Together with youth and young adults from Dresden, Saxony, the Czech Republic and Poland, we will use artistic methods such as citizen journalism, MailArt or even role play. The first workshops will take place in 2022.
Another new feature is the close cooperation with the Bautzner Straße Memorial. As an established place of remembrance, they particularly contribute their expertise in working with contemporary witnesses and historical work. In addition, the project is characterised by diverse cooperations, among others with the European Solidarity Centre (Gdańsk, Poland) and Post Bellum (Prague, Czech Republic).
Public events
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zusammen.HALT
Citizen journalism and role play
Together with pupils and young adults, we visit the historical sites of the Bautzner Straße Memorial (former Stasi prison) and, if applicable, the Königstein Fortress (former Jugendwerkhof). We meet contemporary witnesses or people who are in intensive exchange with former contemporary witnesses. Stories from the families of the young people can also be brought in. In this way, the participants can creatively and playfully deal with questions of social and partly enforced cohesion in the GDR. How were young people in particular sworn in to the socialist image of man? Where were the limits of tolerance towards deviant behaviour and how was it punished? But where were there also niches and spaces of freedom?
In the participatory workshops, the methods of citizen journalism and role play are used. In citizen journalism, the participants research stories from everyday life in the GDR under supervision and prepare them for the media. We will be happy to use the stories and other resulting works in the memorial. In the role play, the participants develop role characters and concrete scenarios under supervision and act them out together at the end of the workshops. The workshops are planned in detail in advance together with the schools and educators, and the pupils are introduced to the topic partly in preparation.
Mail Art and Denkstätte
History workshop for young people
Here, young people learn how young people in the GDR used Mail-Art to try to overcome the narrow political and geographical borders with borderless communication. They also talk to contemporary witnesses and can compare notes: What is quite normal today digitally with social media, was explored and tested in the past analogue and under much more difficult conditions with mail art. In mail art workshops, the participating young people are introduced to the method of mail art, realise their own works and, under guidance, try out how these can be effectively disseminated via current communication channels. A room concept linked to this is then implemented in cooperation with a designer in such a way that a workshop room designed together with young people for young people is created. This “thinking space” can be used permanently by other groups after the project is completed.
Interest awoken?
Implement your own ideas
The zusammen.HALT project is open for further cooperation with schools and other educational partners. We would be happy to work with you to develop free historical education workshops on the history of the GDR that are tailored to the needs of your children and young people in the period from autumn 2022 to summer 2023!
Contact: Marcus Oertel – marcus.oertel@kulturaktiv.org
Workshop impressions
- zusammen.HALT – Contemporary witnesses, stories, places
- zusammen.HALT – Workshop day with group from Bavaria
- zusammen.HALT – Workshops with pupils from Dresden and Pirna
News and press releases
- zusammen.HALT – Call for participation for trilateral youth exchange!As part of the project zusammen.HALT we organize a trilateral youth exchange from 11th to 18th of June 2023 in the museum Gedenkstätte Bautzner Straße and at other historical place in Dresden and Saxony. The participants from Czech Republic, Poland and Germany and pupils from 10th and 11th classes or young adults. Together they will … Read more
- zusammen.HALT – Workshops “Citizen Journalism” and “Role Play” with students from Dresden and PirnaIn April and May 2022, young people will creatively and playfully address the following questions, among others: How is social cohesion created? Where does the boundary of the common begin, where is the freedom of the other restricted? How was this done in the GDR?
- PM – “zusammen.HALT” Dresden project on GDR remembrance culture funded by “Jugend erinnert”!Gedenkstätte Bautzner Straße Memorial Dresden and Kultur Aktiv provide young people with an understanding of life in the GDR system In a time of strong social polarisation, the desire for cohesion is growing. How can our democracy meet this desire without shaking its own foundations, which include plurality and individual freedom? “Maybe you stop for … Read more
The project “zusammen.Halt” is run by the Bautzner Straße Memorial and in cooperation with Kultur Aktiv. It is funded by the federal programme “Jugend erinnert” (Youth Remembers) to come to terms with the injustices of the GDR and will run until the end of 2023.