European archive of voices
The European Archives of votes (ger .: European Archive of Voices ) is a project that the association "work on Europe" was initiated. In the archive personal and contemporary memories of personalities from over 30 European countries are collected. The aim is to make stories accessible to the generation that rebuilt Europe after 1945. In this project, Europe refers not only to the countries of the European Union , but to countries that belong geographically and historically to Europe. The project has no political goal.
background
After a history of constant European wars, the desire for a united Europe developed in the first half of the 20th century. Stefan Zweig postulated around 1930 that an emotional bond with Europe could only be achieved by dealing with the common history. There are fewer and fewer eyewitnesses who witnessed the process of European unification after the Second World War.
"The question of Europe, how it is now, how it could be, [...] cannot be asked without a look at the past and what has happened."
In Eastern Europe, the rule of Russia followed after the National Socialist regime. Because of this historical difference, the culture of remembrance took different paths in East and West. The historians' dispute of 1986/87 over the role of the Holocaust brought up further differences. Curator Aleida Assmann wrote "The divided memory of Europe and the concept of dialogic remembering". The project would like to reflect this memory dialogue.
Nowadays the European idea is being questioned from various sides, as can be seen, for example, with “Brexit” . The results of the 2019 European elections show differences between South and North, between East and West. It is important to find a uniform level. In general, Europe is spoken of from the perspective of individual countries. Culture is able to cross national borders, which is why Europe should not be understood in this project economically or politically, but in terms of culture and history . Through personal stories, Europe is experienced on a small scale in order to gain access to the large scale. Experience a united Europe told.
history
The initiator is the German association “Arbeit an Europa”, consisting of writers, journalists and scientists. The project is part of the German Digital Library . The EU had refused financial support. The project is supported by the Gerda Henkel Foundation and the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation . At the beginning, the project name was Archive of Voices . Not only did this title lack the European aspect, there was also a risk of confusion with a project of the same name from 2012, which published historical shellac recordings.
The project's kick-off event with 45 interviewers took place in January 2020. Interviews are to be held by the end of 2020. In autumn 2020, the interviews with a written English translation will be published on a website in order to make them available to the public free of charge. At the same time as the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union from July 1, 2020, the European Archive of Memories is supported by the Federal Foreign Office as one of six cultural projects. Publications and events are planned in several European cities. The Goethe-Institut is responsible for the planning and implementation .
target
The project aims to provide a glimpse of Europe with the help of contemporary witnesses. The memories of people who consciously experienced the initial phase of the European Union are preserved. The interviewees talk about the past and future of the continent as part of their life story. The interviews should work out what importance Europe had in the individual life stories and what we can learn from them for the future of Europe. The shared memories are intended to act as European education for future generations.
"The decisive goal is that we, as a younger generation, can in the end really say something different about Europe than just what the politicians mean, what the EU is."
method
The project is being implemented by volunteers from “Arbeit an Europa eV”. The international interviewer team consists of 50 women and men between the ages of 20 and 40. The interviewers speak to the eyewitnesses in their mother tongue and in their respective home countries. Interviewees and interviewers come from over 30 countries that belong geographically and historically to Europe: Albania , Belgium , Bosnia-Herzegovina , Bulgaria , Denmark , Germany , Estonia , Finland , France , Georgia , Greece , Great Britain , Ireland , Iceland , Italy , Croatia , Latvia , Lithuania , Luxembourg , Moldova , Netherlands , Norway , Austria , Poland , Portugal , Romania , Russia , Sweden , Serbia , Slovakia , Slovenia , Spain , Czech Republic , Ukraine , Hungary
“Europe has no natural borders. […] The essence of Europe is made up of common values despite all its differences. "
Advice and quality assurance are provided by a board of trustees consisting of Aleida Assmann , Heinz Bude , Peter Raue , Michael Krüger , Juliane von Herz , André Schmitz and Angelo Bolaffi . Together with the sociologist Heinz Bude, a questionnaire was developed as a guide to ensure that the conversations can be compared. One question, for example, is: “How did you feel when you looked into the future as a young person?” Bude also trained the interviewers for their task.
“The main difficulty is getting the connection between personal stories and collective concerns. [...] I hope that you will succeed, that in the end the question of Europe is always a question of personal involvement in Europe. "
The conversations are recorded with a uniform recording technology.
Contemporary witnesses
People who were born in the first half of the 20th century are interviewed. Specifically, the focus was initially on birth cohorts before 1940, which was later expanded to include all cohorts before 1945. Some of the interviewees still experienced war, oppression and flight.
The interview partners are proposed by interviewers from their country and selected by a jury. The aim of the project is to let a wide range of people have their say. The interviewees are predominantly journalists, politicians, artists, intellectuals, scientists, diplomats and religious people. Other criteria include ethnicity , gender or social origin. When making the selection, it is also important that the persons concerned are not questioned several times on European issues.
| country | Surname | vintage | job |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albania | Maks Velo | 1935 | Artist and political activist |
| Belgium | Mark Eyskens | 1933 | Politician |
| Bosnia | Jovan Divjak | 1937 | general |
| Bulgaria | Axinia Dzurova | 1942 | Philologist and art historian |
| Denmark | Bodil Nyboe Andersen | 1940 | Economist and
former National Bank Director |
| Denmark | Niels Barfoed | 1931 | Intellectual |
| Germany | Christian Meier | 1929 | Ancient historian |
| Estonia | Talvi Märja | 1935 | Psychologist and educationalist |
| Finland | Caj Bremer | 1929 | photographer |
| Finland | Leena Orvilahti | 1935 | translator |
| France | Jean-Claude Carrière | 1931 | Screenwriter |
| Georgia | Besik Kharanauli | 1939 | Writer and poet |
| Georgia | Eldar Shengelaia | 1933 | Film producer and politician |
| Greece | Vassilis Vassilikos | 1934 | Writer and diplomat |
| Great Britain | Mary Goudie | 1946 | politician |
| Ireland | Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh | 1930 | Sports commentator |
| Iceland | Vigdís Finnbogadóttir | 1930 | Politician and former President |
| Italy | Bartolomeo concern | 1929 | Journalist and anti- mafia activist |
| Italy | Biancamaria Frabotta | 1946 | poetess |
| Italy | Elsa Montessori | 1931 | photographer |
| Kosovo | Rexhep Qosja | 1936 | writer |
| Croatia | Irena Vrkljan | 1930 | Writer |
| Latvia | Ausma Ziedone-Kantāne | 1941 | politician |
| Lithuania | Irena Veisaitė | 1928 | Theater scholar |
| Luxembourg | Erna Hennicot-Schoepges | 1941 | politician |
| Netherlands | Cees Nooteboom | 1933 | writer |
| Netherlands | Neelie Kroes | 1941 | politician |
| North Macedonia | Dimitar Belchev | 1946 | Electrical engineer and diplomat |
| Norway | Karin Krog | 1937 | Jazz singer |
| Austria | Hanna Molden | 1941 | Writer |
| Poland | Henryk Wujec | 1940 | Politician |
| Portugal | Adriano Moreira | 1922 | Politician |
| Romania | Nora Iuga | 1931 | Writer |
| Russia | Lyudmila Ulitskaya | 1943 | Writer |
| Sweden | Sven-Eric Liedman | 1939 | Historian of ideas |
| Switzerland | Cornelio Sommaruga | 1932 | Diplomat and former President of the |
| Serbia | Dragoslav Mihailovic | 1930 | writer |
| Slovakia | Egon Gal | 1940 | sociologist |
| Slovakia | Eva Mosnakova | 1929 | Holocaust survivor and contemporary witness |
| Spain | Lidia Falcon | 1935 | Writer and politician |
| Spain | Rosa Regàs | 1933 | Writer, publisher, former director of |
| Czech Republic | Alena Wagnerová | 1936 | Publicist and Sociologist |
| Ukraine | Oleh Pantschuk | 1932 | Chemist |
| Hungary | Iván Szelényi | 1938 | sociologist |
| Hungary | Vera Szekeres Varsa | 1933 | Philologist |
| Vatican city | Walter Brandmüller | 1929 | cardinal |
| Belarus | Stanislau Shushkevich | 1934 | Physicist and former
president |
| Cyprus | Kyriakos Charalambides | 1940 | Writer and former director
of the Culture Department of the Cypriot Radio |
Web links
- Project homepage: https://arbeitaneuropa.com/european-archive-of-voices/ (English)
- Video interview with the project initiators in the Literaturhaus Berlin (English)
- Impressions from interviews in the culture magazine of the Goethe Institute
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Charlotte von Bernstorff: What holds this continent together. The European Archive of Voices. In: deutschlandfunkkultur.de. Deutschlandfunk Kultur, June 24, 2020, accessed on June 26, 2020 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l European Archive of Voices. In: archiveofvoices.eu. Arbeit an Europa eV, 2020, accessed on June 27, 2020 (English).
- ^ European Archive of Voices. In: Arbeitaneuropa.com. Arbeit an Europa eV, 2020, accessed on July 10, 2020 (English).
- ↑ a b c d Stefan Meetschen: Simon Strauss: Religion will again become a stronger authority. The Daily Mail - Catholic Newspaper for Politics, Society and Culture, February 27, 2019, accessed on July 8, 2020 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Charlotte von Bernstorff: A collective memory for Europe. The European Archive of Voices. In: deutschlandfunkkultur.de. Deutschlandfunk Kultur, November 20, 2019, accessed on June 26, 2020 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Arbeit an Europa eV (Ed.): Project presentation “European Archive of Voices” . Oberuckersee 2020.
- ↑ Bernd Rill, et al ao Aleida Assmann: National memory in Germany and Poland . Europe's divided memory and the concept of dialogic remembering. Ed .: Hanns Seidel Foundation eV Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-88795-381-2 , p. 18 ( hss.de [PDF]).
- ↑ a b c Livia Gerster: Don't start with the economy, but with culture . Thinking about Europe differently: an initiative collects the voices of older contemporary witnesses who care about the unity of the continent. This is how an archive of ideas should be created. In: Michael Maier (Ed.): Berliner Zeitung . Daily newspaper. No. 119 . Berliner Verlag, May 24, 2019, ISSN 0947-174X , p. 4 .
- ↑ a b c et al. Simon Strauss: Frankfurt Book Fair; News and Information . Simon Strauss: Working on Europe. tape 46 , 2019, p. 16, 17 (English).
- ^ Friedemann Brenneis: The archive of the voices. In: deutschlandfunk.de. Deutschlandfunk, April 25, 2013, accessed on July 1, 2020 .
- ↑ Charlotte von Bernstorff: A collective memory for Europe. The European Archive of Voices. In: deutschlandfunkkultur.de. Deutschlandfunk Kultur, November 20, 2019, accessed on June 26, 2020 (Word order slightly changed for better understanding. Original: "That is the decisive goal that we can really tell something different in the end than a younger generation about Europe than just that what the politicians mean, what the EU is. ").
- ^ European Archive of Voices. In: archiveofvoices.eu. Arbeit an Europa eV, 2020, accessed on June 27, 2020 (English).
- ↑ Questionnaire. (PDF) European Archive of Voices - A Project by Arbeit an Europa eV In: archiveofvoices.eu. Arbeit an Europa eV, 2020, accessed on June 27, 2020 (English).