The background of the project is as follows: In our ongoing Comenius project ”Our past is unifying us, a contribution to the European principle: Unity in diversity” we have emphasized – as the topic implies – more on the positive aspects of European civilization. Thus it is understandable that we had the idea to examine one “dark side” of our past. But dealing with World War I (WWI) in its centenary year will not be a stand-alone project. There is a lot of support from around the world. After looking for new partners via the internet (eTwinning plus), we are now in contact with similar projects in Australia, Japan, China and other countries. WWI had an impact even in the most remote corners of the world. In this context our project objectives were defined: We will deal less with the battles, less with major political issues, which could not or did not prevent WWI and WWII. Instead we chose the regional level as a perspective and we will try to work innovatively, beginning with the years before WWI and using authentic sources (e.g. regional newspapers). We will ask questions as: How was the mood in the regions? Was there a real enthusiasm for the war in some countries? Were there alternatives? People read in their region newspapers about the cruelties of the Italo-Turkish War, which started in 1911, followed some months later by the Balkan War. In both wars the most modern weaponry like airplanes was used. At the same time there was a strong peace movement all over Europe. For instance in the spring of 1914 there was a controversy in regional newspapers on both sides of the border between Bavaria and Austria-Hungary. Bavarians did not want to fight for their neighbors, but they did not want to fight for Berlin either. In order to examine the issue as effectively as possible we had to rethink the structure of our previous Comenius partnership. So we limited the number of participants to a maximum of 7 – finally we included 4 newcomers to the world of Comenius/Erasmus as partners. Every partner will contribute their specific approach to the topic or/and they will complement each other and will be able to benefit from the project in the long term. We will hold our meetings in Limnos and Çanakkale to ensure an annual peace conference after the end of our project, alternating between these two places. From the war cemeteries in Çanakkale and Limnos we found quite literally our oversea partners. Australians and New Zealanders come every year to maintain the graves of their ancestors. There are also a lot of unknown soldiers from Réunion and Tahiti (and other regions), so we got in touch with schools there, which deal with WWI according to their information on eTwinnings. We got into a lively contact because German students found material about a German attack on Tahiti in 1914 at home. Similarly to that the contacts with the “Lycee Saint Charles” in Réunion came about. An exhibition on WWI is being prepared by the students in Réunion. WWI had disastrous consequences for the island, which will find their way into our project, including an exhibition in Réunion. The "Battle of Riga" by its significance can be compared with the battle at the Dardanelles. In a different way in Riga and Pécs we will deal with the problem of nation building during the wartime and the problems of cultural disaster compared to the former diversity in these European regions. Munich as the coordinating partner was at the “home front”. Being a cosmopolitan center up to 1914, in the aftermath of WWI despite a short period of political experiments it became immediately the stronghold of extremely anti-democratic activities. The question remains – why? These are the subjects of our research. We will use a descriptive research design. The project is divided into three blocks: Prehistory of WWI (first year), WWI (second year) and the aftermath (third year). We will concentrate on regional newspapers, material of the local authorities, memoirs etc. We will document the events around our schools in order to keep the memory of the victims alive. In addition we will renovate and/or create new commemorative stones in collaboration with the regional authorities. The envisaged results are relevant as a supplement to the dominating picture of WWI. We will edit two books – one e-book with all relevant results of the project. One reader with the most interesting stories and the best essays by the students will also be published in all languages of our participants. Both publications will be freely available on the internet. According to our results, we will then work out proposals to continue our work.
Background/context of the project: Our topic is building on results of our previous Comenius-project “Our Past is unifying us”. In there we concentrated on the “positive aspects” of a regional cultural variety and on the economical unity open to inside outside influences. Nevertheless for centuries there was a kind of lingua franca and a common currency which both combined had been providing a high degree of mobility. There were neighbouring networks stretching from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Baltic Sea. Since and throughout the Greek Antique we find statements against war and mention of living in “harmony with the neighbours and the nature”. These ideas of a perpetual peace were linked up with Kant and modern pacifism of the late 19th century. The modern destructive wars do not fit the specific context of these European intellectual traditions. In view of findings that emerged during this project a new idea originated for a new project on the topic “war and peace”. The 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War was a convincing reason to choose the “Great War” for our research. The goals of our project: - Research on the First World War from a regional perspective; - Cooperation with local and regional institutions, museums, archives, associations and scientific organisations; - Introducing scientific methods to the students getting practical and theoretical knowledge by their own research on the local and regional level concerning the First World War; - Raising awareness and understanding of our special responsibility for security and peace in Europe; - Initiation of further activities beyond the project. Number and profile of the participating institutions: - Feodor-Lynen-Gymnasium (Planegg, Germamy); - 1 EPAL MOUDROU (Lemnos, Greece); - Ciszterci Rend Nagy Lajos Gimnázium (Pécs, Hungary); - Bayramic Mustafa Gulsen Cinaroglu Anadolu Lisesi (Bayramic, Turkey); - LP St Joseph Tahiti (French-Polynesia); - ASS Gestion Collège Lycée Catholique (Réunion, France) ; - Rigas pilsetas Plavnieku gimnazija (Riga, Latvia). These are mainly secondary schools, Greece and French-Polynesia are vocational training schools. All school were dealing with the subject “The First World War” before starting our project. Via eTwinning we found each other looking for a partner on this project. Description of the main activities: - Organisation and implementation of all Transnational and Learning, Teaching and Training Activities according to the application; - Textual elaboration of the key content in the three phases of the project: pre-war period, 1914-1918, post-war era; - Individual occupation of each partner school with the given topic of the project; - Preparing collections of material, reports, short movies, reports and handouts for the theme-orientated meetings; - Cooperation with the local authorities relating the maintenance of the regional commemorative culture in regard to the First World War (exhibitions, major public events, memorials etc.); - Efficient PR activities (involving the media, neighbour schools, local communities, associations and public authorities). Outputs and impacts achieved: - Publications, lectures and reports on the results of searches in public and private archives and museums - Interviews with families, still in relationship to the First World War (by wounded or killed family members); - Music, songs, drama scripts, related to the First World War - Public events in reference to the regional commemoration of the First World War (together with the French President Hollande in Tahiti, with representatives from the government in Réunion, with members of the Canadian and Australian Embassies in Lemnos amongst others; - Special activities (for example “Earth form Verdun”, involving a “guest-partner-school” from Perth/Australia to our project); - Construction of memorials associated with the regional victims of the First World War in St. Joseph and St. Pierre (La Réunion), in Papeete (Tahiti) and in Moudros (Greece); - An intensive involvement with the own regional history in the context of the First World War; - Awareness of our common European history and responsibility; - Clarifying the global character of the First World War by our partners from the overseas territories of the EU. Long-term benefits: - Continuation of the project with regard to content (annual summer school by yearly turns in Lemnos and Canakkale/Bayramic) ; - Follow-up meeting october 2018 in Lemnos, anniversary of the armistice of Mudros between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire); - Educational Seminars promoting the European ideal in all partner regions.