A second day of reflection and exchange, two full sessions where many experts who informed us about their work intervened.

Transmission, information and formation, fields upon which it is necessary to reflect and work in order to arrive at a real citizenship in Europe.

active transmission of european citizenship

In this session, we chose to speak about the active transmission of citizenship. This transmission attempts to propose a complex message or a critical reading by means of interpretation of heritage, reflection on history and memory, permanent and temporary exhibitions on historical subjects or periods that marked the hard and often painful times in the recent past of Europe.

Ana Blandiana and Antoinette Reuter respectively presented their work on the places of memory, the former regarding the Memorial in Sighet, the latter the Resource Centre on Human Migrations, two places to which some pages of our site are devoted. Théo Robichet, president of the Institute for European Memory (IME) gave a long and very moving talk on the importance of memory and forgetfulness, related to his main field of interest: cinema and his experience of refugee camps. Marie-Louise Von Plessen brought a remarkable testimony about her experience as exhibition co-ordinator. She presented several of her approaches, varied and original exhibitions adopting an innovative point of view, in which the transmission of memory is really active and interactive. Francisco Singul Lorenzo, art historian, also tackled the subject by presenting the work of the Exhibitions Department in Xacobeo (Galice). To all these interventions was added a written intervention by Miklós Sulyok, art historian, on the museum park of statues in Budapest.

Exhibition "Wandering through time in Weimar", 1999, curated by Marie-Louise Von Plessen

The importance of memory and of the work of memory was reaffirmed here. Without memory, indeed, how can we arrive at a real, responsible, conscious, enlightened citizenship?

information / formation

Finally, the fourth and last session was interested in the topic of formation and information, taking into account the phenomenon of interculturality as it is transmitted by education systems and the media, and, wishfully, by a collaboration between the two.

Bernard Tournois (Arte) spoke about the televisual treatment of information, by presenting a project on channels concerning a series of fiction documentaries taking place in the nine European capitals of culture and covering relevant subjects. These shows have been broadcast since then. There also intervened Eric de Vreede, member of the association for training teachers in Europe (ATEE), Francoise Fouquet for the actions in favour of citizenship undertaken by the Franco-German Youth Office, Romulus Rusan, writer, on the importance of oral history in the transmission between generations, Felipe Criado Boado on the memory of sites, memory in archaeology and its role in the construction of European identity and finally Ouidad Tebbaa on citizenship in the Mediterranean region and the example of the garden of Marrakech.

Les intervenants étaient d'horizons divers, géographiquement et professionnellement, mais tous se sont accordés pour nous montrer qu'informer et former le citoyen est une activité nécessaire pour qu'il prenne pleinement conscience et possession de sa citoyenneté et ce dans les meilleures conditions possibles.