Author: Eustory-Blog

Thursday was both a busy and exciting day for us, participants at the Eustory Berlin Summer Academy. After two days of filming around the clock, cutting, editing and adding special effects, we could proudly present the final version of our short films to each other. The result was, without modesty, amazing and you will also be able to check out here our five productions very soon. In the afternoon we got more and more excited and restless, as our final interview from this academy, this time with the Polish EP Róża Thun was about to take place at the Eustory headquarters in Berlin. Mrs Thun was flying all the way from Brussels especially to meet our group and share with us her experience on totalitarian systems and the concept of freedom. In a conference room that was overlooking the Brandenburg Gate, we sat at the discussion table, feeling quite nervous and important, since we all had  big name tags in front of us. The interview went smoothly and most of us got a chance to ask his/her question in order to explore the state of things in totalitarian Poland and get some insight into Róża Thun’s  experiences in the opposition movement back then. We also wanted to know more about the European Union’s mechanisms of integration and to what extent democracy and freedom are taken for granted in today’s world. There was even time to show two of our film productions which left quite an effect on Mrs. Thun, for whom the concepts of freedom and repression are still very meaningful and touching today. After taking a very nice group picture in front of the Brandenburg gate, during which we learned to say cheese in 15 different languages, we all headed for the restaurant to have our farewell dinner and share our impressions on what has been the Berlin Summer Academy 2010. The night seemed still young when we came back to wanseeFORUM, around midnight, and some had the idea of a party very clear in their heads. But in the end there was no big party, since people were still writing messages for the letter box and trying to stay awake with the help of cola and ping-pong. Sadness was in the air as the first departures for the airport started as early as 5 a.m., and one by one the participants said goodbye, sometimes with tears in their eyes, and headed home with one thought only: to meet again sometime soon, if possible at another Eustory academy. And, of course, come back to Berlin for some sight-seeing!

So many creative posters have been assembled, that they really should be shown  here as well. In the collage below you can see both presentations of the participants’ competition entries as well as posters which were designed for yesterday’s presentation.

After two days of field work in Berlin we needed one day to share our results with the other groups. Since we had worked hard on our posters the night before, we used the time in the morning for making the last preparations. During a two hour meeting all of us had the opportunity to capture the attention of the others by presenting the stories of their interviewees. Even in the lunch break the students were very busy with writing a summary for each interview. These are going to be reviewed and published on our blog as well. Later, the task was to think more abstractly and find out the mechanisms of repression both in the interviews and in our personal life, which some found quite difficult. But after this we began with the most interactive part of our seminar: the work with different media. We are now split up into three new groups, one preparing a roundtable discussion for Thursday when we will meet Róża Thun, and the other two producing a short movie while working with different media. At the last get together of the day the students showed incredible energy and humour which they later used during a spontaneous jam session in the main hall.

If yesterday was tiresome, today it was going to be even more: We set off to Berlin around 8 a.m., with a another round of interviews and a city-tour on our agenda. After having a first go at bringing the past back with the help of questions, we felt more confident for our next session of interviews. Our partners for today’s conversations again had very interesting stories to tell and we were there to listen: Feri Kopán, a Geography and French teacher from Romania recounted his time as a young student under the communist regime. We met him at his office where he works for a foundation coordinating youth projects all over the world. For the Spanish interview, one of the teams was invited to the Spanish embassy in Berlin. Although the surroundings were quite formal and serious, talking with Aurora Minguez made us laugh. She made us look at repression in totalitarian Spain from a feminist point of view. Cliewe Juritza and Mike Fröhnel gave their interview at the former secret Stasi prison in Hohenschönhausen. Both were former political prisoners of the GDR and could show us around the prison. Nevertheless the interviews put emphasis on their youth and “free life“. As Mrs. Blumensath in the first Polish interview, Wintold Kaminsky stressed out the impact that migration had on his life, rather than considering himself a victim of socialist repression. In the afternoon we finally had the chance to do some sight-seeing in Berlin. There were so many things to see, that a guided bus tour seemed to be the most appropriate solution. Apart from the must see sites in Berlin, we visited the biggest Soviet memorial, drove through the leftist district of Kreuzberg and passed by the Charlottenburg gate. In the evening, although quite exhausted we still found resources to work on the presentations of the interviews. Some didn’t finish until midnight.