For the 13th time MitOst,
its members, partners and everyone interested in cultural, social and
civic exchange in Europe and its neighbouring regions met at the International MitOst-Festival.
Since 2003, the festival has taken place annually, every time in a
different city and country. The MitOst Festival 2015 was hosted by
Ivano-Frankivsk in Ukraine.
Centropa, as a new partner of MitOst e.V., took part in the festival for the very first time. Fabian Ruehle, Esther Cotoarba and Malwina Fendrych
presented the Trans.History project and showed Centropa’s newest film
“Return to Rivne” in the context of using digital materials for and
through educators. Fabian moderated the discussion with the audience
about the Holocaust, civil society and non-formal education.
During the Trans.History Seminar in July 2015 in Lviv, over 30
Ukrainian educators, multipliers, museum and NGO workers met teachers
and educators from the USA, Germany and Poland. During this two day
seminar, the participants of the seminar listened to historical lectures
about Ukrainian Jewry and civil society, watched two Centropa films and
took part in various workshops on how to use Centropa materials best in
their classrooms. Together they developed several lesson plans for
history, language, civil society and literature classes and had the
chance to brainstorm about setting up cross-border and international
partnerships.
At the seminar in Rivne which took place from November 5th – 7th,
2015, over 40 educators, multipliers, museum and NGO workers from
Ukraine, Poland, Germany and USA had the opportunity to:
meet Shelly Weiner, a Holocaust survivor originally from Rivne, who
was hidden by her Ukrainian neighbors during the Second World War for 20
months, and watch her story
watch Centropa films and work in small groups on creating new lesson plans that can be used in their classrooms
listen to lectures on Ukrainian Jewish history by Anatoly Podolski and prof. Maksym Gon
listen to American and German teachers tell you how they used Centropa’s Ukrainian stories in their classrooms
watch great videos made by students and learn about our competition for students
network and create international partnerships.
The seminar’s special guest was Shelly Weiner from Greensboro, North
Carolina. During the Second World War, Shelly, her mother, her cousin
and her aunt, were hidden by a Ukrainian family in the village of
Miatan. Centropa made a multimedia film about Shelly’s wartime story,
and the film premiered in Rivne on November 6th. The premiere took place
after a commemoration service in Sosenski forest, where 17,500 Jews
from Rivne, including many of Shelly’s family members, were murdered on
November 5th and 6th, 1941. Furthermore, two educational experts from
the US attended the seminar as well, thanks to the US Embassy in Kiev.
RaeLynne Snyder of Baltimore City Schools and Barbara Hairfield of
Charleston, South Carolina, spoke on civil society issues in their
cities and how they were discussed with and by their students.
International festival of other education. History. Ideas. Innovations
International festival of other education. History. Ideas.
Innovations was the very final event for both youth programs of
non-formal education “Live History Workshop” and “Civic Engagement
Workshop” as well as for the cross-sectoral project “Trans.history”,
which combines formal and non-formal education in history. During the
festival the participants had the opportunity to acquire successful
tools and methods for working with local communities in Ukraine, Poland
and Belarus; they could meet initiators of changes in various cities and
were inspired to use new formats of working with the issue of history,
as well as with communities and cities.
Trans.History during the Festival:
November 6, 2015 – 14:30-15:30
A commemorative event in the Sosenki forest. Remarks by Shelly Weiner, Anatoly Podolsky and local rabbi.
November 6, 2015 – 16:00-17:00
Screening of the film “Return to Rivne” as part of Trans.History project. Comments Centropa materials.
November 6, 2015 – 19:30
Cross-sectoral meeting of formal and non-formal education, exchange of
methods and instruments. Moderated by Ivanna Chupak from Insha Osvita,
trainer of non-formal education, and Malwina Fendrych from MitOst.
