01-06 August 2017, Summer School, Braşov, Râşnov, Romania

 

Between the 1st and the 6th of August 2017 the members of the Stalin teams from 5 European countries participated at the summer school organised at Brasov & Rasnov, Romania.

According to the agenda, for five days they had the chance to take part in three working meetings, one public debate, two conferences, a Stalin town thematic tour and visits to the cultural and tourist objectives of the county of Brasov.

The programme started with a working meeting where the participating teams presented a synthesis of the activities carried out so far within the project and the significance of the project for their own organizations.

The thematic tour included visits to representative locations of the town of Brasov from the Stalinist period. This research visit gave the participants the possibility to discover both the similarities and the differences among their own Stalin towns. 10 specialists were involved in organizing the thematic tour and documentation visits.

The public debate organised on 03.08.2017 in the festivities hall of the Brasov County Council (former Justice Palace and administrative headquarters from the Stalinist days) was attended by 64 people (6 from Poland, 5 from Albania, 5 from Bulgaria, 2 from Hungary and 46 from Romania). The participants had the possibility to listen to the personal experiences of survivors of the Stalinist regime, citizens of Stalin town and talked about the need to rescue the historical memories and protect the heritage of the communist times. These discussions helped the participants to better understand the recent history and the way in which the Stalinist totalitarian regime deprived its citizens from their fundamental rights. All these lived histories and experiences related by the survivors were recorded and are part of the digital archive of the project and shall be used in the thematic exhibition.

The project I was a citizen of Stalin Town was promoted at the Rasnov 2017 Film and Histories Festival both directly, through a poster included in the festival programme and through its presentation at the festival summer school. Thus, through their participation at the conferences organised within the Rasnov 2017 Film and Histories Festival on topics such as populism, propaganda and the future of Europe, the members of the Stalin Cities teams had the chance to interact with the lecturers, renowned international figures and with other festival participants who were interested in the project I was a citizen of Stalin town.

“This summer school proved that we are united by common values, our passion for history and desire to rescue the historical testimonies about the time when our cities held the name of Stalin. After just one week spent together, the future of our project goes well beyond the initial objectives and I am certain that we are already one single Stalin team” – Nicolae Pepene, manager of the Brașov History Museum – project manager.

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