Western European students know very little about the history of their Eastern neighbours. And when it comes to the Balkans, it's even more striking. Report from a history class in a Brussels secondary school. Students have heard of Kosovo, but much less of the Bosnian war. What are their perceptions? How to bridge the gap?
Feature story of 4'
Full transcript of commentary and interviews
00 :07 A history professor reads a text on Hungary and the Czech Republic after WWII. Cutaways of the school park and the blackboard in the classroom (Speaking French)« L’état d’esprit de la population est devenu très mauvais à cause de ces incidents … Une femme dans la rue m’a dit aujourd’hui alors que l’armée rouge était revenue cette nuit à son domicile violant les femmes – dans un sens c’était mieux pour nous avec les SS, au moins de ce point de vue ils fichaient la paix aux femmes… » English translation : « The state of mind of the population became very bad because of these incidents… A woman in the street told me today that the Red Army came back to her home last evening to rape the women. She says in a way it was better when the SS were there…at least they let women in peace.” 00 :31 : Cutaways of school pupils Off : These are the last days of school for the students of the Lycée Emile Jacqmain in Brussels. Their last history course before the holidays, and before starting university. At a stone’s throw of the school is the European Parliament. But this doesn’t mean the students are experts in European history. They don’t know much about the former Eastern European bloc, and two hours per week will not change this. We visited two different classes, one with latin and greek orientation, the other mathematics. There are differences in the way history is perceived, as we will see. 01 :02 Question : « If I ask you to talk about communism, what does it mean to you ? “ 01 :05S Silence of the students 01 :20 Cutaways of the European Parliament Off : Members of the European Parliament have decided to react. They want history lessons to look beyond state borders. A way to open the minds of young Europeans, and to reinforce the feeling of European unity. Christopher Beazley, a Briton who used to be history teacher and is now member of the European People’s Party, has taken the initiative to introduce a European dimension in the history curricula in primary and secondary schools. He thinks its essential to shape European citizenship. 01:42: Cutaways of Christopher Beazley, Member of the European Parliament (EPP) 01:46 Interview Christopher Beazley : “Just as there stories, legends about your own country, it should be set in the European context, so that later in life people don’t feel that European cooperation is something strange or new or unnatural or difficult to understand, it should be a part of our identity, in the sense that we have many identities, we have a national identity, but also we are proud of our town or our village or our region. And also at the European level there is so much we share in common across Europeand I think that if we don’t have it as part of formal instruction in schools you are depriving students of the opportunity of making their own judgments” 02 :32 Cutaways of students in classroom Off : Indeed, there is a lot of work to do… young Brusselsstudents have somewhat vague ideas about the European construction and EU Enlargement. On the former Eastern bloc, they have difficulties to overcome stereotypes. 02 :42 Interview with students « I think there will always be Eastern and Western Europebecause the cultures are too different, maybe i twill improve with time but… » « I have the impression that they are poor. For example some of them come to Belgiumto look for jobs, so I suppose the situation there is not really top…” 02:59 Christopher Beazley “It was one of the Soviet Union’s greatest propaganda success that in the west many felt that this was a natural division there was nothing we could do about it and therefore the degree of ignorance has increased, and of course the Soviet Union ceased to exist a long time ago but it still remains in people’s minds that there is this form of division, which is quite wrong.” 03:23 Cutaways of students in the class Off : When asked about Yugoslavia, these youngsters of 18 have only a vague idea about Kosovo. Even the Bosnian war is not familiar for them. But they would like to know more… 03 :35 Interviews with students « It’s Kosovo, it’s the last war on European soil, it evokes Milosevic, it’s not really nice… » «Did you hear about the war in Bosniain the nineties? » « Less » 03 :53 Cutaways of the office of C. Beazley Off : For Beazley, it’s sad that only the dark part of the history of this region is told. He recalls that it was not always like that in the Balkans… 04:02 Christopher Beazley : “It’s not just within the Balkans but maybe for the whole of Europethat there should be not just an understanding of the great powers: France, Germany, Britain, Italy... the Baltic region, the Balkans it’s another example should also very much be part of our general knowledge. I think that if you’d ask most people in my country about the Balkans, they would know series of events, many which were based on conflicts, the beginning of the first world war and Sarajevo e.g. But if you have only one or two very dramatic violent events, it gives a false impression of what the society and culture has been throughout the centuries” 04 :53 Cutaways of professor Off : The professor of the youngsters we met explains why the level of knowledge about the European neighbours is so low. There is not enough time to teach all this. The history of other European countries, like the Scandinavian countries for example, is almost never told. For him, the only solution in the current situation, would be to create another separate course. The history course is “overbooked.” 05 :13 Interview professor Marc Devriend : “Inevitably today the culture to which our students belong will remain central, and the other cultures will appear on the periphery.” 05 :26 : Cutaways Sarajevo and Belgrade Off : The history of the Balkan conflicts is certainly a difficult question when we know that these countries have themselves not always developed a satisfactory version for their own students. 05 :34 Cutaways European institutions in Brussels Off : For the moment, the Beazley initiative, although interesting, remains only a suggestion made to European Member States. An idea that will require time, energy and good will to become reality. 05 :49 END OF TRANSMISSION | 
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