Project description

Aim

Based on the conviction that knowledge about the common history of Saxony and Bohemia is necessary and must be constantly taught in order to improve the understanding of and between the two countries, scientists from TU Dresden and the University of Jana Evangelisty PURKYNÉ will jointly develop history books for schools, which will be used as additional teaching material in Saxony and Bohemia. By bringing together different (national) historical perspectives on the region(s), the aim is to raise awareness that this shared - Central European - history consists not only of conflict, but also of cooperation, and that it goes back much further than the beginning of the 20th century, and that it did not end even after 1945. We will have to shape this history of a - difficult - neighborhood for the future.

Publication concept

The publication will comprise three volumes, each of which will be published in German and Czech. In addition to the text volume, which will focus on historical topics, there will be a comprehensive volume with sources, which will primarily contain images and text material from archives. Experts from the field of didactics will be involved in the publication from the outset and will ensure that the academic work always keeps an eye on future use in schools.
The authors of the texts come from various academic fields, so that history is not only viewed from a political-historical perspective, but also from a social and cultural-historical one. The history of Saxon-Bohemian relations in particular, which has repeatedly been burdened by political conflicts, requires this broader perspective on social and economic connections, on similarities in everyday life, on exchange and the commonality of their culture.
The history will not be presented chronologically. Rather, milestones in history will be presented based on topics such as "allies and enemies", "denominations" and "industrialization". The period covered begins with the Thirty Years' War in the 17th century and ends in the 1990s.

Test phase in schools

Once the volumes have been completed, they will be tested in the second half of 2013 at four grammar schools in the Ústí and Dresden/Pirna region and at a Saxon secondary school. In the run-up to the test phase, the German and Czech teachers at the pilot schools will be informed about the content and intended use of the textbooks in two seminars.
The results of the test phase will be incorporated into the final version of the book, which will then be printed.