We’ve Got an Eye-Witness at School – But Can They Be Believed?
- Where: on-line
- When: October 25, 2020, 17:00 – 19:00
The case of Věra Sosnarová sparked a discussion among both historians and teachers last year. For many years she visited schools, saying she had been imprisoned in the Gulag. However, historian Adam Hradilek discovered that her claims were at complete odds with facts in the archives.
How did teachers respond to the fact that Sosnarová’s dramatic stories didn’t hold up? And what do they have to consider when inviting eye-witnesses to schools now? Will they be more cautious and start checking up in the archives on the pasts of those they invite to speak to students? Or is it more important for them to present somebody with a dramatic story?
Guests: Pavel Martinovský, chairman of the Czech Association of History Teachers; Jaroslav Pinkas, teacher and instructor from the education department at the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes; Magdalena Benešová, head of the Stories of Our Neighbours educational projects.
Moderator: Irena Kalhousová, political scientist, head of the Herzl Centre of Israeli Studies at Charles University.