Points of Remembrance - „Tell them we know!” Common past for a common future 6 March 2008
The „Points of Remembrance” programme of the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Public Foundation for the Research of Central and East European History and Society will be implemented in collaboration with the National Development Agency with the help of funding granted by the European Union. The project aims at processing and providing deeper knowledge of the 20th century history of the country by using the narrative method of „oral history” – which has so far only been rarely applied in Hungary - based on interviewing individuals who lived through the events.
The 20th century history of Hungary is a series of shocks and suffering with intermittent proud and triumphant moments. According to surveys, the generation growing up today knows very little about all this, which is not attributable to the lack of interest shown by students. This deeply significant period is not integrated in high school history education in line with its gravity. Moreover, painful events, such as the world wars that were lost, total dictatorship and the Holocaust are publicly not really discussed, nor do we discuss these issues enough in our narrower environment.
This is why the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Public Foundation for the Research of Central and East European History and Society developed a programme for mapping and recording our common past with the help of the method of „oral history”. The primary objective of the „Points of Remembrance” programme is to find witnesses of events unfolding in the 20th century with the help of high school students working under the supervision of their history teachers, and ensuring access to this information for everyone by collecting their memories, recording these with the assistance of modern technological equipment and organising these in a classification system in the following.
Virtual points of remembrance and databases that can be used as effective educational tools for teaching history and social and political history will be created as a result of the programme. Moreover, the method of „oral history” has long-term social benefits as well by strengthening the bonding of students to their local area, promoting the shaping of their approach to history and awakening social sensitivity. In accordance with the terminology of the European Union, the „Points of Remembrance” programme promotes the implementation of social cohesion.
The
National Development Agency considers the processing of the past as a key task
for establishing the grounds of the future new Hungary, which is why funding was approved for the „Remembrance
Point” programme as well. Hungary can be particularly proud of this plan that
connects past to present, since no other country came up with a similar
concept.
The Public Foundation for the Research of Central and East European History
and Society is the project host of the „Points of Remembrance” programme
aimed at the audio-visual collection of memories; the total budget of
the application is 1.2 billion HUF. Approximately 250 educational
institutions and local history workshops will join in the work over the
course of the 2-year implementation period. Several hundred teachers,
educational professional, as well as students will participate in the
collection of memories. The recorded interviews will be uploaded to a central
database to create a virtual remembrance point promoting the processing and
understanding of our common history and treasures. The database of „living
memories” records the history of the past 60-70 years – with the assistance of
an independent Internet portal – for all of us in an accessible way.