Do more than just remembering - Act!

I remember when I first applied for the Maximilian Kolbe workshops … I got a response that Macedonia was not actually included in the project, but they were glad that I showed interest in it and perhaps that I will get selected … And so I did get selected by the Project team for participation in the project called "Remembering and Commemorating in the Age of web 2.0". What did I do to get selected; even though my country was not foreseen in the project's implementation? I was acting … being assertive, I was!

And so were the four group leaders, the leaders of the project groups for Text and Design, Audio, Video and Internet. Persons that devoted themselves to work and lead a bunch of “amateurs” for this amazing project!

While speaking with Pawel Sawicki, the leader of the Text and design group I asked him what he was thinking of the participants of this project, the members of his group. His response to my “silly” question was: “Knowing the fact that all participants are freshmen more or less to this project, also busy in their daily lives … it is an achievement to have them here! Knowing that a person devoted three or more days to visit Auschwitz and Buchenwald, to spent some time with the time-witness and work on the project … is already a great achievement and everything that we manage to create can be added to it!” and a point he made was “… everyone prove to themselves that they can contribute a small piece, like a puzzle to a greater good, starting with their own experiences, points of view and perspectives!”

Indeed, every participant had the chance to contribute with his own ideas to the accomplishment of the project, but also to learn and share with the time-witnesses. Every participant had his own motive to be here, but what would be the motivation of a Group leader to be here, business or pleasure, perhaps? Audio group leader Pawel Kaminski has an answer:
“… On one hand my motive is purely professional, since I am a journalist and media educator and this is one of the workshops I could do, but a very important reason for me was the topic of this meeting … – he said, “I am interested in let’s say History and the Holocaust and I have the impression that this topic is not being discuss enough and in the collective minds it does not have the right place. According to Pawel, it is important for him as a journalist to understand the people, politics or Europe, as well Humanity and how it is dealing with the Holocaust. “…
Speaking of problems during the project, a trouble for young Video group leader Adam Symonowicz was the language barrier. “ … I had difficulties to interact with my group members, since the English language is not my strong side …” – he said. But, in the end each of them spoke one language, the language of creativity! You can see that by the great work this group has done by creating some amazing videos. But is the video group the most important group? A question, Adam was trying to answer. He said:” … The Text and Audio groups are not less important than this group … according to him: our main advantage is that we can actually show the people and place to the audience …”

Text, Audio and Video, but having only these three groups the project would not be what it is, namely a web 2.0 or social media project. And one of the probably most responsible groups in the whole project are the Internet group run by Sebastian Schröder-Esch. This group had a tough task, to combine all the work of the three groups and present it on the internet in an attractive way to make it available to the broader audience. “It is the integral part of the whole project …” said Sebastian, “…” The most interesting part is that the whole platform is for free. How? The answer is quite simple … blogging! Running a blog will allow the participants to publish their work and the audience to see, listen and read their work and comment on it. A true web 2.0 project!
But, also these methods were facing some challenges. “…We are fighting to offer the content of the blog in different languages and we are still thinking about an effective way to do that. To have a professional web-site would be very expensive, so we are looking for a good alternative ” said Sebastian.

While reading the text we must try to remember that groups gathered and worked on various themes about the Holocaust together with the time-witnesses and the created something sustainable for the next generations. Each participant offered a small piece to the puzzle, as Pawel Sawicki already said.

The most important thing is that we had a once in a life-time chance to speak to the survivors and hear their stories and in a way becoming witnesses of their history. We do remember and commemorate, but the most important thing: WE chose not only to remember, but to ACT!

Group photo of all participants

Written by: Mustafa Jakupov