We invite teachers from Poland to participate in the series of workshops. The workshops will be held at the Museum Dulag 121, 3 Maja 8A, 05-800 Pruszków, on 1– 4 October 2025. Admission is free, but registration (online form) is required.
The workshops are part the ‘Sound in the Silence’ project - an intercultural and international remembrance project for secondary school students, organised by the ENRS since 2011. During the project, students work with artists from different artistic fields at historically challenging locations. The programme offers young people a chance to find new ways of looking at the history of Europe, its nations, states, and regions, to develop their own perception of reality and the tools for expressing it.
Programme
Over the course of four days teachers will have the opportunity to take part in three blocks of workshops.
1 October (Wednesday) – EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
The first block will focus on presenting educational materials created by ENRS and will be led by Urszula Bijoś, team leader for the Hi-Story Lessons educational platform in the ENRS.
How can you spot fake historical news?
Memory wars on Wikipedia articles? Caricatures from the interwar period? Or urban legends about a plane that never existed, but which everyone has seen? We have it all. During this workshop, teachers and educators will learn and try out techniques for recognising and countering historical disinformation. We will discuss the most effective approaches for students and how to apply them in the classroom. We will provide you with ready-to-use exercises to explore memory conflicts and contradictory historical narratives. The session will highlight how understanding past disinformation can strengthen students' resilience, particularly in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
World War II: 80 years after
How does WW2 'work' in the classroom today? Which topics spark the most curiosity among students? On 8 May 2025, the 80th anniversary of the end of WW2 has been commemorated. How might this fact be used to start a meaningful conversation on war and peace, fall and rebirth? This session is an opportunity to share your ideas and insights on how to approach WW2 history in the age of disinformation.
This autumn, we published new resources in the form of a film, animation and infographics, and this session will give you the opportunity to discover them. These materials are designed to deepen understanding and reflection on this transformative period in history.
2 October (Thursday) – RESTORATIVE DIALOGUE AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION
The second part of the workshops will be led by Barbara Walshe, an Expert in the Project’s Department in ENRS.
Standing Still in Polarised Times: Exploring Conflict through Restorative Dialogue
Educators, schools, and places of learning are increasingly influenced by divisive, noisy, and polarised external environments which aim to divide rather than encourage collaboration and build community.
Using a restorative dialogue approach, this workshop offers an opportunity to ‘stand still for a moment’ and explore the extent and nature of conflict and why we respond the way we do when conflict arises. The workshop will also address the real or perceived tension caused by immigration and working and living with ‘the other.’ Interactive exercises, short videos and presentations will give participants an opportunity to share their own valuable experience and learn something new to add to their own tool box.
3–4 October (Friday, Saturday) – ART AS A MEDIUM FOR HISTORICAL DEBATE
The final workshop will be led by Ioana Hasu-Georgiev, and divided into two parts:
The engaging power of microhistory and role play
This workshop offers practical tools for bringing history and learning to life in the classroom. Through personal stories, interactive games, and classroom experiments, participants will explore methods that capture the imagination of children and adolescents. Each activity is adaptable across age groups, making it easy to tailor to different learning contexts. Educators will leave with concrete ideas they can immediately apply in their own teaching.
Art as a medium for historical debate
This workshop examines how art can serve as a powerful medium for historical debate. Drawing on Ioana Hașu-Georgiev experience of ordinating a documentary theatre play that explored the forgotten biographies of women in the anti-communist resistance. She will share insights into how performance can revive overlooked histories. Participants will also learn about the ongoing development of this work into a theatre installation, shaped by post-performance audience discussions, and the possibilities of involving students directly in both the creative process and performance.
Biographies of the workshop’s leaders
URSZULA BIJOŚ has graduated with a MA in History from the Institute of History (University of Warsaw). She also studied at the Paul-Valery III University in Montpellier (France). Her field of interests focuses on popularization of 20th-century history and culture of remembrance. Before joining ENRS, she worked for several years in the non-governmental sector creating educational materials for schools and training for teachers. She is the co-author of the guidebooks 'Cities of Memory' about places of memory in Berlin and Bucharest. She is a teacher trainer, author of educational tools, and team leader for the Hi-Story Lessons online platform in the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity.
BARBARA WALSHE is from Ireland and is a trained restorative facilitator and practitioner. She has had a varied career working in the fields of research, advocacy, training, community development, peace building and restorative work at local, national, and international level. Her current work in Restorative Justice stems from a growing need amongst human beings, communities, organisations, and institutions to address harm and the restoration of fractured relationships. Her experience has shown her that conflict, despite been seen as fearsome and negative by some can often be a source of innovation and positive change. To date she has worked with community groups, institutions, prisoners, former combatants, individuals, victims of sexual abuse and trauma, members of Christian churches and many more. She holds a Masters in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation (Trinity College Dublin, Belfast based) and a Masters in Community Development (NUI, Galway).
IOANA HAŞU-GEORGIEV is a Romanian researcher of the recent past, focusing on less explored aspects of the Communist dictatorship, such as the role of women in the anticommunist movement, transgenerational trauma, and the postmemory of traumatic past events. She created an interractive workshop on Communism for children and young students called The Country of our Grandparents that was presented in schools and summer camps in the past ten years. In 2022, Ioana was part of the team that set up the first Museum of Communism for Children in Romania, at the Pitesti Prison Memorial. Her latest research endeavor resulted in a documentary theatre play portraying women who fought against communism in Romania. Besides the theater play Share Location: Rezistenta Fagaras, the project included workshops for students and teachers, but also a series of public debates discussing the legacy of communism in the contemporary society.
Ioana has many years of professional experience as a radio journalist in national media and offices of foreign media in Romania.
Rules for participation:
• The workshops will be held in person at the Dulag 121 Museum (ul. 3 Maja 8A, 05-800 Pruszków). The workshops will not be streamed online.
• The workshops will be conducted in English and will be free of charge. Participation in the workshops is conditional upon completing the online registration form.
• Lunch and refreshments will be provided for participants.
• The organiser does not provide accommodation and will not reimburse any accommodation and travel costs.
• After the workshops, participants will receive a certificate confirming their attendance.
• During the workshops we will take photographs and make a documentary film about the Sound in the Silence project. In accordance with your participation in the workshops, we would like to ask for your permission to share your visual image.
• PLEASE NOTE: The number of participants is limited. Priority will be given to those who register for all days of the workshop.
• The Organizer reserves the right to make changes to the workshop schedule.
• We kindly ask that, in case of any sudden change of plans, you inform us if you are unable to attend the workshops. This will allow us to give other people on the waiting list the opportunity to participate and help prevent wasting the food we have prepared for you.
To apply, please fill in the form HERE.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE*
1 October (Wednesday)
12:00–13:00 – Lunch
13:30–15:00 – How can you spot fake historical news? Workshop by Urszula Bijoś
15:00–15:30 – Coffee Break
15:30–17:00 – World War II: 80 years after. Workshop by Urszula Bijoś
2 October (Thursday)
10:30–12:00 – Standing Still in Polarised Times: Exploring Conflict through Restorative Dialogue. Workshop by Barbara Walshe. Part 1
12:00–13:30 – Lunch
13:30–15:00 – Standing Still in Polarised Times: Exploring Conflict through Restorative Dialogue. Workshop by Barbara Walshe. Part 2
15:00–15:30 – Coffee Break
15:30–17:00 – Standing Still in Polarised Times: Exploring Conflict through Restorative Dialogue. Workshop by Barbara Walshe. Part 3
3 October (Friday)
10:30–12:00 – The engaging power of microhistory and role play. Workshop by Ioana Hasu-Georgiev. Part 1
12:00–13:30 – Lunch
13:30–15:30 – The engaging power of microhistory and role play. Workshop by Ioana Hasu-Georgiev. Part 2
15:00–15:30 – Coffee Break
15:30–17:00 – The engaging power of microhistory and role play. Workshop by Ioana Hasu-Georgiev. Part 3
4 October (Saturday)
10:30–12:30 – Art as a medium for historical debate. Workshop by Ioana Hasu-Georgiev. Part 1
12:30–14:00 – Lunch
14:00–15:30 – Art as a medium for historical debate. Workshop by Ioana Hasu-Georgiev. Part 2
*programme may be subject to change
***
What is the Sound in the Silence project?
Sound in the Silence is an interdisciplinary remembrance project aimed at encouraging high school students from around Europe to actively reflect on the difficult aspects of the 20th-century history with the use of artistic means.
Each edition takes place in a carefully selected location. While the pupils learn about the site's past and work on the final performance, their teachers take part in workshops on interdisciplinary ways of teaching history so as to exchange experiences with peers from different countries.
Read more about the Sound in the Silence 2025 edition