“Lost in Transition?” is a multinational project of civic and historical education on the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent years of transition. The focus is on multi-perspective work with contemporary witnesses from Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Poland and Ukraine offering perspectives that go beyond popular narratives and widely accepted historical accounts. In three project phases we recollected eyewitness stories and created teaching materials for three different subject areas: The emergence of civil society in the late 1980ies and early 1990ies, the situation and perspective of vulnerable and marginalized groups during the transition period and “Eyewitnesses for Democracy” – a wider view on transition taking into account the last 35 years of change, challenges and activism in connections with today’s crises and new transitions.
On this website you will find a contemporary witness database with interviews, contextual historical information, and teaching resources for educators. These materials cover both the historical period and the methods for working with contemporary witnesses in educational settings.
Through “Lost in Transition?”, Austausch e.V., in collaboration with its partners, aims to:
- Challenge singular historical narratives, uncover hidden conflicts, and foster constructive dialogue across social groups and generations, both nationally and internationally.
- Integrate diverse discourses and collaborate with witnesses of the transition period to create tangible educational offerings.
- Provide innovative online learning tools, with a focus on civil society actors and vulnerable groups during the transition period, while connecting past events to today’s ongoing transformations and challenges.
The three stages of project
Eyewitnesses
This eyewitness database features video interviews with individuals who witnessed the transition following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, from Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, and Poland. The collection is divided into three distinct project phases:
- 2021: Pioneers of Civil Society
- 2022-2023: Perspectives of and on Vulnerable Groups and Experiences
- 2024-2025: Eyewitnesses of Democracy, including activists from the democratic movements of the 2000s.
These videos are suitable for use in educational settings and for preparing eyewitness meetings with students and young people. Each interview is accompanied by teaching materials on various topics.
The project “Lost in Transition?” ties in with the work of the project network “Transition Dialogue”, with which Austausch e.V. and its partners have been providing key input for how to deal with the transition period in the field of education and beyond in several countries in Eastern Europe since 2015.
The project is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and the German Federal Foundation „Aufarbeitung“ and implemented by Austausch e.V. in cooperation with Congress of Cultural Activists (Ukraine), Sovlab (Georgia), SIQA (Georgia), Hazarashen (Armenia), Human Doc (Poland), MamPrawo (Poland) and Perspektive3 (Germany).
Partners
Partners
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