First Franco-German teacher training for visiting the former concentration camp Natzweiler with school classes

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Guillaume d`Andlau (Director of the CERD), Dorothee Roos (former Chairwoman of the VGKN, Chairwoman of the Neckarelz Memorial), photo: @ Anja König (VGKN)

The training in November 2019 offered colleagues from both countries assistance in preparing and conducting a visit to the main camp memorial site. In most cases they have to take on the role of memorial site guides themselves – only some of the visitor classes can be pedagogically supervised by CERD staff.

The in-service training at the Centre européen du résistant déporté (CERD) provided 34 bilingual teachers (17 German and 17 French) with ideas, methods and materials. The focus was on the activation of the students.

It is conceivable that preparation in the classroom will enable students to lead their own learning group on specific topics at the Natzweiler site. Romain Blandre (Mulhouse) presented such a model. Dr. Eva Bernhardt`s (Heidelberg) principle of “black boxes” works in exactly the opposite way. In these boxes the young people find materials to work independently at the stations in the former camp area. In the subsequent lessons, they are then given follow-up and more in-depth training. Previously, René Chevrolet, educational assistant at CERD, had provided scientific input on the history of the camp.

Since the feedback from the participants was positive, the training should be offered again in 2020. However, this had to be postponed for the time being due to the corona pandemic.

Photos: @ Anja König (VGKN)