Writing history together: a textbook for Germany and Poland
On 22 June the German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was in Berlin, together with his Polish counterpart Witold Waszczykowski to launch the first volume of a joint history book titled ‘Europa – Unsere Geschichte’. (Europe – Our history). The Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook research (GEI) in Braunschweig has coordinated the academic side of the project, working alongside The Centre for Historical Research at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Berlin. ‘Confronting the subject of national remembrance is and has always been an unrelenting process, which has led to conflict in many parts of the world in the past and continues to do so now. However, mutual discussions across international boundaries, and this volume lays down a marker extending far beyond Poland and Germany, can lead to reconciliation and to differences being conquered within and between societies. In this context the first volume of this book and the successful completion of the entire series of textbooks will have a significant international impact’ said Eckhardt Fuchs, director of the Georg Eckert Institute.
The series of textbooks, published by Eduversum and WSiP, are to be adopted in history lessons in the lower years of German and Polish secondary schools from the 2016/17 academic year onwards. The content of the books is identical albeit in different languages. This project is particularly significant in that it comprises a complete textbook on European history, compliant with the curricula, rather than supplementary material. In the initial project phases Foreign Minister Steinmeier stated that with this project Germany would clearly demonstrate her receptiveness to Polish perspectives of history. On a visit to Warsaw in April he added: ‘For this reason I am delighted that an important joint project has now reached its first milestone: Volume 1 of the German Polish Textbook is complete!’
In 2008 the governments of both countries came to an agreement regarding the required organisational foundation. The political coordination and financial support for the project came on the German side from the Foreign Office and the education and culture ministries of the individual states and was managed by the Brandenburg Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. The corresponding role on the Polish side was assumed by the Ministry for National Education, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry for Culture and National Heritage. The project also received significant financial support from the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation. The two chairs of the Joint German-Polish Textbook Commission were tasked with securing the relevant academic expertise for the project. The institutional framework of the project group comprises two panels: a ‘control panel’ and an ‘expert panel’. The latter produced recommendations in 2010 that formed the conceptional foundation for the German-Polish textbook series.
Volume 1, released after nine years of intensive work, is the first in a four-book series. It is the result of close collaboration between publishers, authors, academic coordinators and history experts from both countries. The book’s chapters reflect the findings of a long discussion process exploring how a textbook can present one perspective that is sensitive in its portrayal of history to differing points of view, interpretations and didactic approaches. The book is supported by a range of measures, such as teacher training seminars, and is expected to be widely implemented into schools in both countries.
The joint history book project has profited appreciably from the considerable expertise gained since the foundation, in 1972, of the Joint German-Polish Textbook Commission, which is coordinated by the GEI. The ‘recommendations’ published by the Commission in 1976 provided a significant impetus to history teaching and textbooks in both countries. However talk of a joint textbook was still a long way off in those early days.
Presentation on Wednesday 22 June 2016
in the Robert-Jungk-Oberschule
Sächsische Str. 58 10707 Berlin-Wilmersdorf
(U3/7 Fehrbelliner Platz)
Doors open 11 am. Start 11:30.
Members of the project group were available for interview at the end of the event.
- Download Press invitation and event schedule (in German)
- Download image1 und image2
