World heritage is the witness of history,
a part of the present and our message to the future.
Dr Sonja Draxler, a Graz university and high school teacher, was
the leading advocate of creating an opportunity, on the occasion
of the city's year as Cultural Capital of Europe, for young people
from around the world making up the next generation to turn their
attention to histories and cultures of their own hometowns and discuss
the future from a global perspective, and realized this project
with acall to the Cultural Capital of Europe Graz 2003 executive
committee and teaching staff at the schools concerned.
The old town of Graz, Austria, wrapped in a medieval aura and where
town and nature coexist within small confines, is registered as
a UNESCO World Heritage site. The schools of Graz hosted this meeting
for some 170 students, aged 16 to 20, and teachers from 16 countries
around the world stretching from Guatemala to Japan. The participants
gave presentations on such subjects as history, nature and culture,
both gaining knowledge of other cultures and providing deeper understanding
of their own.
Japanese high school students and teachers attended from Hiroshima,
Nara and Wakayama prefectures. While the teachers made advance visits
to Graz for discussions with the hosts, the students visited shrines
and temples, and conducted interviews with victims of wartime bombings
in their enthusiastic advance research. This activity led to an
poster exhibition depicting the results of the atomic bombing of
1945 at the school hosting the Hiroshima group in an effort to engage
with the history of Hiroshima with greater immediacy as a tragedy
of our shared planet. The groups' active involvement in the project
led to fruitful exchanges.
Dates: 11-19 June 2003
Hiroshima group host: BHAK Grazbachgasse
Nara and Wakayama groups host: LA f. Sozialberufe Odilienweg
Planning & organization: Dr Sonja Draxler, UNESCO,
Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft Steiermark,
Participants from Japan
 |
Hiroshima Group |
Teacher: Osamu Shinohara, Hiroshima Jogakuin University
Students: Mai Shinohara, Hiroshima Jogakuin High School,
and Sakiko Yoshida, Hiroshima Jogakuin High School@@@@
Hiroshima Group's Report |
 |
Wakayama Group |
Teacher: Hitomi Izunaka, Kishigawa High School
Students: Akiko Kurikawa, Hashimoto High School, and
Chihiro Yokoyama, Tanabe High School
Wakayama Group's Report |
 |
Nara Group |
Teacher: Misa Sochi, Koriyama High School
Students: Maiko Kanchiku, Koriyama High School, and Tomoko
Yamaguchi, Koriyama High School
Nara Group's Report |
Participant countries: Austria, Guatemala, Russia, Spain,
taly, France, Germany, Poland, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ukraine,
Hungary, Slovenia, Serbia, Great Britain, Japan
|
