The project “Nonviolent Communication Approach in Adult Education in Historical Museums and Memorial Sites” will be carried out by 4 partners: POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews (Poland, project coordinator), Mémorial de la Shoah (France), Žanis Lipke Memorial (Latvia) and the Holocaust Fund of the Jews from Macedonia (North Macedonia). The project will be implemented in the years 2020–2022. The long-term objective of the project is to mobilise groups of adult addressees of the partners’ programme in order to increase their knowledge about the Holocaust of Jews in Europe. The issue continues to generate invariably challenging questions which significantly influence the contemporary perception of such concepts as anti-Semitism, racism,or social memory of the Holocaust and World War II in European countries. In view of the emotional attitude displayed by many people seeking information on the subject, as well as various types of exclusion (age, disability, provenance), it is necessary to develop a set of recommendations on attending to such visitors in institutions with similar profiles. To address the problem, the partners have decided to train the project participants in elementary skills in Nonviolent Communication (NVC) in order to contribute to reaching common understanding and achieving dialogue in their contacts with adult visitors to the above institutions. The target groups: adults interested in the Holocaust but biased in their opinions on the subject due to the absorption of stereotypes; elderly people; digitally disadvantaged persons, including those with disabilities who, for a variety of reasons, may have limited access to knowledge. Among the direct participants of the project (18 people at each seminar), priority will be given to employees of documentation and historical information centres (daily contact with adult visitors – consultations, search queries), educators presenting the content of permanent exhibitions to adult visitors, employees responsible for disseminating knowledge via the Internet (consultations via e-mail, researching themes popular among recipients, producing reliable historical content for on-line sharing). 5 seminars will be organised to discuss the needs of the above-mentioned target groups – in Warsaw (twice), Paris, Riga, Skopje. During the first seminar, an expert trainer will introduce the basics of NVC method. In the subsequent meetings, the participants will analyse selected needs of the target groups with the use of the aforementioned communication method. One of the anticipated results of the project will be forging closer links between the partner institutions, which in turn will help their employees deepen their expert knowledge and develop a sense of community in their professional experiences on the European level. As far as long-term benefits are concerned, we hope that the development of communication skills among museum and memorial site employees will ease the tensions in their communication with the visitors, who will consequently be encouraged to challenge and uproot their stereotypes and extend the horizons of their thinking – all of which fall in line with the mission of the project partners, which has at its foundations intercultural dialogue, social inclusion and building respect and understanding. The outcomes of the project will be compiled into a compendium of best practices and recommendations published on the EPALE (European Platform for Adult Learning in Europe), available to all users of the Erasmus+ platform. In addition, they will be disseminated by the partner institutions on their websites and knowledge portals, also on such significant occasions as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the European Day of the Righteous, the Holocaust Memorial Day in Latvia, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising anniversary, the anniversary of the Vél d'Hiv roundup in Paris and the Day of the Deportation of the Macedonian Jews. As part of our dissemination efforts, the knowledge gained in the project will be transferred to other employees (e.g. guides and educators in POLIN Museum and Mémorial de la Shoah – 130 people in total) and will be shared during important meetings of museum workers: the international conference “What is New, What is Next? Innovative Methods, New Sources and Paradigm Shifts in Jewish Studies” (held in 2021 at POLIN Museum); the annual seminar for museum workers, archivists and memorial sites titled “Digitization of Nazi Era Victims’ Data” (with the participation of the Yad Vashem Institute and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum); meetings of the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure Consortium and the International Committee of Memorial Museums in Remembrance of the Victims of Public Crimes, working under the ICOM (International Council of Museums). In view of the unstable situation resulting from the COVID–19 pandemic, we are ready to implement the project with the use of alternative methods, such as video conference
The aim of this project was to activate groups of our partner institutions’ adult recipients, with a particular emphasis on recipients who are interested in history of the extermination of Jews in Europe. This would be implemented by increasing the demand for the acquisition of knowledge and increasing the interest of visitors to historical museums and in contacts with experts. Every day, staff at partner institutions face questions, often based upon stereotypes. They also face visitors’ emotions, which are directly the result from the issue of the Holocaust. Moreover, the project paid special attention to recipients of an advanced age, to those whose access to the digital age is limited and to people with disabilities, who may have difficulty accessing knowledge. The intention of the project was to provide participants (staff of documentation/information centres, educators, guides and personnel involved in the dissemination of online knowledge) with new skills in direct communication – in the form of non-violent communication. Also, the project was intended to enable the exchange of experiences amongst staff of institutions of a similar nature, but which operate within different historical and cultural contexts.
Together with the project’s partners, we wished to meet the needs of adult recipients of programs offered by historical museums and memorial sites which relate to the history of the extermination of Jews in Europe – which is a topic that is continually discussed and is active in public debate in most European societies. Individual contact with adult recipients requires a careful approach towards their diverse views and opinions. We wanted our visitors to have the opportunity to benefit, in a safe place, from professional, historical consultations – where they will be heard, understood and where they can gain knowledge on the topic in which they are interested. Therefore, as institutional partner and ordinary personnel participating in the project, we wished to provide each other with profession support, exchange experiences in this area and, also, to improve our communication skills and knowledge of mechanisms which shape the needs of every person. Therefore, within the project, as a key activity, we chose to learn about the model of empathetic communication developed by Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg.