In 1961, the French Ministry of Education set up a competition on the teaching of history, the history of memories, resistance and deportation. This year, it was introduced to students in French schools in North America, with the theme, “The End of the War: operations, repressions, deportations and the end of the Third Reich (1944-1945).” Eight enthusiastic students embarked on the adventure with me, despite their busy schedule, Brevet preparations, and only two months to complete the work.
The project brought the students to together to explore and deepen their understanding of World War 2 history, and to learn, from the perspectives of those who lived it, about a harrowing year in the war as the Nazis struggled to maintain their hold on power.
Writes the student editorial team in its opening letter to readers, “We wanted to report on the end of the conflict, reflect on the sometimes dark aspects of human nature, to better understand, to take a deeper look into our shared history, to better confront the future and never forget.”
“Our class’s group chose to make our project into a newspaper, so we each had to break into groups of two and work on articles about a certain aspect of the war,” says Henderson. “I’ve been a member of the Lynx (school newspaper) for years so I was used to writing articles for a tight deadline, but I was not used to having to do it with a partner and with so many different resources.”
“I wanted to learn more about the period, for various reasons including the Brevet, as well as understanding part of my family’s history,” says Arthur. “The most important element of this project to me was the process of researching both with the group and for the group, bringing our own habits, our own techniques on the table and letting all of us decide which to use, and which not.”
“History/geography is my favorite subject…This project allowed me to learn a lot more about this time period than I ever thought I would,” adds Mia. “I’m proud of our work and from what my peers have told me, they are, too.”
A big congratulations to them for their commitment and their work that you can find here:
Newspaper team: Amara, Olivia, Arthur, Mia, Samuel, Henderson, Alessandro and Chloé
About the Author :
Sebastien Callegari has been a history/geography teacher at the Lycée since 2014. He has involved students in France’s academic competition on the Resistance and Deportation for years and was thrilled to engage his students at the Lycée in it for the first time this year. In 1995, he helped write the academic volume, La libération des camps et le retour des déportés (The Liberation of the Camps and the Return of the Deported) under the direction of Marie-Anne Matard-Bonucci and Edouard Lynch. The book researched the history of the deportation of French jews to concentration camps in Germany and the return of survivors to France after the war.