Reconstructing individual fates in World War One Subject: The great seminal catastrophe of the 20th century: World War I from the perspective of the combatant nations and individuals. The European Union has secured peace in central Europe for seventy years. Even in regions where war, dictatorships and civil war were raging only a few decades ago, it has helped to resolve the violent conflicts. But now the unique peace project "EU" is in danger. Populist politicians are trying to blame the European Union for national problems, playing with nationalist resentments, distorting facts, fuelling intolerance and racism, and raising new border fences between nations. The European idea seems forgotten, fortune is sought again in the single national state. However, looking for salvation in nationalism again sets a nation apart from its neighboring states and creates a national consciousness in demarcation to the other European partners. This development can lead nations to become opponents again. One look at history is enough to recognize the disastrous consequences of nationalistic thinking. The First World War is considered "the great seminal catastrophe of this [20th] century" (George F. Kennan). Distrust emerged from nationalistic hubris, even hostility towards the European neighbors, alliances were forged, a giant spiral of rearmament emerged. Finally, a single spark was enough to trigger the disaster. The war broke out and claimed more than 17 million lives. In times of renewed nationalism and growing skepticism towards the EU (especially among young people), the six participating schools from Germany, France, Italy, Croatia, Portugal and Romania want to sensitize their students to the above-mentioned dangers by showing them how the societies at the time, the war participants involved and their relatives suffered from World War I, but also how they saw their opponents of the war and how maybe propaganda influenced their perception. The participating schools support each other in achieving the project goal, since each school has its own potential regarding the topic, from which the other project partners will benefit (e.g. special knowledge of memorial work, IT and new media, the effects of war trauma, etc .) The focus of the project is on individual fates from the hometowns or regions of the participating countries. After they have worked out the implications of their own country (or the country to which the region previously belonged) in the subject/course "history" or in interdisciplinary classes "history"/"language"/"religion", the students go on a local/regional search for traces of that period. With the help of visual, written and representational sources, they will develop the "stories" of combatants and their relatives. Based on their findings using monuments, archives, museums, etc., the students document individual fates on film using their smartphone, e.g. by replaying historical scenes, by reading letters and newspaper reports, by recording on battlefields and cemeteries, by inserting film recordings, or other creative methods. But they will also experience World War I from the perspective of the other participating countries, through the perspective of certain priorities (e.g. women and children) and debate the dangers of nationalism, importance of peacekeeping measures and the European Union as a guardian for a peaceful Europe. As a result of the project there will be film documentaries from different national perspectives, which provide an insight into the thinking, feeling and acting of the soldiers and their relatives. On the other hand, a combined documentary that shows that war is bad for everyone and in which the pupils debate the dangers of nationalism, how peace can be secured and the role of the European Union in this. Both the film documentaries and other project results such as guided tours to local and regional historical sites, exhibitions and a mural about the fate of war participants and their relatives, creative works about World War I, the dangers of nationalism, populism and racism as well as the positive role of the EU after World War II as guardian of peace are made available to the school public as well as the local and regional public to convey the message of the project outside the schools. The results of the project work will then be published via social networks, Erasmus internal platforms like eTwinning and/or a project-related website.
The European Union has ensured peace in Central Europe for 70 years. Even in regions where only a few decades ago war, dictatorships and civil war prevailed, it has helped to resolve violent conflicts. Now, however, the unique peace project "EU" has come under threat. Populist politicians are trying to blame the European Union for national problems, playing on the keyboard of nationalist resentment, distorting truths, fomenting intolerance and racism, and raising new border fences. The European idea is forgotten, and happiness is once again sought in the nation-state. But by once again seeking salvation in the nation-state, we separate ourselves from our European neighbors, create national identity by separating ourselves from others, and European partners threaten to become foreign-policy enemies once again. A glance at the past is sufficient to show the disastrous consequences of nationalist thinking. The First World War is considered the "primordial catastrophe of the 20th century" (George F. Kennan). Nationalist hubris gave rise to mistrust, even hostility, toward European neighbors, alliances were forged, and a spiral of rearmament emerged. Finally, a spark was enough to trigger the catastrophe. Even then, people did not really believe in a new war, since they maintained intensive trade relations, the upper classes traveled on vacation to neighboring European countries and sent their sons abroad to university, and many workers saw themselves united in "international socialism". Nevertheless, war broke out and claimed over 17 million lives. In times of resurgent nationalism and growing skepticism towards the EU (especially among young people), the five participating schools from Germany, France, Croatia, Portugal and Romania sensitized their students to the above-mentioned dangers by showing them how the societies of the time, the war participants and their relatives suffered from the First World War, but also how they saw their war opponents and how possibly propagandistic distorted images influenced their perception. The participating schools supported each other in achieving the project goal, as each school has its own potential with regard to the topic, from which the other project partners will benefit (e.g. special knowledge in memorial work, IT and new media, experience with projects, etc.) The focus was on individual fates from the home towns or regions of the individual countries. The students went on a local/regional search for traces after they had worked out the involvement of their country (or the country to which the place and the region had previously belonged) in history lessons or also in interdisciplinary lessons on history/religion/ etc.. Using pictorial, written and figurative sources, they worked out the "stories" of war participants and their relatives. Building on their findings from monuments, archives, museums, etc., the students documented individual fates on film using their smartphones, e.g., by reenacting historical scenes, reading out letters and newspaper reports, recording battlefields and cemeteries, inserting film footage, and so on. But they also learned about World War I from the perspective of the participating countries, from the point of view of certain key issues, and discussed the dangers of nationalism, peacekeeping measures, and the importance of the European Union as a guarantor of a peaceful Europe. Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, which broke out during the project, gave the topic a frightening topicality. At the end of the project there are now, on the one hand, cinematic documentaries from different national perspectives, which provide an insight into the thinking, feeling and actions of the soldiers and their relatives and are combined into a series whose transitions contrast the suffering of the people in a Europe shaken by war with the partnership work and friendly meetings of young people today in a common Europe. Both the cinematic documentaries and other project outcomes, such as local and regional tracking tours, exhibitions on the fates of war participants and relatives, creative works on the First World War on the positive role of the EU after the Second World War and as guarantors of peace, will be made available to the local and regional public in order to convey the project's message outside the school.