIAL International took place. For over half a year, young people with a Russian background from six different countries explored the topic of forced migration in history. As part of their final presentation in Prague, the young people creatively reworked two personal migration stories, one from Armenia and one from Czechia, as shadow theatre performances. Organised by emigrated activists from Zukunft Memorial e.V. in collaboration with Körber-Stiftung, the project opened a new chapter in exile: In 2021 MEMORIAL had to cease its activities after the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation ordered the liquidation of the organisation.
Besides discussing contemporary memory culture, the participants also had time to make new friends, learn about other countries and discover Prague. After the pandemic had put a stop to face-to-face encounters, this year’s Summit showed how important it is to meet across borders in real life.
The need to share opinions, experiences and emotions was also noted by one workshop moderator: “Sometimes the workshop sessions were just too short, as everyone wanted to share their opinions and perspectives. However, our discussions weren’t about confronting each other or arguing, but about understanding each other.”
“I had discussions about feminism, war in Ukraine, or economic inequality, which went far beyond my topic of the workshop. It was refreshing to listen to different points of view and compare them with my own.” This observation from the anonymous evaluation survey sums up this year’s theme “Dialogues to Remember”, which aimed to create a safe space for the exchange of ideas, fears and hopes. The results of the workshops captured these inspiring discussions and visions.
Take a look at our Summit Retrospect on the EUSTORY History Campus to immerse yourself in the Summit 2023 and to view the results of all six workshops.
Or learn more about how our Summit participants look at history, the present and the future in light of current global challenges: EUSTORY Pulse Check.