First impressions from the past, those formed with school education and textbooks, are among the strongest. Textbooks contain the knowledge that each society wants to pass on to future generations. States use them as tools for civic education, building narratives that foster identities, strengthen civil cohesion or legitimize ruling power. Because they are reviewed and approved by the state, the textbooks are considered to be particularly objective and reliable. However, if we take a manual that is dated or published in another country, our opinion changes. Indeed, textbooks communicate the spirit of their time and express the culture in which they are written.
The "Different Wars" exhibition, which opens on January 10 in the Casa della Memoria in Milan and will remain open until January 26, reveals the differences in the narration and perception of the history of the Second World War in German high school textbooks , the Czech Republic, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and Russia.
The Second World War remains one of the most painful and conflicting episodes for the memory of European nations. The exhibition presents and compares the various narratives found in school textbooks on World War II and, through a series of national and thematic panels, aims to reveal significant aspects of the process of interpretation and remembrance. Visitors have the opportunity to "browse" the pages and learn about the teaching methods of the history textbooks of the countries present.
These themes will be discussed at the inauguration Tuesday 10 January at 17.00: Andrea Kerbaker, President of the Scientific Committee of the Casa della Memoria, Simone Campanozzi, Lombard Institute of Contemporary History, Štefan Cok, Narodna in študijska knjižnica National Library of Slovenia and Studies, Marcello Flores, INSMLI Scientific Director, Robert Latypov, Youth Memorial Perm' . Giulia De Florio, Memorial Italia will moderate. A guided tour of the exhibition will follow.
The exhibition, curated by the "Historical Memory and Education" group of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum, is organized by the Memorial Italia association in collaboration with the Casa della Memoria, the Lombard Institute for Contemporary History and the Municipality of Milan.
Find out more about the exhibition on Memorial Italia website
