KARTA Center, Warsaw
The KARTA Center is an independent non-governmental organization (incorporated as a foundation), documenting and popularizing the recent history of Poland and Eastern Europe.
European Solidarity Center
As a cultural institution, the European Solidarity Centre creates cultural events and stimulates artistic activities related to subjects concerning very broadly defined solidarity. It organises concerts and festivals as well. The European Solidarity Centre goes beyond politics and it is not associated with any party. It promotes deeper values, shared by Poles despite their differing political opinions. The intention of the creators of the European Solidarity Centre is to make it a centre for cooperation and integration.
EUSTORY Academies in 2009
07 – 12 December
From Polish "Solidarność" to European Solidarity
Social movements and the peaceful fall of communism in Europe
In cooperation with the KARTA Center Foundation (Warsaw, Poland) and the European Solidarity Center (Gdansk, Poland)
Photo: KARTA
Participants of the academy had the opportunity to learn about ‘Solidarność’ in many different ways: they visited the exhibition “Roads to Freedom”, worked with source materials and met with important eye-witnesses of those times. The group met Mr. Jerzy Borowczak, who in August 1980 was a young shipyard worker (not much older from the participants) responsible for initiating the strike; conducted an interview with Mr. Arkadiusz Rybicki, historian, who in 1980 took part in formulating the 21 demands of the strikers; and also had the opportunity to talk with Father Maciej Zięba, director of the European Solidarity Center – in the 80s member of the Church, active in the democratic opposition. For many participants these meetings were the highlight of the academy. Clara from Switzerland: “It was a really special and unique opportunity to meet these people who actually were in the strike and therefore could tell us the events from a very personal point of view”. Last but not least, the participants had the opportunity to really experience ‘Solidarność’ by taking part in different simulation games. They underlined that the games helped them to really imagine the situation of the striking workers and the dilemmas they were faced with.
In the next days the participants had the opportunity to see a movie entitled “The Fall of the Empire”, which initiated the discussion about other social movements in Europe and their connections with ‘Solidarność’. This is turn resulted in preparing 4 different articles on social movements in Europe. By that time, experts in the subject of ‘Solidarność’, our participants then prepared a textbook devoted to this topic. They stressed that their national schoolbooks lack many important information on these historical events and they would like other students to learn not only more about Polish history, but also in a more interesting way. The book contains topical articles, source materials, special tasks and exercises.
The participants enjoyed interactive ways of learning and stressed the importance of group work. Team-spirit was visible in fulfilling all the tasks they had to deal with. Team work triumphed especially in the preparation of the final presentation, when the participants were free to decide how they want to present the results of their stay in Gdańsk. The academy ended with a theatrical reconstruction of the August 1980 events with an impressive number of characters on stage and fantastic hand-made props. Janne from Estonia: “For me, the most interesting part of the academy was the preparation of the final presentation. We worked like a real team, we worked intensely, but we had so much fun!”. Also Ondřej from the Czech Republic states: “The teamwork among the group was amazing. We usually had program from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., but the people were still active and ready to work, discuss, listen, think. This was something I had never experienced before”.
However, the Gdańsk EUSTORY Youth Academy was not only about giving the participants the opportunity to learn about the social movements in Poland and the historical background of the fall of communism in Europe. Christiane from Germany: “The academy gave me the chance not only to learn about ‘Solidarność’, but also the chance to experience myself in other ways. The work and the tasks were different to the tasks I am used to, so there was a process inside me going on caused by the huge amount of new experiences. Participating in the academy does not simply mean learning about history – you learn a lot of interpersonal things that are very important for life”.
