The EU project CU REMEMBER (Children’s Universities, Open Schooling, and the Formation of Local MemoriaLinks for European Remembrance) starts in the year 2025 and will pilot various formats to embed contemporary history, especially Remembrance Culture in Children’s Universities.
As witnesses to historical events like the Holocaust grow fewer, and with concerning rises in extremist movements across Europe, CU REMEMBER addresses the urgent need for new approaches to remembrance culture. The project creates new educational pathways connecting formal and non-formal learning environments through “MemoriaLinks” – specially designed interfaces between remembrance work and modern educational formats.
Based at the Vienna Children’s University (Austria) and the SISSA for Schools Children’s University programm in Trieste (Italy), these MemoriaLinks combine three powerful educational approaches: the accessibility of Children’s Universities, the community engagement of Open Schooling, and the participatory methodology of Co-Creation. This unique combination ensures that complex historical topics become accessible, engaging, and meaningful for young learners.
“Our goal isn’t to burden children with difficult history, but to empower them with knowledge and critical thinking skills,” explains the project coordinator Chris Gary, who is also the General Secretary of EUCU.NET. “By transforming historical learning into journeys of discovery, we foster empathy and a commitment to democratic values among our youngest citizens.”
The project will deliver workshops for children, training programs for teachers, and awareness initiatives for educators and museum professionals. Through these activities, CU REMEMBER aims to sensitize young people to engage thoughtfully with the past while strengthening their commitment to democratic principles.
By connecting science, education, and society, CU REMEMBER reimagines remembrance as a dynamic process linking past and future – making a lasting contribution to European remembrance culture and democratic resilience. The project currently focuses on the situation in Vienna and Trieste, but will provide a well tested blueprint for other Children’s Universities how to include this important topic in their programs.
For more information about upcoming activities and how to get involved, look at the CU REMEMBER project page and the included blog on the eucu.net website.