REMEMBERING: ACTIVITY ‘A’ (Instructions)
REMEMBERING: ACTIVITY 'A' (Instructions)
Remembering A Entire Activity
CURRICULUM LINKS
Citizenship (KS3) / (KS4)
THEMES (Activities ‘A’ and ‘B’)
Remembering conflict
Commemoration and community
The reality and impact of being involved in conflict
Reconciliation, forgiveness, understanding and equality
SKILLS (Activities ‘A’ and ‘B’)
Debating issues
Decision making
Planning an event
GOALS
Activity A
Students will understand the importance of ‘remembering’ to people who were alive during the Second World War, and will be able to identify many different forms of commemoration. The selected extracts will raise awareness of the variety and extent of remembering and will highlight related issues like reconciliation, friendship and community.
Activity B
Students should appreciate the relevance of historical events to our lives today, at home in the UK and internationally. Students may be surprised or inspired by veterans’ messages for young people, and the activity may challenge preconceived ideas about older people.
RESOURCES
For activity ‘A’ you will need to download the following resources (available to download separately or as part of the entire activity):
PART ONE:
- Remembering Setting the Scene (one copy each)
- Remembering Who What and How
- Commemoration in pictures
PART TWO:
- International remembering
- Netherlands remembering
- Schladming remembering
- France remembering
- Italy remembering
- UK remembering
PART THREE:
DESCRIPTION
This activity uses veterans’ experiences of events commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, and veterans’ comments on how the war is remembered, to initiate discussion about why we should remember the war. The activity is divided into three parts, which can be carried out over two sessions, but teachers may decide to combine Part One with just one of the subsequent sections.
PART ONE
1. Hand out the introductory document ‘Remembering Setting the Scene’ for the class to read.
2. Ask the class to mind map everything they can think of to do with commemoration – you might find it useful to structure their thoughts according to the following headings:
‘Remembering - What?’ (What is remembered – events, statistics etc)
‘Remembering - Who?’ (Who is remembered; as well as by whom)
‘Remembering - How?’ (How commemoration takes place, including what happens, where, when, and different forms of commemoration.)
Carry out this first task as a whole class, asking students to write their ideas on the board. Don’t spend too long on it - it is anticipated that subsequent tasks will expand the students’ understanding of commemoration by engaging with veterans’ extracts. Leave room on the board for further ideas on commemoration later in the activity.
3. Hand out the table ‘Remembering Who What and How’, and the photos from the document ‘Commemoration in pictures’. The table is a collection of quotes from reflective questionnaires that Second World War veterans completed after making return visits to areas they served in overseas, as part of the 60th anniversary commemoration of the end of the war. The quotes are organised into columns to help students expand their understanding of different forms and methods of commemoration. Ask students to circle any words in their table that relate to the headings (‘What?’ ‘Who?’ ‘How?’). Then add any further ideas to the board, taken from the table and from the pictures of commemorative events and structures.
Tips for teachers:
Encourage students to be as broad as possible in their definition of commemoration. Students might not initially identify museums, or preserved buildings / parts of buildings as a form of remembering, but might be prompted to do so by the commemoration pictures. Students might not initially include locals, veterans or children as people who take part in commemoration. They might not initially think that acts of reconciliation and forgiveness can be included under ‘Remembering – How?’. The extracts from veterans should help students to expand their ideas about what commemoration is, and its numerous manifestations.
PART TWO
4. Split the class into 6 (or 9) groups for the following activity. Hand out one of the documents listed below to each group – if there are 9 groups the document ‘International remembering’ can be divided by giving one page to each of 3 groups. Ask each group to familiarise themselves with their extracts. The documents to use in this part are:
• International remembering
• Netherlands remembering
• Schladming remembering
• France remembering
• Italy remembering
• UK remembering
5. Instruct each group to prepare a short presentation about how commemoration takes place in the country(ies) featuring in their extracts. Students looking at ‘International remembering’ should try to portray the breadth and depth of remembering the Second World War around the world.
Ask students to decide if veterans’ views of commemoration in each country are predominantly positive, negative, or a mixture of both. Ask each group to choose one quote that they think best represents their extracts. It might just be one they particularly like, in which case they should share their reasons for liking it with the class.
Tips for teachers:
One of the documents, called ‘Schladming remembering’, focuses on an Austrian town where a Second World War Prisoner of War camp was situated. The case study has been included, not to suggest that wartime events are forgotten or veterans disrespected in Austria, but rather to introduce the concept that some communities affected by conflict might wish to forget bad memories and move on. It is important for the teacher to express this to the class.
6. Ask students to deliver their presentations. Each one should end by reading out the group’s selected quote. At the end, gather together the quotes to include in a commemoration wall display (see Remembering: Activity B Part One).
PART THREE
7. Hand out ‘Generations remembering’, which contains veterans’ observations about how people of different generations remember the Second World War. Page 2 contains two veterans’ quotes about young people in the UK. Ask the class to read all of the quotes, and then focus the remainder of the activity on the two main quotes (you might want to write them up on the board).
8. Initiate a class discussion about the two main quotes and the issues the quotes raise, using the question:
‘Should we continue to commemorate the Second World War, and if so, why?’
ACTIVITY EXTENSION
The Learning with Veterans resource ‘Remembering: Activity B’ includes resources and ideas for two optional extension activities. Option One is the creation of a commemorative wall display for the classroom, school hall or another community setting. Option Two is planning a commemorative event for the local community. Advice and guidance on working with veterans as part of any of these activities can be downloaded in the form of the Partnership Guidelines for Schools and Young People booklet from the Learning with Veterans ‘Guidelines for intergenerational work’ section of the Their Past Your Future website.
SUMMARY
There are many different ways to commemorate wartime events
Commemoration takes place in many countries, at many times
Commemoration can be communal or personal, public or private
Young people have an important role in the future of commemoration
Other website resources
Battle of Arnhem commemorative website
http://www.arnhem1944.com
Commonwealth War Graves Commission website
http://www.cwgc.org
Normandie Memoire - Normandy’s 60th anniversary D-Day commemorations website (English version available)
http://www.normandiememoire.com
The Royal British Legion website
http://www.britishlegion.org.uk
Veterans Affairs Canada website
http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca
