We present our annual project "Historical images and contemporary witnesses" and offer a workshop for all interested parties, especially educators.
The project
The Kempowski Archive Rostock. Ein bürgerliches Haus e.V. is planning the school project "Images of History and Contemporary Witnesses" in cooperation with the Junges Literaturhaus Rostock in the period from March to December 2026. The target group are school classes from the 9th grade onwards, who interview contemporary witnesses to GDR history in new development areas using a questionnaire. The pupils deal directly and personally with the history of the GDR in Rostock. At the same time, we want to collect, document and preserve the memories of living contemporary witnesses.
Author and journalist Jochen Schmidt is supervising the project and is offering three face-to-face meetings for the schools, which are still to be arranged. He has already held a writing workshop on eyewitness work in Berlin-Marzahn. This resulted in the publication "Plankton fischen in Marzahn: 80 Fragen - 1000 Antworten | Kleine Geschichten aus vielen Leben". We would also like to publish the collected testimonies and interviews at the end of the project.
Registration: Interested schools can now register for the project at kipro@literaturhaus-rostock.de
If you have any questions about the project, please contact:
kempowski-archiv-rostock@t-online.de, 0381-2037540
Kick-off event
On March 17, 2026, we would like to present the project "Images of History and Contemporary Witnesses" and offer an introductory workshop on contemporary witness work. All interested parties are welcome, especially teachers from the 9th grade onwards, professionals from child and youth work and representatives from the new development areas. Author and journalist Jochen Schmidt will introduce the project and the method of interviewing contemporary witnesses and provide insights into the Marzahn writing project. Afterwards, we want to put together a list of questions tailored to Rostock that the students can use for the interviews.
Date: 17.03.2026, 3-5 pm
Location: Peter-Weiss-Haus Rostock
Participation is free of charge.
Registration at: kipro@literaturhaus-rostock.de
Further information at: https://weltenschreiber-mv.de/welten/fortbildungen
