Women played a pivotal and often overlooked role in the resistance against totalitarian regimes in Europe. Despite their significant contributions, the collective narratives and imaginaries surrounding anti-totalitarian resistance tend to marginalise the role of women. Resistance appears as ‘something men do’, and women are relegated to a secondary and subsidiary role.
In this context, the CERV programme is funding initiatives that aim to gain new knowledge about the role of women in resistance and to make it accessible to a broader public. One of the examples is the project WIRE led by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), which aims to place the role of women at the centre of present-day historical narratives of anti-totalitarian resistance in Europe. It focused its activities in four European countries: Spain, Italy, Greece and Poland.
WIRE seeks not only to identify women who participated in various resistance movements in Europe but also to spotlight the memory of Women in Resistance.
How WIRE raises awareness on the role of women in resistance? The project has developed a working methodology called ‘European Memory Route’ which links academic knowledge on the role of women in resistance movements with the promotion of historical awareness among the general public.
But WIRE doesn’t stop at academia. To reach the wider community, the methodology comprises unconventional educational and dissemination tools such as communication campaigns in shopping centres, historical walks, narrative games, theatrical plays and interactive podcasts, all designed to make the rich history of women in resistance accessible and compelling for everyone.
Another CERV-funded initiative in this area is the project WEWIGENS coordinated by the House of Women's History (HdFG) which aims to gain new knowledge about the role of women in resistance in France and Germany and to make it accessible to a broad public, including younger people.
The HdFG, together with students from the Lycée Polyvalent Lamarck in France, is conducting research about women in the French Resistance against the German occupation and about female resistance in Nazi Germany.
The research is focused on specific female forms of resistance and their respective actors. It will also look at how the lives of the women in resistance have evolved after the period of resistance and how they have contributed to democratic transition or development in their countries. The outcome of the research will be presented in June 2024 to a wider public through the organisation of a trilingual exhibition (German, French, English).
The starting point for raising awareness? It begins with young people. They are key actors and are actively engaged in the research as well as in the preparation of the exhibition. The younger generation is motivated to raise awareness on these memories as significant examples in safeguarding fundamental rights.
To learn more about the WIRE and WEWIGENS projects.
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