History Competition “Behind the scenes: From the history of the family to the history of the Community”

(within the framework of the project History Competition in Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine)

The period of the Soviet Union had a great impact on the history of Belarus. However, the history of the ordinary individual remains unnoticed. A man, who learned, started a family and raised his children, who worked and had his own thoughts and beliefs about the changes that occur in the country. But, what do we know about it? The competition ‘Behind the scenes: From the history of the family to the history of the Community’ offers us a great opportunity to find out more about the life and human relations in the latter half of the 20th century in Belarus by analyzing family photos and talks with bystanders of that time. Besides we could compare it with the life and the history of a family and a community.

The main participants of the competition are:

·       Young people 15-25 years old: senior pupils, students, volunteers from NGO, youth clubs, etc., who propose their projects in order to take part in the competition.

·     Mentors: teachers, professors, NGO activists, leaders of the youth clubs and museums, etc., who helps the participants during the preparation of the projects.

The History Competition consists of the several stages:

1 Stage. Selection and preparation stage for the mentors:

• Organizing meetings in the regions, instructions for mentors and all organizations who are interested in the competition, providing the information about its goals and opportunities for the participation (September – October 2017). If you would like to become a mentor and take part in briefing, please, fill in the application form.
• Selection of mentors and holding of the seminar (2st half of December 2017).

2 Stage. Announcement and holding of the competition:

• official announcement of the competition (December 2017)
• preparation of the competition works (making research by the participants, gathering information, consulting with mentors).The deadline for submission of applications is 5 May, 2018.
• the work of the jury and selection of the winners (May 2018). A special jury that includes professional historians, journalists, photographers, members of the project team will be formed for summarizing competition results.

3 Stage. Summing up the results of the competition and awards ceremony:

• summing up the results of the competition and holding an award ceremony (June 2018).

·         Together with the award ceremony the final seminar for the mentors will take place in order to sum up the results of the competition as well as share the experience and planning further competitions.

Competition winners will also have a chance to participate in the International History Camp in Berlin in autumn 2018.

The competition is held by the Representative office of the German Adult Education Association in the Republic of Belarus in cooperation with the YPA “Historyka” within the framework of the project "History Competition in Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine" with the support of the foreign ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany.

This project is focused on the development of the history competitions in Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine as well as on the stimulating of the international cooperation on this subject.

The project is implemented by DVV International and Körber Foundation in cooperation with international network EUSTORY and local organizations in the participating countries:

- Youth public association “Historyka” (Belarus);

- Georgian Association of the Teachers of History (Georgia);

- Public Association “SovLab” (Georgia);

- ANTIM (Moldova);

- Public Association “Nova Doba” (Ukraine).

The final materials of the historical competition can be found here.