The project Schoolchild in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia aims to give young people and adults insight into the reality of the Nazi totalitarian regime in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia using examples of their everyday life, or of their past, the school environment. Its main objective is to enable the youth, in particular, to compare the present situation with the practice of the totalitarian regime and to stress values of democracy. In addition to showing the general situation in the Protectorate education, the project also deals with specific manifestations of extreme repression against the Czech school children during the WWII, in which the Terezín Police Prison in the Small Fortress was involved (for more see the Newsletter 4/2011).
Working sheets for the permanent exhibition placed in the Museum in the Small Fortress
There are three main outcomes of the project work. The first is the workshop “Schoolchild in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia“, which focuses on the activities of the Gestapo prison in the Small Fortress in persecution of school children in context of overall occupants´ approach to education and life in the Protectorate. Methodically, the workshop is supplied in two versions: for pupils of Czech basic schools aged 12-15, and for secondary school students and apprentices of 16-18 years of age. If required by teachers, the workshop can be included in the schedule of school groups which come to the Terezín Memorial for seminars organized by the education department. The second project outcome is a set of worksheets for independent work in the exhibition of the SmallFortressMuseum designed for Czech school groups which come to the Terezín Memorial for excursions not organized by the education department and whose teachers wish to enrich the regular museum tour with a team activity.
Website of the project “Schoolchild in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia”
The third and main project outcome is the website. This website is divided into two parts: the first one is primarily intended for teachers so that they could find here a number of supportive materials if they decide to teach on the Protectorate totalitarian regime using the example of education. There are also methodical sample lessons, accompanied by rich didactic material (testimonies of survivors in written and film forms, photographs, historical documents, worksheets, etc.). The second part of the website is designed mainly for school children, however, anyone is welcome to enter. Using simple distribution means, every schoolchild of certain age and type of school can get to a section dedicated to the school which they would attend if in the Protectorate. The texts written with respect to users´ age are complemented by didactically processed visual material and historical audio recordings of that time. The material comes not only from the collections of the Terezín Memorial, but also from other 18 institutions, as the website work is the result of several year research and liaison with many archives and museums in the Czech Republic as well as abroad. The project was implemented with financial support from the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, of which the Terezín Memorial is an accredited member.
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