Contemporary Witness Work

Short Description

Contemporary witnesses are people who are able to give insights on historical events and traditions, since they lived during that time. Contemporary witnesses work focuses on these witnesses, and refines their experiences for the public, and in some cases, it also helps the contemporary witnesses themselves to better understand their past.

Contemporary witness works focuses on people who experienced a certain contemporary history. The experiences of these people will be collected, documented and made available to the public. There are many different forms conceivable: The results can be presented as a book, on a website or in an exhibition.

Pedagogical Information

The method can easily be transferred to other target groups and topics. Contemporary witness work can be done by witnesses themselves (that would be a special kind of biographical writing), but it could also be done as an interview.

European Dimension

People in Europe share history, but there are different views and perspectives of this history. Contemporary witness work helps to see and understand the different experiences people made during a certain time.

Applied in projects

Danube Boxes "Home country – Danube country"

Getting to know each other in a creative way and thereby discovering similarities and differences is the aim of the project. The target group are people from all Danube countries, who do not know each other and who do not share a common language.

The project consists of three steps:
1. Create a personal Danube Box
2. Present the box to the other participants and get conversation started in a creative way
3. Organize an event/exhibition at which the boxes can be presented