Today we are witnesses to an increasing rate of violence among the youth, as well as discrimination and social injustice, primarily among children and toward individuals of different ethnicities, religion or race. Having also in mind the recent increasing popularity of far-right ideologies and the absence of an outer-institutional platform for learning about the Holocaust and injustices of Nazi regimes, the organizer of the Festival has introduced this program with an aim to educate as many people as possible on the subject, and speak out about Nazi regimes in a multimedia and multidisciplinary manner, as well as to entice dialogue and cooperation between cultural, educational and state institutions.
After realizing the significance of paying particular attention to young people as the most vital segment in the development of a democratic society, in 2009 the Festival initiated Educational mornings as one of its most important integral parts. Educational mornings are an educational program which aims to educate children of all ages about the atrocities of the Holocaust in order to help them learn as much as possible, from this tragic period of history, about accepting diversity and treating each human being as an individual worthy of respect. It is precisely the model of educating the youngest that stimulates the development of understanding and tolerance, which are certainly the fundamental principles for the functioning of a healthy socialization. Educational mornings provide an educational experience through which pupils and students get the opportunity to grasp which events lead to the Holocaust. They enable them insight into numerous historical, social, religious, political and economic factors which cumulatively resulted in the occurrence of the Holocaust.
The history of the Holocaust represents an extremely efficient area to re-examine basic moral issues. Through studying the Holocaust, pupils and students can understand the weight of the need to nurture and protect democratic values, as well as to understand the significance of tolerance. Students can realize how silence and indifference toward the suffering of others can cause the grave injustices from the past to repeat. Through discussion and an exchange of opinions, young people are able to appreciate that accepting diversity and respecting the different are the only right ways to go through life in our modern world.
Since 2009, Educational Mornings attracted over 6,800 pupils and students from around 200 elementary schools, high schools, and universities from across the country; something which no other Croatian institution working on educating the public on the Holocaust has accomplished. Also, we are proud of the fact that Educational morning program every year receives a recommendation of the Ministary of Science, Education and Sport, as well as the logistical support of Education and Teacher Training Agency.
Through the introduction of film as a platform for educating about the Holocaust, and by choosing feature or documentary films of high artistic and educational value for each new Festival edition, young people are given an opportunity to expand their knowledge about the Holocaust through a medium to which they can relate. This also opens up a platform for discussion which, after lectures, motivates students and pupils to think. During the discussions, they come to realize that until then they knew little or nothing about the Holocaust and that the films and lectures helped them gain a completely different perspective.
The program is co-financed with the funds of:
Ministry of Science, Education and Sport
International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance
Ministry of Social Welfare Policy and Youth
Goethe-Institut
UNHCR Croatia
PRESS MATERIALS IN GENERAL
Educational mornings booklet (PDF)
May 22nd, Thursday / 12:00 / Europa Cinema
Branko Lustig
The program is intended for elementary school pupils (7th and 8th grades) and secondary school pupils (1st grades).
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
The program consists of three parts: – screening of the film Wunderkinder – Branko Lustig’s…
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May 19th, Monday / 12:00 / Europa Cinema
Mirko Ilić
Program is intended for secondary school pupils (2nd, 3rd and 4th grades) and university students.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
The program consists of three parts: – screening of the film Sein Kampf – Mirko Ilic’s lecture on the topic…
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After the 4th Festival, due to excellent turnout and response from pupils, as well as great dialogue established with them after the screenings and lectures, Educational mornings project has further developed in the sense that we started to bring this program to other Croatian cities, outside the Festival term (“Educational mornings tour”). The focus is put on the cities from regions where the promotion of tolerance is needed (e.g. regions formerly affected by war, regions with numerous minorities…). The main goals remain the communication with the pupils, promotion of tolerance and pointing out the errors from the past with the intention that they are never to be repeated so we all can build better and more harmonious world.
All Educational mornings organized in cities outside Zagreb are intended for the elementary school pupils and are led by Mr. Lustig. During 2010, Educational mornings were held in Velika Gorica (June 8, in front of 275 pupils), Osijek (September 16, in from of 350 pupils) and Varaždin (September 30, in front of 250 pupils) with the screening of the film “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”.
In 2011 the Educational mornings tour started in Čakovec (September 8, 2011). As Čakovec is known for having a very strong national minority (the Romani people), Mr. Lustig’s lecture was focused on promoting tolerance and comprehension of social and ethnical differences and diverse values as the most important conditions of a healthy coexistence. The tour continued in Osijek (September 15, 2011, 300 pupils) and Vukovar (September 16, 2011, 300 pupils). The film screened on the Educational tour 2011 was “Inside Hana’s Suitcase”.
The Educational tour 2012 has started in Čakovec. Around 550 elementary school pupils from the whole region gathered on September 20 in order to attend the program and listen to Mr. Lustig’s lecture, who himself spent a part of his childhood in Čakovec. After the screening of the film “The Last Flight of Petr Ginz”, Mr. Lustig drew parallels between the life of its protagonist, Petr Ginz, and his own. After he introduced the pupils to the tragedy of the Holocaust in a more detailed manner, Mr. Lustig urged them not to let anything similar ever happen again: “…that hatred leads to evil. The only way to overcome this evil is through love. In your hands and in your heads, you hold the power not to let these things repeat themselves.” Commenting on the current issue of the integration of Roma children in local schools, Mr. Lustig invited everyone in the audience to fight against the discrimination, as all people are the same. On September 26, we brought the Educational mornings program for the first time to the region of Dalmatia. Thanks to the exceptional cooperation with the City Government, around 300 pupils participated in the program. Judging by the evaluation questionnaires, the program was a success. The film received an average grade of 4.3 (out of 5), while the lecture was even better accepted with the average grade of 4.5.
