Lost in Transition - Transition Dialogue

“Lost in Transition?” is a multinational project of historical-political education with a focus on the collapse of the Soviet Union and the years of transition that followed. The focus is on multi-perspective work with contemporary witnesses from Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Poland and Ukraine. We want to make marginalized experiences visible in the context of history – beyond popular narratives and well-known historical data. We focus on countries, people and stories that were on the periphery of world history and are still directly affected by its events today.

On this website you will find a contemporary witness database with interviews, information on the historical context and teaching materials for educators – both on the historical epoch and on working with contemporary witnesses in general.

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 already been providing key momentum for a local reappraisal of the transition years in several countries in Eastern Europe since 2015.

Within the framework of “Lost in Transition?”, Austausch e.V., together with its partners from Belarus, Georgia, Poland, and Ukraine, intend to:

break down singular narratives, uncover hidden conflicts, and bring different social groups and generations into constructive dialogue nationally and internationally
integrate various discourses and work with witnesses of the transformation period to create tangible classical and non-formal educational offers
make new forms of learning available via the Internet, with a focus on civil society actors dealing with transformation

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) and Perspektive (Germany).

Teaching materials

Countries

Topics

Eyewitnesses

These eyewitnesses represent different communities of civil society actors in the late 1980s, early 1990s. They attended a preparatory seminar, where they were trained in biographical narration and the recalling of personal memories.

The videos are suitable for preparing a meeting with eyewitnesses or for lessons on the topic of transition and civic engagement in general. They have been used by educators from Ukraine, Georgia and Belarus within the “Lost in Transition?” project.