History and Civic Education Under Debate in 2nd Polish-Norwegian ‘Faces of Diversity’ Seminar

From 5 – 7 October the 2^nd Polish-Norwegian seminar took place at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw. EuroClio programme director Steven Stegers was invited to participate in the seminar. The central question of the seminar was what history and civic education can contribute to the acquisition of competences for active participation in democratic culture. Participants could visit the core exhibition of the POLIN Museum “A thousand years of the history of Polish Jew” and learn about the educational programmes. The 22 July Centre (on the twin attacks in Oslo and on the island Utøya, 22 July 2011) opened the discussion on the challenges of education related to such recent events (that are not yet history, nor memory). The Falstad Centre presented an education project on Josef Grabowski, one of the prisoners in SS Strafgefangenenlager Falstad. In this project students make their own presentation of the history of Josef Grabowki based on sources from various archives. The European Wergeland Centre presented a draft version of the framework for Competences for Democratic Citizenship and questioned what history can contribute to this. The seminar was part of the “Faces of Diversity” of the POLIN Museum. This project is supported by the EEA grants and Polish Ministry of Culture. The 3^rd Polish-Norwegian seminar is expected to take place in Norway and to focus on “History Education and Human Rights Education”.