Dear friends, in these moments when we are all fighting together to suppress the coronavirus pandemics, it is our duty to show solidarity, calmness, and follow the instructions of healthcare professionals in a rational and disciplined manner. But also, defying the coronavirus, life must go on, and we must continue to work and create in the new conditions. We adjusted the launch of our new project to the current circumstances, too.
In spite of the coronavirus, on April 21st 2020, we officially launched the project, but instead of a public gathering in Novi Sad with our partner organizations from Austria, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and of course Serbia – digitally.
The project “The Holocaust, European Values and Local History” is developed by the Archives of Vojvodina and Terraforming NGO from Novi Sad.
It aims to develop, pilot and introduce sustainable methodologies and tools for an innovative approach in archival pedagogy in local archives. Our objective is to empower and train the archivists to create own educational outreach programs about the life before, and the times during the Holocaust, based on own archival materials and local history, and to incorporate archival pedagogy in their long-term activities, presenting in the same time local micro-histories to global audiences.
During the next 24 months, partners from Serbia, Austria, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, as well as project participants from Great Britain, Greece, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, and United States, and in cooperation with the local Jewish and Roma communities, will exchange best practices and support a coalition of archives in Vojvodina province in Serbia with aim to gather experiences for future implementation of similar programs in local archives in other parts of Europe, particularly South-East and East Europe.
In cooperation with the Foundation Novi Sad 2021, the project is embedded in the official program of the European Capital of Culture Novi Sad 2021.
During this process we will also develop several educational graphic novels about the life in various parts of Vojvodina before the WWII, and the times of occupation, suffering and resistance. In cooperation with local archives, and other actors of education, these materials will be permanently incorporated in education with aim to counter historical distortion and denial, and to promote knowledge and culture of remembrance of the Holocaust, as well as Samudaripen and other genocides, crimes against humanity and large-scale breaches of human rights during the WWII that have marked 20th century.
Remembering this history is a cornerstone of European values – a Europe that places humanity at its center, protected by the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights.