Our schools are located in peripheral regions of their countries. These regions were economically very little supported from the state gouvernments in the past. On the other side this politic caused also the neglect, difficult living conditions that has remained a relatively well-preserved level of folk traditions and folk culture among the population of these regions. In Slovakia, as well as in Poland lives on both sides of the border except Slovaks and Poles also the Ruthenian minority. In the region of Ceske Budejovice had in the past the Germans a great influence on the local population. The main objective of the project was to organize, in cooperation with the Polish and Slowak partner schools, visits to selected locations associated with the history of the world wars (the former battlefields, military cemeteries and monuments reminding the history of struggles during the 1st World War in Polish Gorlice and its surroundings, visits to the concentration camp Auschwitz and Birkenau). Subsequent processing and evaluation of obtained knowledge and results (creating of information panels reflecting the views of the conflicts through the eyes of the young generation, creating a database of photographs as a source of information for the subsequent implementation of joint exhibitions, creating media articles for a school magazine that could be used in regional press, etc.). I. The World War I: In case of the First World War, the students and teachers of our schools used the information systems and a large number of sources of our partner school in Gorlice. The war front passed the town of Gorlice in 1915, and the soldiers almost destroyed it. Today, in its surroundings there are about 40 military cemeteries from the 1st World War. Gorlice so sadly gained the nickname “Little Verdun”). Many Czechs are buried among the victims here as well. So our students became well aware of the fate of young Czechs at their age during the final period of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Together with the Polish sand Slowak students, we make trips around the city to other places and monuments of the WW I battles. The great number of cemeteries, memorials and monuments emphasises the absurdity of wars, totally unnecessary spoil of young lives, often far from their homeland. Project outputs: As in the first part of the project (the World War I, military cemeteries in Gorlice), the outcome of the second part of the project (the World War II, the Holocaust, the visit to Auschwitz) were bilingual information panels presented at exhibitions in both the countries. The primary focus area students’ photographic impressions; the students captured the horrors and mementos of these places for people today. The project made significant use of information and communication technologies (ICT) which ensure the sustainability of the project and particularly the overall high level of the visualization of presented project outputs (often highly emotional content – the Holocaust). ICT: mainly used in creating a magazine, DVD movies and posters focusing on the Holocaust and the World Wars. 2. The conservation of this folk tradition is the background of our project goals. We want to educate our students to a positive attitude to the world cultural heritage. This goal are also adapted our activities. We will sing folk songs, teach folk dances, practise this skills and present them in the context of public folklore events. We want to visit as well the regions of our partners and dokument their folk architecture with photos. The students prepare together a travelling exhibition "Our folk architecture from the perspective of young people". The exhibition will be present in our own as also partner cities. We are very excited by the creation of the Facebook group. Every citizien can join us there. We expect photos of rustic, old implements, costumes, etc., as well as relevant comments to the photos. We are conviced that this activity bring a wealth of information about our traditions and folk culture. An important product of our collaboration is the "virtual guide", which will be placed on our schools websites and project website. He will accompany each website visitor through the history of our regions and our monuments. This guide is a long-term product, that also after end of the project its big value has.
The project was aimed at the students of secondary schools. The purpose of the project was to raise their interest in history, esp. the events which influenced the development of Europe and the whole world in 20th century. We focused on the history of two wars (WWI and WWII). The awareness of the war horrors is quite poor among the youngest generation. Therefore, we made students aware of iniquity of the wars through experience pedagogy. We tried to give the students some insight into totalitarian systems in the 20th century and their consequences for the world. The participants of the project could learn more about a destructive power of nationalism, racism, xenophobia and discrimination. The main contents of the project was to organize (together with a Polish partner school ZSE Gorlice and a Slovakian school SPŠ Bardejov) special excursions to the places associated with world wars (e.g. the former battlefields, army cemeteries and monuments reminding the fights during WWI in Gorlice and its surroundings; the battlefields on the Polish-Slovak borders, esp. the Carpathians region). We composed and evaluated the gained information and knowledge. We made a database of photos as a source of information for subsequent exhibitions. The other topic of the project was to show cultural and historical differences (or similarities) between different regions, esp. between the regions of Galicia, eastern Slovakia and South Bohemia. We concentrated on folk architecture and craft (South Bohemian folk Baroque and works of anonymous artists in all regions). For example, we compared South Bohemian sacred brick buildings with the architecture of wooden churches in Galicia and eastern parts of Slovakia. Finally, learning more about the regions of EU without tourists’ interest was also our intention of the project. State governments poorly supported these regions. On the other hand, it caused neglect and difficult living conditions that has preserved a relatively good level of folk traditions and folk culture among the population of these regions. We could mention Ruthenians living with Slovaks and Poles on both sides of the border and Č. Budějovice where Germans had a great influence on the local population. We also tended to raise students’ awareness of them and make them feel respect to our ancestors and their heritage. We realized the project with a Polish school and a Slovakian school. They are technical schools. The age of students was from 15 to 19. It was our third project and our cooperation was again on a good level. Moreover, the partnership has lasted for more than 10 years. Both schools are located in socio-disadvantaged regions of EU with a high rate of unemployment and number of Roma inhabitants and minorities. The project lasted 24 months and we had 10 meetings. The partner schools always prepared a very detailed programme. The aim of these meetings was to gather materials and work with the sources from the war battlefields and monuments. We also prepared for interviews with those who remember the fights of WWII, e.g. the school from Č. Budějovice is in contact with Mrs Tvrská who is the only living victim of the South Bohemian Jewish transport to Terezín and further to Auschwitz and other Nazi extermination camps in Poland. We made essays and photos based on the topic of war, genocide, xenophobia, racism, and a film.WWI: we used the information systems and a large number of sources of our partner school in Gorlice where the front passed in 1915, and the soldiers almost destroyed it. At present, there are about 40 military cemeteries from WWI. There are many Czechs buried among the victims here so our students could learn about young Czechs’ fate during the final period of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. We took trips around the city and to other places and monuments of the WWI battles. All these places emphasised the absurdity of wars and unnecessary destruction of young lives, often far from their homeland. Project outputs: As in the first part of the project, the outcome of the 2nd part of the project (WWII, the Holocaust and the visit to Auschwitz) were a bilingual information panels presented at exhibitions in both countries. The project made a significant use of information and ICT (mainly used in creating a magazine, DVD movies and posters focusing on the Holocaust and the wars) which ensure the sustainability of the project and the overall high level of the visualization of presented project outputs (often highly emotional content – the Holocaust). 2. The conservation of folk traditions was the background of our goals. We wanted to educate our students about a positive attitude to the world cultural heritage. This goal was included in our activities, such as singing folk songs and learning folk dances. Moreover, we practised these skills and presented them in the context of public folklore events. We visited our partners’ regions and documented their folk architecture with photos.