Historical-political education working group: VR remembrance work, annual conference 2026 and dealing with right-wing challenges
Right from the start, it became clear how diverse the historical and political education work in youth organisations and youth rings currently is. Among other things, the discussion centred on walking tours and workshops at historical sites, projects with school classes, training young people as youth guides, trips to memorial sites and formats on right-wing extremist codes and right-wing extremist attacks. It became clear that historical and political education takes place at different locations, with different target groups and in close connection with current social debates.
One focus of the meeting was the "Time without Witnesses" project , a modular remembrance programme using VR glasses. The dialogue highlighted the potential of digital and immersive formats for historical and political education to open up access to places of remembrance and historical topics. At the same time, related pedagogical questions were discussed, such as how to deal with emerging emotions, how to embed them in preparatory educational processes, as well as questions of accessibility and alternative uses beyond classic VR applications.
Another focus was on considerations for the annual conference on historical-political education in 2026. The possibility of linking the next annual conference to an already planned conference in Frankfurt (Oder), which deals with participation and the opportunities, challenges and limitations of historical-political education, was discussed. There was a clear interest in linking the working group more closely with existing specialist contexts and at the same time introducing its own needs and perspectives into larger discussion areas.
In addition, the focus was on the further development of the working group's format and topics for 2026. Among other things, dealing with young people with an affinity for the right and historical revisionism in social media were named as important topics in the discussion. It once again became clear that historical and political education not only imparts historical knowledge, but must also respond to current developments that threaten democracy and strengthen young people in their ability to judge and act.
The working group thus once again provided a space to make practical examples visible, to jointly reflect on professional issues and to develop perspectives for the further development of historical-political education in youth organisations and youth rings.
About the Political Youth Education Centre and its formats, networking, knowledge transfer and professional and collegial exchange in the field of political youth education in youth association work on projects, questions and ideas of the participants are bundled. The formats are open to all interested and active participants from the member organisations of the German Federal Youth Council who wish to exchange ideas and participate in the topics of political education and democracy education.
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