KARTA Centre, 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.
http://www.karta.org.pl
EUSTORY Summit: Voices of Alumni
"Dealing with History in Europe: Understanding Differences, Overcoming Divisions"
Expectations and Experiences of EUSTORY-Alumni
What do you expect from the summit in general?
I expect the summit to be an open and progressive forum which will
start a critical dialogue about European history. The debates
should lead to concrete results and not just empty
proclamations of no impact. I await our statements not to fade out too
easily from the memory of our addressees (European politicians
and officials) as soon as they move on to another conference.
Petra Novotna (25), Czech Republic
I see the summit as a chance for broadening my horizons and getting
to know other people from different cultural backgrounds. We
will learn about stereotypes, that others have about ourselves
and vice versa. But by directly confronting them, we might prove them
wrong. This process of "intercultural learning" is of high
importance for a historian. Getting closer to objectivity, but
also to empathy with other Europeans, will help us very much
in any further historical study or research.
Milan Vukasinovic (19), Serbia
What do you expect from your working group?
In my working group "History at School", I expect to hear from my
fellow group members how history is taught in various European
countries. After the exchange of our experiences, I
anticipate that we make suggestions for important and interesting topics
for history lessons at schools.
Liva Dzene (19), Latvia
Researching "History and the Media", means looking for the
protagonists of "history creation": Who makes history and our
images of it? Who has got the authority - is it the 'referee'?
Which part has the 'public'? These questions could lead to an
examination of the relation between 'professionally made'
history (e.g. in the media, by politicians etc.) and privately
told histories; of 'canonical interpretations' and individual
feelings.
Christina Brauner (19), Germany
Did you encounter "conflicting history" while working on your competition entry?
I encountered one example of "conflicting history" while working on
my competition entry in 2005 - it had to do with the history
of a German family I was interviewing. I was bewildered to
find out that, although they were German citizens living in the then
Czechoslovak Republic, they were also subject to deportations and
had no other choice than to leave their homes and accept the
much poorer ones they were given. I take this for a case of
"conflicting history", because I recognized that what I had learned from
World War II history at school, doesn't match the actual
reality.
Madalina Mirea (20), Romania
In my competition entry, World War I and conflicts between Slovenians
and Italians in the Primorska region (the Western region of
Slovenia) after the war are mentioned. I think that Slovenians
were in a very difficult position: They were forced to speak Italian -
violently assimilated, some of them were also taken to prison.
For most of them, the only chance was to emigrate overseas.
Helena Ursic (18), Slovenia
Is there any concrete example of "conflicting history" in your home country?
Switzerland is a nation of consensus, therefore one should think that
there's no such thing as " conflicting history". But there
is. For example our role during the Second World War: Still
many people think that we were an "island of peace and neutrality"
during that time. But that is wrong and luckily this common
perception has changed a lot during the last years, due to
intense research and awareness raised by the media. But still
only few people like to talk about that time.
Andrea Buchschacher (22), Switzerland
Nowadays in Estonia, we have problems between Russians and Estonians.
We have different understanding of history. For example some
older Russians, living in Estonia, say that the Soviet Union
was the liberator and built up our culture. The Estonians instead, see
the Soviet time as an era of occupation and deportation,
affected by permanent fear. And we believe that censorship,
which was established by the Soviets, destroyed our culture.
Two sides of a story.
Marju Veevo (19), Estonia
There are many examples for "conflicting history" in Poland. One is
that of the assessment of the "Round Table"-compromise,
reached in 1989 between the communists and their political
opponents. This compromise allowed democratic changes in Poland. But
the latest Polish government spread rather radical views,
containing the claim that the compromise was a betrayal of
solidarity ideas and helped the communists to survive as a
political force. For me such arguments are only used for the purpose of
winning the current political struggle in Poland, but they
distort historical truth.
Slawomir Parus (19), Poland
