The Transition Dialogue network is committed to the critical evaluation of the period of transition from communism from 1989 onwards and the ways of coming to terms with its political consequences in the present-day societies of our participating project countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine.  

As practitioners of history and civic education, we focus on public discourse surrounding this period, particularly on how it is taught in schools, and examine the ways in which this era – already a part of contemporary history – continues to shape narratives today. Below you will find information about our past and current projects. Please check also our website  and our Facebook page for updates on the project.

Transition Dialogue 2022-2024

Transition Dialogue 2022-2024 seeks to continue the work of its predecessor – Transition Dialogue 2019-2021. As practitioners of history and civic education, this network is committed to the critical evaluation of the period of transition in Central and Eastern Europe after communism from 1989 onward. It investigates the ways of coming to terms with the consequences societies in participating project countries – Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine – are facing today.

The project aims to:

• shape public discourse by making visible and tangible the respective discourses on national and transnational levels,
• counteract generalizations, and strengthen an open approach through multifaceted and differentiated discourses on chances and challenges of this period;
• Europeanising transition memories and narratives through the specific linking of Western, Central, and Eastern European perspectives;
• produce and disseminate the internationally applicable materials of the preliminary project for civic education in this matter.

Activities

1. “Transition Academy” programme: Development of training for educators from the formal and non-formal education sector on how to teach the history of transition. The aim is to improve history teaching by identifying, comparing, and reporting on existing images of the history of transition in the project countries;

2. “Transition Network” programme:

• Transition talks: Actors from formal and non-formal education will including museum education, civil society, etc. will network with each other, internationally and with selected decision-makers and be brought into an exchange in Transition Talks.
• Places of transformation: At selected sites, project and educational work at the international, national, and local levels are to be connected to develop further material for education on transformation after 1989.

Materials

1. "Teaching History of Transition in Europe – Training for Educators". The training builds on the methods and content developed during the project work of 2019-2021.

2. Joint online exhibition from “transformation sites” that will serve as further material to the educational work.

Transition Dialogue 2019-2021

1989/1991 marks the beginning of the transition from communism in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Meanwhile, a generation has come of age that has no direct memory neither of communism nor of transition. Their knowledge and perceptions of this recent past are mostly based on stories of the older generations and on politicized and instrumentalized discourses. Against this background and as practitioners of history and civic education, we – partners from Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine – have taken a closer look at two of the areas that mostly contribute to the formation of knowledge and perceptions of that recent past – the public discourse and teaching of transition to get to a more multifaceted and nuanced understanding of the impact of transition on societies in CEE and how history and civic education can be used to help deal with it. 


Activities

1. Mapping textbooks on how the period of transition is taught in school curricula and textbooks in the seven partner countries.
2. Mapping the public discourse on the transition through different local events in the seven partner countries.


Materials

1. Handbook: “Teaching history of transition in Europe: A handbook for history and civic education”. This publication contains a) background on the concept of transition and its ongoing developments, b) seven mappings of public discourse, school curricula, and textbooks from the seven partner countries, c) hands-on teaching materials including both, lesson plans with detailed instructions as well as methodological approaches to address blind spots and neglected topics and to deal with controversial issues in the classroom. 

2.Due to the pandemic planned in-person events to map the public discourse had to be adapted to online formats and resulted in a series of formats like discussions, interviews, podcasts, and videos available at: https://transition-dialogue.org/stories/.

3. The Sofia Platform Foundation, together with our expert Prof. Momchil Metodiev, developed the short documentary series Sofia, 1989: In the footsteps of a revolution (available in Bulgarian and English at: http://sofiaplatform.org/documentary-series-sofia-1989-in-the-footsteps-of-a-revolution/). Dealing with the history of the communist past as well as the transition to democracy has always been a challenging topic for the Bulgarian society. By using topography and witnesses of historical events as tools for storytelling we offer a more accessible source for history teaching to catch the interest of the young and the more experienced ones in dealing with this past.


Kick-off meeting, July 2019, Berlin


International partners meeting, November 2019, Sofia

Within two days, we shared and discussed the preliminary results of mapping how the transition is taught in schools. We also examined the ways in which the period is represented in public discourse in each country. We compared the similarities and differences among the participating countries and identified gaps and areas for improvement in teaching the transition to today's students - a generation that has no personal memory of either communism or the transition. A special moment of our meeting was "The Freedom Tour" in Sofia - a walking tour organized by one of our leading experts, historian Prof. Momchil Metodiev from New Bulgarian University. Through his narratives, he presented significant historical locations from the transition period and helped us delve into the atmosphere of the 1990s in Bulgaria.


Prof. Momchil Metodiev is leading "The Freedom Tour"

Organization leading the project: Austausch e.V. (https://austausch.org/en/)

Out partners on this project are: 
        

The project is funded by German Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb))