The success of 'Europa – Unsere Geschichte' (Europe – Our History)

The co-chairs of the Textbook Commission deem the textbook ‘Europe – Our History’ to be a success because:

1) It is the first textbook adhering to national curricula to provide a common view of Western and Eastern Europe history but from multiple perspectives

2) The textbook represents a European approach to our history and avoids one-side national narratives.

3) Polish history has never been so comprehensively presented in a German-language textbook before

4) A broader spill over effect is already discernible as other textbook publishers are expanding their Polish history content

5) The diverse causes of European conflict are depicted from multiple perspectives, making the textbook a ‘peace project’

6) The textbook has attracted a great deal of attention across Europe and has become a model for future projects between Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.

Sales figures are a very limited indicator of success. We are of course not in a position to solve short-term political blockades or to change the long-term perception and teaching habits of German and Polish teachers in one fell swoop. We are, however, optimistic that the content developed for the textbook will prevail in the longer term.

Violetta Julkowska and Hans-Jürgen Bömelburg, co-chairs of the Joint German-Polish Textbook Commission.