Educational Media Research

Introduction

The second volume of the Franco-German History Textbook for the period1815-1945 is now available, two years after the publication of the first volumeon the post-1945 era. In the meantime, 80,000 copies of the latter have beensold on both sides of the Rhine; equally, the project’s originality and highquality are reflected by its widespread reception in the public sphere. Thehistory textbook is currently even being translated in Japan and Korea!Transfer opportunities are accumulating. One might ask to what extent theFranco-German project can be used to the benefit of the processes ofunderstanding and peacemaking in the aftermath of conflicts. In the lastfew years, other projects have evolved in the Balkans, the Middle East andEast Asia. It is not so much a matter of ‘joint educational works’, whichwould imply an adaptation of curricula on the part of both or several states;rather, these are ‘joint materials for teaching and learning’, intended tocontribute towards overcoming national or nationalistic approaches to historytuition. These materials mostly derive from social or university-basedinitiatives which act alongside – or sometimes against – governments, which ishow they differ from the Franco-German History Textbook.Teamwork between historians from countries or regions in post-conflictsituations adds a certain dynamic to the process of mutual understanding. TheBalkan project, begun in 1997 before the Franco-German History Textbook,intends to contribute to reconciliation in South-Eastern Europe. Such projectscorrespond to different phases of dialogue between various peoples. In thecase of Israel and Palestine, it is still a matter of juxtaposing two nationalnarratives on opposite sides of a double page. However, the mere presentationof the ‘other’ perspective is in itself a first step along the road to recognisingand accepting difference.

[complete introduction see below]