History competition of the Federal President (Germany)
The Federal President's history competition has been held in Germany by the Körber Foundation since 1973 . The aim of the competition is to get young people to grapple with the history of Germany .
In a six-month project, the students - often guided by their teachers (tutors) - pursue a topic of history in their environment. The participants document the results in a brochure, for example, present them in an exhibition or implement them in a film or radio report. The principle of the history competition is called »research-based learning«: children and young people research in archives, they interview experts, make inquiries to authorities and local politicians, conduct street surveys and speak to contemporary witnesses .
The competition goes back to the joint initiative of the then Federal President Gustav Heinemann and the Hamburg founder Kurt A. Körber . They wanted to encourage young people to confront the democratic traditions of German history. The competition begins every two years on September 1st. Half a year later, on February 28, the deadline for submissions. 150 jurors from history , schools , archives and museums assess the submitted student work and decide on the award of prizes at the state and federal level. It doesn't just include cash prizes. The Körber Foundation offers follow-up funding for award winners. In exclusive youth forums, the participants deal with historical and political questions. Top prize winners are received by the Federal President in Bellevue Palace and can also take part in the selection process for acceptance into the German National Academic Foundation .
The Körber Foundation presents the invitation to tender and the results of the competitions in its history magazine, traces searching , offers teachers teaching material for each competition and conducts workshops on historical project work.
More than 146,500 young people submitted over 33,500 competition entries in 23 tenders. These can be found in the foundation's archive. This makes the competition the largest historical lay research movement in Germany.
subjects
Topics in recent years have included:
- Understanding German Freedom Movements (1973- / 76)
- Social history of everyday life (work, living, leisure) (1977/79)
- Everyday Life under National Socialism (1980/81)
- The environment has a history (1986/87)
- Our place - home for strangers? (1988/89)
- Tempo, Tempo ... Man and Traffic in History (1990/91)
- Memorial: memory - warning - nuisance (1992/93)
- East-West stories - young people ask questions (1994/95)
- From poor house to addiction counseling. On the history of helping (1996/97)
- Revolt, Action, Change - Protest in History (1998/99)
- Used-loved-killed: animals in our history (2000/01)
- Leaving-Arriving: Migration in History (2002/03)
- Does movement bring blessings? Work in History (2004/05)
- With each other - against each other? Young and Old in History (2006/07)
- Heroes: revered - misunderstood - forgotten (2008/09)
- Annoyance, stir, outrage - scandals in history (2010/11)
- Familiar Strangers - Neighbors in History (2012/13)
- Being Different - Outsiders in History (2014/2015)
- God and the world - religion makes history (2016/2017)
- It can't go on like this! Crisis, upheaval, new beginnings (2018/2019)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Great interest in the history competition. Accessed on November 14, 2019 (German).
- ↑ History competition archive. Accessed on November 14, 2019 (German).
- ↑ The history competition. Accessed on November 14, 2019 (German).