Ei-iE

The recent arrest of Radovan Karadzic, the former Serbian leader charged with instigating ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, aroused nationalist demonstrations of support. This shows, if there was any need, that historic injustices can be repeated if not properly understood. It is therefore necessary to agree upon and to teach a common version of history, with a view to ending resentment and other tensions between states or regions of the same country.

The European press has noted that Karadzic’s arrest coincided with a new government in Belgrade, which is aspiring to join the European Union. While the Balkan conflict is very recent, in fact, European integration and the passing of more than 60 years since the Second World War have enabled the renewal and achievement of projects for bi-national history textbooks. Thus, since last year, French and German school children have been able to learn from a common textbook entitled History: Europe and the World from the Congress of Vienna to 1945. National teaching unions approve of this without reservation. On the French side, Jérôme Crozat, communication officer at the UNSA Education union, calls this “an impeccable initiative.” So what is the aim of these works? They aim to tell the history of the 20th century from another perspective, which is less nationalistic and ethnocentric. However, Crozat said, the scientific method of writing is not the same in France and Germany, obliging writers to review their way of teaching history, combining their methodology, vision and state of mind with that of the other. Such a book benefits school children most of all because most students are unaware of the history of their neighbours. So this kind of textbook gives them the option of seeing the other side’s point of view. Claire Krepper, National Education Secretary for SE-UNSA, adds that her union has an interest in any initiative that helps bring about dialogue and reconciliation between peoples. Alice Cardoso, who is responsible for curriculum issues at SNES-FSU, notes the reaction of a group of former Resistance fighters, who wrote to say they were horrified at the portrayal of the war and Nazi Germany in the textbook. But the letter raised more “about the problem of competing memories than a concern for historical objectivity.” Across the Rhine, the German union VBE also supports the textbook. Heinz Wagner, head of the School and Training Unit, appreciates being able to “consider history from different perspectives,” adding that “it is difficult, but it has to be done.” He finds the book important in helping to build a European identity and says he is confident it will be a success and widely used. This common textbook is set to be used in all German regions. For her part, Marianne Demmer, member of the Federal Bureau of GEW, says the books are essential to peace and international understanding, as they help us to better understand the “other.” On the strength of this experience, common history textbooks will soon be used in both Germany and its neighbour country of Poland. Thomas Strobel works at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, an institute that specialises in comparing international societal views of the self, “other” and enemy as conveyed through school textbooks and other educational media. He says that the involvement of the German regions and Polish government in political and scientific commissions bodes well for the success of the project. He said the defeat in Poland of the Kaczynski government in the autumn 2007 elections has created a new and more favourable political climate for the project. A first school textbook is now being discussed. Another is set for release within three years. Then a third opus should cover the history of the French Revolution to the present day. “There are many things to discuss, such as the expulsion of German citizens living in Poland after the Second World War,” says Strobel. “It is a subject that is often debated and one that is very emotionally charged between the two countries. Most historians agree. But public opinion can lead to a false idea of historical reality.” From a scientific and practical point of view, publishing houses in Germany are granted a lot of influence and freedom when producing school textbooks. In Poland, however, the text is sent with the images and the illustrations to the publishing houses.  By means of various resolutions, Education International has given strong backing to initiatives of this kind. The resolution on education for peace, taken in 2004, commits EI “to promote education for peace and intercultural learning as the best antidote to racist and fundamentalist phenomena in order to prevent social conflicts and the recourse to social violence.” In 2007, the resolution on the strategic role of educators confirmed “the importance of professional and academic freedom for teachers, with the result that teaching is independent from any political, economic, ideological or religious influence, in order to preserve young peoples' right to and democratic exercise of critical spirit and creativity.” This takes on renewed importance when problems appear in the editing of bi-national textbooks. Take, for example, the case of Serbia and Montenegro. For her article published on the Transition Online website, US journalist Andrea Gregory interviewed Igor Milosevic, executive director of the Association for Democratic Prosperity, based in the capital of Montenegro, Podgorica. In Milosevic’s view, “this is a political game. The conquerors write the history books.” Following the Franco-German experience, he is convinced that neighbouring countries can agree to a text on their history. He adds: “We should probably decide on what has happened. Every student in the Balkans should learn the one true history, as difficult as that may be to achieve.” But this not only applies to Europe. The shared history of Asia is sometimes just as painful. In 2001, the EI World Congress reminded the Japanese government: “that these days the international trend is to reflect on one’s own history of wars and violence and make efforts to create a new peaceful age…. We further urge the government to immediately correct such history textbooks that glorify its wars and colonial rule while distorting the historical truth and positively participate in the international trend to bring about peace.” In 2005 and 2006, Japan also drew fire from the Chinese and South Korean governments for revising Japanese school textbooks. The Chinese government accused its Japanese counterpart of “exonerating Japanese militarism, embellishing its aggressions and even openly preaching about the accomplishments of aggression.” They were mainly criticised for excluding the term “invasion” when describing Imperial Japan’s military occupation, for passages on its army’s former sex slaves and for the disputed number of victims in the siege of Nanking in 1937. Since then, the two great Asian neighbours have set the goal of publishing in 2008 the results of a joint study on their common history. EI supports peace education in all parts of the world, and the desire for reconciled nations to move forward through concerted action, fostering peaceful relations while distancing themselves from resurgent nationalism. By Claude Carroué This article was published in Worlds of Education, Issue 27, September 2008.