Breaching the Walls. We do need education! is an international project, promoted by 6 European partners and winner of the European Remembrance 2019 call. Our aim is to investigate the memory and historical awareness of citizens about the fall of the Berlin Wall, the democratic revolutions in Eastern Europe and their impact on the European integration process after 1989. We will therefore collect the memories of European citizens, aware of the fundamental role played by memory – and its necessary historical-critical reworking – in actively investigating the past.

Breaching the walls not only promotes a collection and study of oral testimonies, but aims at the direct involvement of European citizens, with particular attention to the younger generations. The objective is to provide them with the necessary interpretative tools to understand not only the historical significance of the fall of the Berlin Wall, but also to reflect critically on contemporary European dynamics, characterized by growing social and political inequalities. The analysis of memories and their artistic reworking will stimulate the creation of a transgenerational bridge, able to link historical memory and contemporary society, thus promoting the values of a fully aware and participatory European citizenship.

Breaching the Walls is promoted by the Gramsci Emilia-Romagna Foundation, as lead partner, together with 5 partners: the University of Bielefeld, the Institute of Contemporary History in Prague, the Municipality of Tirana, the Past/Not Past Association in Paris and the History Meeting House in Warsaw. Six heterogeneous partners that, coming from national contexts with different histories, are able to offer a plural narrative about the events of 1989 and their role in the processes of European integration.