Award to Terraforming for the best poster presentation at the conference of the Library Association of Serbia

19th BDS conference in Belgrade

The 19th BDS conference “Association, connection and networking of librarians,” was held in Belgrade on December 14-16, 2022. Three-day festivities in the context of celebrating 75 years of the Library Association of Serbia crowned the celebration of the Librarian’s Day of Serbia on December 14. Members of the Library Association of Serbia, representatives of the Ministry of Culture, institutions and libraries in Serbia, representatives of partner associations, librarians and information experts from Bosnia participated in the program. and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, North Macedonia, Greece, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Germany, and Serbia.

Miško Stanišić, director of Terraforming, participated in the conference as part of the “poster-presentation” program with the topic “Development of a library platform in the Republic of Serbia for contributing to the culture of remembrance of the victims of fascist terror in World War II.” In this part of the program, selected posters were presented along with short presentations in which the authors explained the concept, that is, the topic they chose to present.

Development of a library platform in the Republic of Serbia to contribute to the culture of remembrance of the victims of fascist terror in the Second World War

The idea to create an international library platform for education about the Holocaust was developed during a two-year project initiated by Terraforming, in which Europeana, the National Library of Serbia, the University Library “Svetozar Marković,” the University Library from Vienna, the Anne Frank House from Amsterdam, the Memorial the Holocaust Center of Macedonian Jews, as well as a number of experts from leading international institutions in the field of memory culture, such as the Institute for Holocaust Education from Austria, the Center for Holocaust Education from London, Yad Vashem from Israel, the Arolsen Archive from Germany, and others.

Starting from the already existing library infrastructure and professional capacities of librarians, the traditional role of libraries in society in general and especially in education, and new trends in the sphere of digital cultural heritage, the result of the discussions within the project brought a conceptual framework that can serve as a base for a series of activities and cooperation in the field of education and learning about the Holocaust among national, academic, city, local and other libraries.
The publication “International Library Platform for Holocaust Education” was also published. The project was awarded the prestigious Yehuda Bauer Grant by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance IHRA.

At the BDS conference, this concept was briefly presented, along with concrete proposals for the development of specific activities in libraries in the Republic of Serbia, which would, on the one hand, make a concrete contribution to the culture of remembering the sufferings of the Second World War, both of Serbs, Jews and Roma, and of all other victims. of fascist terror, and on the other hand opened space for international cooperation in the field of memorialization and education about this history with libraries all over the world.

Special emphasis is placed on the presentation of adequate already existing materials, planning of specific public manifestations for the general public, special activities in cooperation with educational institutions, as well as own production of new media such as video and audio podcasts. This requires a certain improvement of the knowledge of librarians about the basic principles of education about the Holocaust and the modern culture of remembrance.
Four approaches are offered through which the libraries and librarians of the Republic of Serbia can contribute to the culture of memory:

1. The library as a space for the culture of remembrance (e.g. with appropriate thematic programs on the occasion of specific days of remembrance)
2. The librarian and the library as a link between literature and the educational dimension of the culture of memory
3. The librarian and the library as bearers of the narrative of local microhistory in the context of local and national culture of memory
4. The librarian and the library as bearers of the narrative of local microhistory in the context of the European culture of memory and digital cultural heritage

The culture of memory can be misused to inflame nationalism, fear and hatred. A true, honest and courageous culture of remembrance deals with the past in a way that reverently preserves the memory of the victims, but at the same time promotes civil and human rights, pluralism and critical thinking. The terrible crimes of the past are a direct warning that we as individuals and as a society are responsible to actively nurture, strengthen and defend these democratic and social values.
Libraries can make a huge contribution to such a culture of memory.