Fifty young Europeans to discuss regional history and identity at the Second Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue in Olsztyn
From 2 to 9 September 2015, the Polish city of Olsztyn welcomed fifty young Europeans from 19 countries for the Second Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue. The topic of the youth dialogue was “Homeland reconsidered – new loyalties and redefined identities in Europe” During the one-week programme young Europeans aged between 16-19 met in Olsztyn to discover the heritage of World War II in the region of Warmia and Mazury and to attempt to transfer this experience to the broader Baltic Sea Region.
The young participants together took part in the lectures and workshops focused especially on the modern history of Warmia and Mazury (lecture: “Since the World War II to the transformation in Poland – people, events, landscape, on example of the history of Warmia and Mazury”) and the issue of the regional identity (workshops with the elements of lecture: “What is regional identity? Impact of the past on current identification processes, on the example of Warmia and Mazury”, “Polish Baltic Sea Identity: A Work In Progress”).
Divided into three groups (the film group, the photo group and the group of interviewers), the participants continued their work by personal research for the phenomenons, responsible for creating the regional identity. Their programme contained the interviews with the history eye witnesses and the average citizens of Olsztyn, walk through the multicultural Olsztyn and two parallel study tours: “Multicultural traces in the landscape” and “Baltic landscape” during which the participants were searching for “traces” related to the multicultural heritage in the region of Warmia and Mazury.
The one-week programme was complemented by the interactive sessions with the representatives of the local government, the civil society and the Euroregion Baltic.
The results of the Second Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue were documented in form of video, photography, posters and a daily blog. The multimedia presentation “REGIONAL EYE” was officially presented on 8 September 2015 at the “Museum of Modernity” in Olsztyn.
The Second Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue was initiated and financed by the Koerber Foundation and the Council of the Baltic Sea States with additional funding from EUSBSR. The programme in Olsztyn was ran in partnership with the Warmian-Masurian Voivoidship and was implemented by the Borussia Foundation in Olsztyn.
