We’re living at a time when Europe is at a crossroads. We’re facing great challenges as we see more and more signs of dissolution in Europe. Will Europe disintegrate or can we turn around and find a way towards a common future? Due to the economic crisis, which has led to a high unemployment rate in several countries, people are feeling more and more hopeless and are losing the idea of a common Europe. Because of the difficult circumstances in their countries and the refugee crisis, people are more and more open to populist, national-radical ideas and this in turn has led to increasing xenophobia, prejudices and racism. In addition, there is a feeling of helplessness and the opinion that people cannot influence and improve their own situation. What europe needs right now is empathy and a feeling of solidarity. Empathy, we believe, is the key for discovering new aspects of other cultures' identities, as well as of our own and to change attitudes from envy, hate and anger to friendliness and mutual unterstanding. Getting to know each other and trying to overcome our problems together will enable us to become more empathetic and to feel more solidarity with each other. Starting from our common historical background and local history issues, we therefore aim at examining trends and behaviours which have led and which still lead to conflicts. Our purpose is to examine how this kinds of behaviour develop and how they can be prevented in the future. Moreover we want to let our students refocus on principles and values on which our European Union is based. Our European union and its values are in big danger and with our project we want to show our students how we can overcome our conflicts and develop solidarity and empathy and to let them realize what opportunities a common Europe can offer and to create a vision of a Europe without any boundaries. Through continuous work on the project mutual understanding between our students will be increased. Students will recognize within workshops, discussions and field trips that differences in culture and history may be an advantage in a common Europe and will learn to appreciate the variety of cultures. They will also learn how to establish consent while working together with partners from many different countries. Therefore we have used the best places to discuss all our topics. Nowhere else Human rights can be better discussed and understood than in Nuremberg at the "Way of Human rights", the symbol for the "victory over Nazism" at the former meeting place of the Nazis. Cyprus with the only divided capital in europe is maybe the best place to identify what can bring us together and not apart. Ireland, with its long and conflict-laden history, is an excellent place to talk about the need for empathy. In Romania the inhabitants had to fight hard for their freedom and for the end of decades of dictatorship. A wonderful place to talk about the way from Equality to Equity. And in Martinique we will promote intercultural competences and discuss how we can overcome racism. In this way, each location can make an important contribution to the success of our project, that could not be achieved at this depth in one country . Emphasis will be given to the active participation of students in every single step during the project and their involvement so as the values to be gained will remain as lifelong skills. The methodological approach to these topics will include activities which focus on reflection (“the brain”), feelings (“the heart”) and practical work (“hands and feet”). Prepared in each school, they will be shared and deepened during project meetings. The results will be compiled and published on our website and linked with the e-twinning platform. The results of all project meetings will be multimedia products (movies, presentations, ... ), which will be helpful for everyone. To increase the quality of methodology a teacher training about modern internet tools will take place at the teachers meeting in Spain. The Spanish school uses a lot of different and useful applications at their school, which they will present during the meeting. So all partners can benefit from the big experience of the Spanish partner and learn about modern ways of teaching. The activities (multimedia presentations, workshops, conversation, debates) and the presentations of all partners will be able to give all teachers valuable impulses to improve their methodology. By putting all presentations on the project website they will be available for everyone. In order to ensure a long-term benefit of the acquired knowledge and to enable optimal implementation of the acquired competences, all participants will share their knowledge and the competences "as a multiplier" with their colleagues at their home school. The participants at this project are a lot of students (14 -19 years old) and teachers from secondary schools from Romania, Spain, Ireland, France (Martinique), Cyprus and Germany.
When planning the project, we could not have imagined in the least that our project goals would experience such a dimension and significance afterwards. Already in 2019, the economic crisis and the associated difficult circumstances in many countries, as well as the refugee crisis, have been the basis for the emergence of populist, national radical ideas in many places, which has led to growing xenophobia, prejudice and racism. This has now intensified with Brexit and, of course, with the war in Ukraine. What Europe needed then and needs now more than ever is empathy and a sense of solidarity. Empathy is the key to discovering new aspects of other cultures' identities, as well as our own, and to changing attitudes from envy, hatred and anger to kindness and mutual understanding. Getting to know each other and trying to deal with our problems together has enabled us to feel more empathy and solidarity for each other thanks to our project. Based on our common historical background and the problems in our own history, we spent three years researching trends and behaviours that have repeatedly led to conflict in our countries and continue to do so around the world today. We have investigated how such behaviours arise and how they can be prevented. Through the continuous work on the project, we have learned a lot about our own backgrounds and at the same time strengthened our mutual understanding of the other nations. In workshops, discussions and excursions, our students have realised that differences in culture and history can be beneficial in a common Europe, and they have learned to appreciate the diversity of cultures. For our project, in retrospect, we definitely chose the best places to discuss our chosen topics. There is probably nowhere else where human rights can be better discussed and understood than in Nuremberg at the "Way of Human Rights", the symbol of the "Victory over National Socialism" at the former meeting place of the Nazis. Cyprus, with the only divided capital in Europe, was and is the best place to find out what can bring us together and not apart. Ireland, with its long and conflict-ridden history, is an excellent place to talk about the need for empathy. Romania, where the inhabitants had to fight hard for their freedom and for the end of decades of dictatorship is a wonderful place to talk about the way from equality to equality. And Martinique is also perhaps the best place to promote intercultural competences and discuss how we can overcome racism together. One focus we have always put on over the past 35 months is the active participation of the students in each step of the project, so that the knowledge is better internalised and the values to be acquired are retained as lifelong skills if possible. The methodological approach to these topics included activities focusing on reflection ("the brain"), feelings ("the heart") and practical work ("hands and feet"). Our students were prepared in advance for each meeting, made presentations, videos on a specific topic and then presented the results at each project meeting and discussed together about the results and differences, thus deepening insights. The results were compiled and published on our website. In order to improve the quality of the methodology, additional teacher training on modern internet tools was conducted at a teachers' conference in Spain. The Spanish school uses many different and useful computer or internet applications at their school, which they presented during the meeting. So all partners could benefit from the Spanish partner's great experience and learn about modern teaching methods. The other partners in Spain were also asked to present their own teaching and learning methods to the other partners, which are currently up-to-date and modern in their own countries. All presentations of this training can also be found on our project website. To ensure a long-term benefit of the acquired knowledge and to enable an optimal implementation of the acquired competences, all participants shared their knowledge and competences "as a multiplier" with their colleagues at their home school.