PosterPDF Available

Life Stories from Citizens of South Westphalia, Germany, Born between 1930 and 1945: Constructed Meaning through Relational Engagement and Expression

Authors:

Abstract

In this poster presentation, an auto/biographical study will be described by a team of international researchers that sought to provide participants who lived in a local village community, in South Westphalia, Germany, born between 1930 and 1945, during the Third Reich an opportunity to share their stories in the hope that those narratives might help us understand how life stories can celebrate, sustain, or challenge the potential for building individual and collective identities. Themes that emerged from the participants’ stories revealed the role of the familial and social groups of which they were members, as well as the influence those group memberships played in shaping each participant’s sense of belonging, meaning, and the construction of knowledge, personal identity, awareness, coordinated and political action. A purpose of this research was to give the younger generations in that region access to these experiences and insights, within the context of democratic learning and civic education. One group of the participants decided to connect with local schools and present their findings to teachers and classrooms. Through these presentations, they discussed the most critical issues with children and youth. Qualitative interviews, focus groups, storytelling and collective journaling revealed experiential patterns, such as the significance of free information and thought, a free cultural life, access to education for all children and youth, a self-determined life for women and girls, as well as cohesion and self-help structures in the social community. Connectivity and togetherness became visible in the cultural life, as well as the theater life of the village. Also, learning lives could be illuminated in the communal self-help structures and even conflicts – sometimes expressed only indirectly -- which became visible with regard to gender roles, and dealing with the political system of the Third Reich. Many tales were shared from the Third Reich including how these times had been narrated to these villagers through their forebearers and families’ archives. These resources are present through both the presentation and poster, as well as the full article to which access will be provided to session attendees. This study considered experiential perceptions from the perspectives of different kinds of human groups, their origins, their fluid interconnections that construct and challenge knowledge resulting in potential evolution and transformation of understanding.
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










  
--
               

        


-


-
--


-
--

-

---





-


-





-



-





-












-






-

















-

-








-









-























 

 
            



           

       




   
        
      
      



       

       
      
 
         



      
       

          

        

      -

        
   

       

-
           

          
    
        


        



    

         

           


   

         


     
 



    
   
 
    




                  




                









     



  
        
        

     


    



    
    
     
    



  
     

    
     
     
     
    - 

 


    
    
   
   
   
   
    
     


   
-
             
    


-

 
 
 
              



      

       




    
    
     
   
     



       
   
          

       
        
   
         
      
      

      
   
      


      

  

        



      

     

    
   

   
      
     

     
       
    



   


    


       



  
     
      

     
       




      
     

   
  
    

   
    
     


   
        
       

        





       
  











              





            
-
       

    
       
     



   
   
    
     
 

       

   



  
     
     
    
    

    

   
    


    
     -







      
-
       
        
        

... I had a vague notion dating back to childhood and youth that this half-timbered house built in 1650 in South Westphalia was for many years the place my own family on my father's side called home and that many a story had grown up around it. But I only gained deeper insights into these connections when I began a multi-year project (see Broecher, Painter, and Davis, 2018) with other members of the family that we called intergenerational and would involve gathering materials like deeds, letters, photos, etc. as well as anecdotes passed down as oral history (Fig. 6.65). ...
Book
Full-text available
What can we learn from a teacher's journal about working with challenging youth? Why does the Training Room Program in German schools impede the development of an empowering learning culture? What experiences transpire during a train trip to the sea with an unruly crew of school boys? Or: what happens when children plan a trip on their own? Anyone who has accumulated experiences in teaching faces creative choices when putting that legacy to paper. The author chose to use this selection of studies to illustrate formative and inspirational moments from his years as a dedicated teacher and father.
... I had a vague notion dating back to childhood and youth that this half-timbered house built in 1650 in South Westphalia was for many years the place my own family on my father's side called home and that many a story had grown up around it. But I only gained deeper insights into these connections when I began a multi-year project (see Broecher, Painter, and Davis, 2018) with other members of the family that we called intergenerational and would involve gathering materials like deeds, letters, photos, etc. as well as anecdotes passed down as oral history (Fig. 6.65). ...
Chapter
Full-text available
This chapter explores the »Training Room« Program (TRP), a time-out model that is based on the American »Responsible Thinking Process« (RTP). Since 2003 this model has become established in German schools in response to students’ increasingly challenging learning and social behavior. School administrators and academics alike recommend the implementation of the TRP as part of their efforts to conform to one of the goals put forth in the UN convention of ensuring the success of inclusive schooling for students with behavioral difficulties. But in executing this model, formal inclusion and temporary exclusion within the school become interconnected. The results yielded by this program evaluation indicate that the program impedes the development of a participative and empowering learning culture, even though it is precisely this factor which is indispensable for the successful inclusion of learners with emotional and social needs.
... I had a vague notion dating back to childhood and youth that this half-timbered house built in 1650 in South Westphalia was for many years the place my own family on my father's side called home and that many a story had grown up around it. But I only gained deeper insights into these connections when I began a multi-year project (see Broecher, Painter, and Davis, 2018) with other members of the family that we called intergenerational and would involve gathering materials like deeds, letters, photos, etc. as well as anecdotes passed down as oral history (Fig. 6.65). ...
Chapter
Full-text available
This chapter recounts the journey of a special education teacher traveling by train with his class to the North Sea island of Sylt, in Germany, where the group intends to spend a week in a school camp. During the journey, various incidents and upsets take place that escalate to the uncoupling of a train car. This real episode was used productively for several years in special education university courses, such as inclusive education, for the purpose of storytelling as a pedagogical tool in higher education.
... I had a vague notion dating back to childhood and youth that this half-timbered house built in 1650 in South Westphalia was for many years the place my own family on my father's side called home and that many a story had grown up around it. But I only gained deeper insights into these connections when I began a multi-year project (see Broecher, Painter, and Davis, 2018) with other members of the family that we called intergenerational and would involve gathering materials like deeds, letters, photos, etc. as well as anecdotes passed down as oral history (Fig. 6.65). ...
Chapter
Full-text available
What can we learn from a teacher's journal about working with challenging youth? Why does the Training Room Program in German schools impede the development of an empowering learning culture? What experiences transpire during a train trip to the sea with an unruly crew of school boys? Or: what happens when children plan a trip on their own? Anyone who has accumulated experiences in teaching faces creative choices when putting that legacy to paper. The author chose to use this selection of studies to illustrate formative and inspirational moments from his years as a dedicated teacher and father.
... I had a vague notion dating back to childhood and youth that this half-timbered house built in 1650 in South Westphalia was for many years the place my own family on my father's side called home and that many a story had grown up around it. But I only gained deeper insights into these connections when I began a multi-year project (see Broecher, Painter, and Davis, 2018) with other members of the family that we called intergenerational and would involve gathering materials like deeds, letters, photos, etc. as well as anecdotes passed down as oral history (Fig. 6.65). ...
Chapter
Full-text available
The focus of this chapter is education within families. The father in this case study gave each of his two sons a voucher for a one-week trip that the boys would each plan, then take separately with the father during the upcoming summer vacation. The father collected his initial thought processes and the plans in journal form. Together they reread journals from earlier trips and reflected on what happened in their course. Here the two journeys planned by the children are examined and discussed using qualitative textual analysis with the findings are linked to current theoretical knowledge.
... I had a vague notion dating back to childhood and youth that this half-timbered house built in 1650 in South Westphalia was for many years the place my own family on my father's side called home and that many a story had grown up around it. But I only gained deeper insights into these connections when I began a multi-year project (see Broecher, Painter, and Davis, 2018) with other members of the family that we called intergenerational and would involve gathering materials like deeds, letters, photos, etc. as well as anecdotes passed down as oral history (Fig. 6.65). ...
Chapter
Full-text available
Anyone who has accumulated wide ranging experiences in teaching faces a creative choice in putting that legacy to paper. The author in this case chose to use a series of photos with text to illustrate formative and inspirational moments from his several decades as a dedicated teacher, and father. His account begins with university studies in special and gifted education, followed by years of teaching school while living a fulfilling family life with his wife and two boys. These experiences culminate with his pedagogical research activities in the field of higher education coupled, in part, with retrospective reflections during these later years. The chapter closes with selected material from an intergenerational learning project that served to put the author in touch once more with his own roots.
... I had a vague notion dating back to childhood and youth that this half-timbered house built in 1650 in South Westphalia was for many years the place my own family on my father's side called home and that many a story had grown up around it. But I only gained deeper insights into these connections when I began a multi-year project (see Broecher, Painter, and Davis, 2018) with other members of the family that we called intergenerational and would involve gathering materials like deeds, letters, photos, etc. as well as anecdotes passed down as oral history (Fig. 6.65). ...
Chapter
Full-text available
This chapter deals with the Movable Layout Technique (MLT), an instructional adaptation here used to teach art in challenging classrooms. With MLT students with behavioral difficulties unexpectedly find themselves in a complex process of designing, experimenting and composing. They are easily and successfully guided into the artistic terrain and encouraged to independently lay out pictures and creative compositions in a motivational and pleasurable way. With MLT students advance gradually to complex picture composition and spatial organization, opening up pathways to freer forms of artistic work.
... I had a vague notion dating back to childhood and youth that this half-timbered house built in 1650 in South Westphalia was for many years the place my own family on my father's side called home and that many a story had grown up around it. But I only gained deeper insights into these connections when I began a multi-year project (see Broecher, Painter, and Davis, 2018) with other members of the family that we called intergenerational and would involve gathering materials like deeds, letters, photos, etc. as well as anecdotes passed down as oral history (Fig. 6.65). ...
Book
Full-text available
What can we learn from a teacher's journal about working with challenging youth? Why does the Training Room Program in German schools impede the development of an empowering learning culture? What experiences transpire during a train trip to the sea with an unruly crew of school boys? Or: what happens when children plan a trip on their own? Anyone who has accumulated experiences in teaching faces creative choices when putting that legacy to paper. The author chose to use this selection of studies to illustrate formative and inspirational moments from his years as a dedicated teacher and father.
Article
Full-text available
Using qualitative interviews, focus groups, storytelling and collective journaling, the life experiences of people in a local village community, in South Westphalia, Germany, born between 1930 and 1945, were analysed collaboratively. The research intention was to give the younger generations in that region access to these experiences and insights, within the context of democratic learning and civic education. The focus of this narrative learning project was on the politically relevant issues and themes they contained, above all: the significance of free information and thought, a free cultural life, access to education for all children and youth, a self-determined life for women and girls, as well as cohesion and self-help structures in the social community. Many tales were shared from the Third Reich, making references to Wilhelmine Germany and the Republic of Weimar, including how these times had been narrated to them through their fore bearers and families´ archives. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02601370.2017.1285361
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Und der Neuanfang und das Handeln desjenigen, der neu in die Welt kommt, sind dann wie Fäden, die in ein bereits vorgewebtes Muster geschlagen werden, wodurch das vorgegebene Gewebe verändert wird. Andererseits wird das Handeln des Neuankömmlings durch die bereits bestehenden Lebensfäden, mit denen es innerhalb des Gewebes in Berührung kommt, beeinflußt. Sind die Fäden innerhalb eines solchen Bezugsgewebes erst zu Ende gesponnen, so ergeben sich wieder klar erkennbare Muster, die als Lebensgeschichten erzählbar sind. Diesen Geschichten, in die uns das Leben verstrickt, können wir nicht entkommen, solange wir am Leben sind. Der „Held“ der jeweiligen Lebensgeschichte, ihr „Wer“, stellt sich, wie Hannah Arendt betont, nur im Medium des Erzählbaren und daher erst in der geschichtlichen Rückschau dar. Auf diese Weise ermöglicht es unser Bewußtwerden des Tatbestands, daß wir Geborene sind, daß jeder ein Neuankömmling auf dieser Welt ist, die Fäden zur Vergangenheit aufzunehmen, die Spuren, die unsere Vorfahren in den sich stets verändernden Bezugsgeweben zwischen Menschen hinterlassen haben, aufzunehmen. Genau das nehmen Joachim und Siegfried Bröcher im vorliegenden Band in Angriff. Anhand der Geschichte ihrer Familie und deren Verflechtungen in strukturelle, geschichtliche, politische, soziale, ökonomische und religiöse Gegebenheiten präsentieren sie eine Mikrogeschichte des ländlichen Raums über mehrere Generationen, über mehrere Jahrhunderte hinweg und erschaffen auf diese Weise einen Mikrokosmos von Alltagsstrukturen, in den einzutauchen nicht nur höchst informativ, sondern ebenso spannend und unterhaltsam ist. Professor Dr. Friedhelm Decher
Article
This paper will develop the subject intergenerational learning as a form of lifelong learning. The project in focus was originally called “More men into the schools,” a support program for children attending compulsory school. It was initiated as a pilot project in the autumn of 1996 as the result of the interest shown by a male senior citizen in assisting a handicrafts teacher in school on a voluntary basis. The project, as it has been initiated in Sweden, is based on the understanding that those senior citizens who wish to do so ought to be given the opportunity to work in schools in order to improve the quality of their lives through this engagement and the network in which they thereby participate.Increased social capital, which has been defined by Coleman (198813. Coleman , J. S. 1988. Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94: S95–S120. [CrossRef], [Web of Science ®]View all references, 199014. Coleman , J. S. 1990. Foundations of social theory, Boston: Harvard University Press. View all references), has been found in the schools that have employed a granddad. The results show that the work of the class granddad, both together with the teacher and outside during the breaks, also influences in a positive way the social capital between the pupils and the teacher. The work of the teacher is greatly influenced by the relationships between the pupils in the group. The recent situation is that one national organization and 10 regional associations support about 1,000 men working all over Sweden. The development and implementation of this model from 1996 to 2011 will be described.
Learning across generations in Europe: Contemporary issues in older adult education
  • A.-K Boström
Boström, A.-K. (2014). Intergenerational learning and social capital. In B. Schmidt-Hertha, S. Jelenc Krasovec and M. Formosa, M. (Eds.), Learning across generations in Europe: Contemporary issues in older adult education (pp. 191-202). Rotterdam, Boston, Taipei: Sense Publishers, Download Open Access Boström, A.-K. and Schmidt-Hertha, B. (2017). Intergenerational relationships and lifelong learning. Journal of Intergenerational Relationships,15(1),1-3
Das Reichserbhofgesetz: Ein Leitfaden mit Wortlaut des Reichserbhofgesetzes vom 29
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Saure, W. (1937). Das Reichserbhofgesetz: Ein Leitfaden mit Wortlaut des Reichserbhofgesetzes vom 29. September 1933 (5 th ed.). Berlin, Germany: Neudeutsche Verlagsund Treuhandgesellschaft
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