PERSONAL FACES OF THE RESISTANCE
The Project
Project Personal Faces of Resistance and Opposition to Oppression in 20th Century in Europe deals with history of
resistance to various totalitarian regimes with special focus on the consequences of World War II on socialist Yugoslavia.
According to the resistance to totalitarian regimes, based on responsibility and solidarity (“Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity.” The Schuman Declaration, May 9th 1950), as the brightest points in European history, the overall objective of this project is to develop and to strengthen social and individual processes of dealing with the past in order to contribute in building of sustainable peace.
Specific objectives of the project:
1. Raising awareness on importance of resisting dictatorships in the past and historical significance of different
resistance movements to the opressive regimes, as motivation for young and general public for working on social
change nowadays;
2. Affirming approaches based on multiperspectivity through the different narratives and creation of public space in
which different narratives will be able to co-exist without bringing into question and without diminishing anyone’s
suffering or tragedy;
3. Enhancing institutional/official support for attempts and activities related to practices of remembering and
commemorating certain events from the past.
Activity plan
1. Research and Selection
Public events will be organized in Zagreb and Ljubljana to discuss challenges of documenting and portraying resistance to oppressive regimes. Participants will be historians, researchers, artists, curators, media representatives and activists. Partners will discuss the content of web page and software that will be used.
2. Recording memories of resisters with supporting documentation and developing of Virtual resistance museum as a space where individual stories of people would be kept alive and visible.
3. Traveling exhibition will be focused on personal faces of resistance to different oppressive regimes and will combine recorded personal memories and documents with the background information on various types of ideological-motivated crimes committed by the oppressive regimes. The main idea is that every visitor has the chance to reflect on decision to resists in order to stand up for human dignity, rights and freedoms despite all odds.
4. Educational workshops for youth will take place in each of the countries involved in the action. In respect to availability of collected interviews on the topic and specific contexts of each country, workshops will be organized in the field of formal and/or non-formal education, and will be held in high-schools, museums etc. History and civic education educators will facilitate workshops dealing with questions of resistance in different historical and contemporary contexts and the method of oral history in research and learning of history.
5. International Summer School lasting for 5 days will be organized on the island of Rab, which is near to Goli Otok. Following the successful schools/forums devoted to culture of memory related to WWII (2011, Zagreb) and Wars of 90’s (2013, Vukovar) we plan to organize forum devoted to exchange of experience and information on remembering political violence during socialist/communist regimes. The course will have an interdisciplinary approach.
6. Volunteer Camp will be organized the island of Rab, with daily visits of volunteers to former fascist concentration camp Kampor and Goli otok where creative workshops will be organized
7. Advocacy activities are primarily focused on advocating conservation of Goli otok and other authentic remembrance sites.
Within this set of activities we plan to organize international conference in Zagreb with participants from post-Yugoslav countries and EU, with working title “Dealing with the past and resistance during the Yugoslav socialist regime and communist regimes in Eastern Europe”. Public authorities, ministries, architects and urbanists, artists and media will be invited.
We plan to put special focus on Goli Otok as a remarkable example of forgotten place of memory. Croatian historian T. Jakovina said: “Goli Otok was a Yugoslav Gulag, a labor camp where Stalinists and other opponents of Tito were sent to be ‘re-educated”, but today, despite all efforts made by the Association Goli Otok Ante Zemljar to influence decision makers to build memorial on the Island, only ruins can be found there. Advocacy activities will be planned in accordance with the needs of advocating the establishment of official framework for active remembrance policy focused on Goli Otok.
Insisting on individual examples of resistance to oppression our aim is to raise awareness on victims of all totalitarian regimes and to promote deeper understanding and tolerance among people in Europe.
Activities
Workshop “Capire e raccontare la Shoah e le Resistenze”
77th Anniversary of the Crystal Night / Italy / Sognavo un mondo diverso
77th Anniversary of the Crystal Night / Croatia
Volunteer camp in Goli Otok island – Landscapes of memory
Summer School in Culture of Memory in Contemporary Europe
CO-FINANCED BY
European Union – Europe for Citizens
Lead Partner
Documenta center for dealing with the past / Croatia
Partners:
Associazione Quarantasettezeroquattro / Italy
Muzej novejse zgodovine Slovenije / Slovenia
CENTAR ZA GRADJANSKO OBRAZOVANJE / CENTRE FOR CIVIC EDUCATION / Montenegro
ASSOCIATION “PEACE ACTION” PRILEP / Macedonia
Association “CENTAR CZKD” / Serbia
Goli otok “Ante Zemljar” / Croatia
Volunteers’ centre Zagreb / Croatia
