In the 2024 edition of the programme, the participants will meet in Warsaw for a three-day workshop where they will be introduced to interviewing techniques, oral history and audio documentation methods. Following this, the group will be divided into two smaller teams and embark on study trips to one of the selected regions: Masuria in Poland and the Estonian-Finnish sea border area. During a one-week stay, the groups will meet with history witnesses, scholars, representatives of local institutions and local activists in order to make recordings for an audio documentary about the history and life of the inhabitants of the region visited. Once the project is completed, the audio documentaries or podcasts will be made available on the ENRS website, on Spotify and on Simplecast.
The first group will explore the memory of the German-Polish neighbourhood in the Masuria region. This is now a popular summer destination, which was part of Germany before the Second World War. Eighty years after the end of the war, participants will explore the region in search of traces of its complicated history. They will learn about Polish-German relations before 1945, when these borderlands experienced ethnic-national rivalries, and after 1945, when they became Polish and the ethnicity of much of their population had changed. We will examine different strategies adopted by other groups living in the region, such as the Masurians, who identified ethnically as Polish but nationally as Prussian Germans. Due to the specifics of the region, this will be a more mobile edition – the group will visit various places, including Ełk and Ogródek, to interview witnesses of history, meet with contemporary local activists and representatives from a variety of cultural institutions.
The history of relations between the neighbouring capitals of Estonia and Finland, Tallinn and Helsinki, will be explored by the second group of participants. After Estonia was forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union following the Second World War, the Iron Curtain divided the Baltic Sea, limiting direct interaction between the two regions, which had previously shared common cultural experiences. Following a ferry route re-established in 1965, students will interview residents of both cities who have divided their lives between Tallinn and Helsinki for geopolitical and, after 1991, economic reasons. By visiting urban sites significant to the history of the cities and meeting with scholars and individuals working in local institutions, they will explore the nature of the remembrance culture and memory politics of the region.
The costs of the workshops, meals, accommodation and transport between Warsaw and the place of the study visit as well as local transport, are covered by the organiser. Participants may apply for reimbursement of one-way transport costs – from the study visit’s completion place to their place of residence.
Applications for the programme will be open from 8 April to 5 May.
The first group will explore the memory of the German-Polish neighbourhood in the Masuria region. This is now a popular summer destination, which was part of Germany before the Second World War. Eighty years after the end of the war, participants will explore the region in search of traces of its complicated history. They will learn about Polish-German relations before 1945, when these borderlands experienced ethnic-national rivalries, and after 1945, when they became Polish and the ethnicity of much of their population had changed. We will examine different strategies adopted by other groups living in the region, such as the Masurians, who identified ethnically as Polish but nationally as Prussian Germans. Due to the specifics of the region, this will be a more mobile edition – the group will visit various places, including Ełk and Ogródek, to interview witnesses of history, meet with contemporary local activists and representatives from a variety of cultural institutions.
The history of relations between the neighbouring capitals of Estonia and Finland, Tallinn and Helsinki, will be explored by the second group of participants. After Estonia was forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union following the Second World War, the Iron Curtain divided the Baltic Sea, limiting direct interaction between the two regions, which had previously shared common cultural experiences. Following a ferry route re-established in 1965, students will interview residents of both cities who have divided their lives between Tallinn and Helsinki for geopolitical and, after 1991, economic reasons. By visiting urban sites significant to the history of the cities and meeting with scholars and individuals working in local institutions, they will explore the nature of the remembrance culture and memory politics of the region.
The costs of the workshops, meals, accommodation and transport between Warsaw and the place of the study visit as well as local transport, are covered by the organiser. Participants may apply for reimbursement of one-way transport costs – from the study visit’s completion place to their place of residence.
Applications for the programme will be open from 8 April to 5 May.
