On May 18, 2024, at the Summit Events Conference Center, Red Hall, took place the Award Ceremony for the student-researchers of the Project “History Competition in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine 4.0″. The project is a complex, two-year activity, which has reached the fourth edition and includes activities for teachers and students. All four editions are financially supported by the German Federal Foreign Office. Around 120 people – students, teachers, representatives of the Ministry of Education and Research, members of the jury, members of the implementation team – attended the event.
In the Republic of Moldova the competition was held under the theme ” Dismantling Propaganda in 20th Century History – A Call for Peace and Development”, giving young people and teachers the opportunity to independently research local history and present their work in creative formats – in this edition in the form of an essay and poster – using lesser-utilized local sources. Student research is intended to develop critical thinking in the study of history. Students have explored how propaganda has influenced historical discourse and the everyday lives of people and communities. The young researchers chose topics through which they demonstrated a better understanding of human values such as integrity, peace, cooperation, free speech and others.
A total of 76 entries were submitted, presented individually (54 entries) or in groups (22 entries). The total number of participants is 110 students: from secondary school classes – 39 students, from high school classes – 71 students. The number of tutors is 36 teachers from 35 educational institutions from various localities of Moldova.
The jury evaluated the entries in two separate age categories: middle school and high school. In middle school, first place went to a student from the “M. Eminescu” Gymnasium from Baimaclia, Cantemir, and in high school – a group of three students from “M. Eminescu” High School from Ungheni. In second place in each age category was a student from Gymnasium No. 2 from Drochia and from the Center of Excellence in Construction, respectively. The 3rd prize went to another student from Drochia Gymnasium, and in the high school category – to the authors of three works from the “Aristotel” Theoretical High School from Chisinau, “George Călinescu” Theoretical High School from Chisinau and “Emil Nicula” Theoretical High School from Mereni, Anenii Noi. 26 works received a mention diploma.
During the activity, the posters of the 27 winning entries were exhibited to the public, which could be “voted” by the public, and at the end the top three entries received prizes.
Following a further pre-selection, four of the winners will participate in an international history camp in Riga, Latvia in October. And a group of teachers will take part in a History Teachers’ Academy in the fall, where they will discuss practical and theoretical aspects of approaching recent history.
In general, the issue of the manipulation of facts and the intrusion of propaganda in historical research in the 20th and early 21st century proved to be a complicated area for students and teachers. Perhaps precisely for this reason the number of participants and papers was somewhat smaller than in other editions. All the more precious are the efforts and results of the participants in the competition.
The project is implemented by the Institute for International Cooperation of the German Adult Education Association (DVV International) in cooperation with ANTIM – National Association of Young Historians of the Republic of Moldova, with the support of the Körber-Stiftung Foundation.
