World war two our shared history

1. Introduction……………………………………………………………..….p. 3 2. Participating schools: ……………………………………………….p. 5 - Steeton Primary School, England …………………………...p. 5 - SP 9 im. M. Kopernika, Dzierzoniów, Poland…………..p. 7 - OŠ Cirila Kosmača Piran, Piran, Slovenia ……………...p. 9 - ICS "Via Ferraironi" di Roma , Roma, Italy …………..p.12 - Bjørnsveen ungdomsskole, Gjøvik, Norway …………..p. 14 - Ecole Massenet-Pasteur, Saint Chamond, France .p.16 3. Meetings with WW2 survivors. …………………………….p. 18 4. Students’ interviews. ……………………………………………...p. 24 5. Learning about World War Two. ……………………….….p. 38 - Students works 6. War songs from our countries. …………………………….p. 65 7. Videomeetings. …………………………………………………………p. 71 8. Project in the media. ………………………………………………p. 78 9. Students working together …………………………..………p. 85 10. Logo competition. …………………………………………………..p. 90 11. Our reflections on the project. …………….…………...p. 92

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Introduction This eTwinning project, 'World War Two: our shared history' was designed so that pupils could research the war in their own country and share their work on the project Twinspace. The aims were to benefit from an international perspective of the consequences of war; an appreciation of our shared history; and some understanding of the nature of history itself.

Schools in seven countries took part in this project: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland and Slovenia.

As a cross-curricular project, subjects covered within the project included history, foreign languages, ICT, geography, European studies, film and literature.

A number of ICT tools were used in the project, including blog, digital photos, powerpoint, capzles, webex video-conferencing and Youtube video links. The children particularly loved making vokis to introduce themselves to each other.

The Twinspace was well used to share the learning from each school so that the pupils could benefit from international peer teaching and learning. As part of their work, the pupils learned songs from the time of the war; and the lyrics and music for the songs were available on the Twinspace. Pupils interviewed survivors from the war and shared their interviews. Classes in each schools researched a number of issues in the war and this work was uploaded and shared.

Towards the end of the project, a video-conference call was held between four of the participants: England, Italy, Poland and Slovenia. Pupils told each other about the benefits of taking part in the project; and each school sang a song (some of the others joined in with these songs). Headteachers from the schools were also involved in the call; explaining how they felt that international project work through eTwinning was beneficial to the schools. A particularly special part of the call was the presence in Slovenia of one of the former teachers who had been interned in the war in a labour camp in Germany in Lower Silesia – in the town of the project partner school in Poland, Dzierżoniów (which before the war was a German town Reichenbach).

The Project Diary was used throughout the project to give a good record of the work during the project and to enable parents and pupils to access some of the work at home.

Teachers benefited from collaboration with their international colleagues, 3

sharing ideas about websites and other resources. Teachers held a number of video-conference calls throughout the project to discuss the progress of the work and to consider ideas.

At the end of the project, pupils and teachers reflected on their learning gained from their participation in the work. Strong bonds have been created between the schools involved in this project and we hope to work together again.

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Participating schools Steeton Primary School in England

http://www.steeton.bradford.sch.uk/

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Steeton is in Yorkshire, in the north of England.

There are 11 classrooms in our school and 3 others, eg library/music room, a dinner hall and an ICT suite. In our music room we have lots of different instruments eg drums, 4 keyboards, samba drums etc.

We have a wonderful wildlife area with an outdoor classroom (outdoor shelter).

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Szkoła Podstawowa nr 9 im. Mikołaja Kopernika, Dzierżoniów, Poland

www.sp9dzierzoniow.pl SP 9 Dzierżoniów, Poland - see the presentation

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Szkoła Podstawowa nr 9 im. Mikołaja Kopernika w Dzierżoniowa was set up in year 1962.

We are a primary school with children aged 6-13.

This school year there are 412 students in 18 classes.

From year 4 there are sports classes in our school with 10 PE lessons a week.

Our school have been invoved in eTwinning projects since 2005.

Our project „Discovering Europe with foreign languages” won the European Language Label 2006 which is our most important achievement in teaching foreign languages.

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OŠ Cirila Kosmača Piran, Piran, Slovenia

http://844.gvs.arnes.si/cms/

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OĹ Cirila KosmaÄ?a school with around 240 pupils is located in the medieval town of Piran. Piran is located on Adriatic coast, 30 km from the Italian and 15km from the Croatian border. Our area is a bilingual (Slovenian-Italian) and children also learn the Italian language in the school. In fourth grade they begin to learn English.

Our school is a UNESCO school. We have a lot of projects with a focus on cultural heritage, education for peace, ecology, ...

This project involved our 5th grade (10-11 years old). In some phases of the project will also collaborate pupils from 1st to 4th grade.

Classrooms 1-5

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Adriatic Sea seen from the school terrace

Piran – Punta with a lighthouse

Piran – the Town Hall

Piran – Tartini square

Venice house and the Towerbell

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ICS "Via Ferraironi" di Roma , Roma (RM), Italy

http://www.icferraironi.it

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The Comprehensive State Institute FERRAIRONI is located in Rome, Italy.

The area consists of a number of local communities which have developed in the 70's and 80's in the south-eastern area of the Capital of Italy.

The name of the area where IC Ferraironi has been built is VILLA DE SANCTIS, after the name of a large adjoining park.

The pupils come from families living for the most part in the surrounding area, but a consistent number of pupils are brought to the school by car, belonging to other municipalities. Some of the pupils have to travel for over half an hour in order to reach their school.

The Comprehensive Institute is formed by two Infant schools hosted in two different buildings, three Primary schools and one Secondary school.

As from September 2012 our Headteacher is Mrs Stefania Pasqualoni. She used to be a Secondary Level Teacher of English as a second language.

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Bjørnsveen ungdomsskole (Bjørnsveen lower secondary school), Gjøvik, Norway

Bjørnsveen ungdomsskole is located in the town of Gjøivik in the eastern part of Norway. A part of the country that is characterised by a dry climate, warm summer months and as you will see from our photos a cold snow filled winter. The school (Bjørnsveen) is located in the northern part of the town and caters for 14

pupils between the ages of 12/13 and 15/16. We have approximately 360 pupils evenly spread across the three year groups. We hope to learn more about Norway’s role in World War 2 with particular focus on the local area. At the same time we wish to try and relate this information 'to the bigger picture' happening across the rest of Europe.

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Ecole Massenet-Pasteur, Saint Chamond, France

Ecole Massenet-Pasteur in Saint-Chamond, is a primary school with about 160 pupils from 6 to 11, divided into 8 classes, one of which is a class for pupils with special needs.

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Saint-Chamond – Town Hall

Main church

Station

Meeting roundabout

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3. Meetings with WW2 survivors Meeting with Józef Oleksiewicz,World War Two survivor, Polish Home Army captain On Friday, 17th January 2014 Mr Oleksiewicz, great grandfather of one of our school students visited our school (SP 9 Dzierżoniów, Poland) and told us about WW2. Mr Józef was born in 1929 in a town Grybów in south Poland.

When the war started he was 10 years old and couldn’t go to school as Germans closed all Polish schools. He saw how Germans treated Jews and Polish people. He wanted to fight against Germans and he wanted to join the army as his brother did, but Mr. Józef was too young. He helped the soldiers in the forest (the partisans) and carried the messages which was very dangerous.

When he was 15 he became a soldier, he was wounded twice, he was caught by Germans but he managed to escape. Mr Józef told us how difficult life was during the German occupation. Polish people had to give the Germans a lot of food and then they were starving. One winter Mr Józef’s family ate only potatoes three times a day as they didn’t have any flour to make bread.

Mr Józef told us that Jews in Grybów in WW2 had to move from the town centre, they only could live in the suburbs and couldn’t even visit the town centre. All Jews had to wear an armband with the star of David. Germans stole all precious things from them and eventually sent them to the concentration camp where most of them were killed.

When the war finished, a new occupation started in Poland and in Grybów too.

The communists arrested most of the Home Army soldiers. Mr Józef and many 18

of his friends didn’t want to be arrested and that’s why he spent another two years in the forest. Unfortunately in May 1947 he was caught and arrested.

First he was in prison in Kraków, then in a concentration camp in Jawor, where Home Army soldiers were treated like traitors and Nazis. Mr Józef told us that people in Jawor were sure they (the prisoners) were traitors who had helped Germans during the war. He left prison in June 1950 when he was 21. Then he moved to Lower Silesia.

This way war took the best years of Mr Józef’s life, but he says he was lucky, because he survived and wasn’t killed, and wasn’t sent to Siberia like many of his friends.

Now he is 85 and he is the president of World Union of Home Army Veterans in Strzelin and he often visits schools and talks about war and the Home Army. He says we have to know our country's history to avoid another disaster like war.

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Meeting with Tončka Senčar, a Slovenian who as a child spend 4 years in labour camps in Lower Silesia Tončka Senčar, our former teacher, paid us (OŠ Cirila Kosmača Piran, Piran, Slovenia) a visit. She told us about four years of her childhood spent in labour camps in Silesia (then - Germany, now – Poland).

Tončka was born in 1935 in Zgornji Obrež, a small village near Brežice. She had two brothers. In 1941, Germans stormed the village and took all the villagers into the labour camp in Silesia.

In the photo, there is Tončka's family immediately upon arriving in the camp. In the background, the shack they lived in.

Right after the arrival, the Germans wrote down their personal data and germanized their names. Tončka showed us the medal with her camp number.

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A group photo was taken by the Germans. The internees had to send them home.

The photos served as a proof that they felt all right.

This photo was taken in the labour camp when Tončka turned seven. Her parents promised her that her next birthday would be celebrated at home. The families tried to keep spirits high. Unfortunately, Tončka returned home when she was ten. At the age of nine, Tončka received the sacrament of confirmation.

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The photo of Tončka's family (the older brother missing). Being at work all days long, the parents could only rarely see their children during the daytime.

The last camp where Tončka's family lived before the liberation. They were saved by the Russians. The journey home lasted six weeks because the roads and the bridges were destroyed. Franc, Tončka's older brother, carefully jotted down all the stations on their way home.

All the horrors of the war notwithstanding, Tončka's ordeal had a happy ending.

The whole family returned to their village and rebuilt the farm. Tončka set to

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studying and became a teacher. In search of a post, the road brought her to Piran. She has lived there for almost sixty years.

A couple of years ago, TonÄ?ka visited all four camps that marked her life and the lives of her family members for good.

Today, TonÄ?ka is a retired teacher and is doing her best at passing down her experience to the youth. We are grateful to her for sharing her story with us.

We inspected her camp medal. Questions went on and on.

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4. Students’ interviews Children who were born more than half a century after the World War II encouraged their grandparents to talk about the war.

Patrik was told by his great-grandma Giliola, who was born in 1936, about her childhood in Portorož during the war. She remembers the school in Piran and the alarms for air attacks which often interrupted the lessons. ' Fortunately, my town wasn't bombarded as the planes were headed towards Italy and the central parts of Europe' great- grandma told Patrik. She remembers the passenger ship Rex which was sunk between Koper and Žusterna. She also remembers the fear of the Italian and German invaders. She also told Patrik that their house is situated at the same place as the bunkers in World War II. Lan talked to his grandma Ana and his grandpa Željko. His grandpa told him that the Italians took him to Pula and later to northern Italy to forced labor. When Italy capitulated in 1943 he returned home on foot and he joined the partisans.

He told Lan proudly that he fought for the freedom of Istria and Gorski Kotar.

He fought in 43rd Istrian division. Luckily he was never wounded. During the battle he once found refuge near Koper (village Boršt) where he spent three days without food or water. Lan's grandma was a young shepherdess during the war and she was also a courier. She carried partisans' letters to their families.

She taught Lan how she folded letters in order to make them very small and easy to hide. She also remembers that partisans stopped at their house when the war ended and her family offered them food and drink.

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Doroteja was told by her great-grandpa that he was mobilized in the Italian army in 1939. In 1940 he was taken to a special battalion to Sicily. After that he was transferred to Algeria in Africa where he moved to the English army.

English soldiers took him to Montenegro where he fought with the partisans.

He fought in Montenegro, Dalmatia, Serbia and in the Srem front. He came home in 1946. After the war he worked as a tailor. Doroteja's great-grandma lived in Genoa and in Savona in Italy. She was a youth activist during the war. In 1942 she organized the first campaign: young girls made clothes, gloves and caps. At Christmas they donated them to partisans. She remembers the attack to the village Kozjane. While they were burrying the dead she heard a song that the partisans sang to their deceased comrades for the first time. She was also the courier. After the war she was a sports teacher.

Both great-grandma Milojka and great-grandpa Doro were awarded with Medal of Merit of the nation.

Lara Marija talked to her grandma Marja. She told Lara Marija how she was taken with her mother and other relatives to the internment camp where they slept in barns. They were then taken to Germany where they were moved from one camp to the other. She remembers her mother who had to go to forced labor every day. She came back late in the evening. Children were left alone and closed all day without toys, animals and lessons. After the war she was afraid of animals especially hens that kept running after her. Her father remained in Yugoslavia and fought together with partisans.

Lara Marija's grandma also

remembers the bombing and planes, tanks and American soldiers who freed them. She said they were very kind. They gave children chocolate and cookies.

In 1945 they returned home with a freight train. The journey was long and arduous as the railways were damaged. When they came home they found a homestead burned to the ground and her father's grave.

Mia talked to her grandma and grandpa. When World War II started Mia's grandpa was only six years old. His parents were teachers. One day the Italian soldiers burnt down the school because the partisans had spent the night in it.

The family moved to Vrhnika where Mia's grandpa went to school during the war.

His father was taken to the Italian concentration camp Gonars. He came back only after Italy capitulated.

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Mia's grandma was only one year old when the war started. Her father was a partisan. As she was so small and she could inadvertently betray they told her he was dead. They sometimes hid from the enemy in the wood and in neighbouring houses. Someday their neighbours betrayed them. Luckily they weren't shot although they were threatened with guns.

Jan talked to his grandma. She remembers the Italian school, the planes and when they were expelled to Italy. When they returned home they had no cattle.

The enemy took everything from them. Her father was taken to Germany and he didn't come back until the end of the war. Her brother was shot. Children were scared all the time, they were afraid of everybody as they couldn't tell a friend from an enemy. Someday the women had to carry heavy guns for Italian soldiers over a very high hill. They walked for hours and their children were with them. They were afraid for their lives.

In the Italian school they weren't allowed to speak Slovenian and the teacher was unfair in assessment. After the war a Slovenian school was opened.

Enej talked to his grandma Ida and he recorded the conversation. Ida talked about her youth during the war. She was a courier. She went to school. They had to speak Italian at school. The teachers were mostly from Triest and they knew the children were Slovenians. Even if the children sometimes spoke in Slovenian the teachers didn't tell anyone and they weren't punished. She remembers hard times although she says she was lucky to survive the war.

Tita brought to school 'A book of memories' which was issued by her grandpa's brother. We read it and it was very interesting. We learnt about a young boy who had to join the Italian army, how he fought for freedom and how he took part in the reconstruction of the homeland after the war.

Our students' interlocutors told us some deep and often appalling stories, although full of life and hope.

Thank you all.

Students and teachers of OĹ Cirila KosmaÄ?a Piran

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We lost everything and we didn’t know what was going to happen…

- Granny, how old were you when the World War II began?

- I was 11 then. I was born on 25th February 1928 in Szczyty.

- Where did you live before the war?

- I was born and till the moment of the outbreak of war I lived in a village Szczyty (now it’s a town in łódzkie voivodeship).

- How did life change in your village after the beginning of WW2?

- The first German attack on Poland took place in Wieluń – only 20 km from Szczyty. All the inhabitants of the villages situated near Wieluń were almost immediately displaced to France. We had to leave everything we had: our house, our farm, animals, furniture, food… We could take only some personal belongings.

German farmers came and lived in our house and ran our farm. This way in one moment our life changed. We lost everything and we didn’t know what was going to happen.

- Which events from WW2 do you remember most?

- The worst and the most remembered by me event from the war was the displacement. It happened at night – German soldiers came into our home and told us to leave the homestead. There were ten people in our family – 8 children and parents. That night we were woken up, we only could take some personal belongings and we were put on a cart and taken away from our home village and homeland. Till today I have before my very eyes what happened that terrible night.

- Did you go to school ?

- Yes, but only before the war. I went to a primary school. I graduated 3 classes.

In September 1939 the war broke out and I couldn’t go to school any more.

- What happened to your family, friends and neighbours during the war?

- As I said earlier, my whole family, neighbours and friends were displaced to France. In Szczyty stayed only my eldest sister Kazimiera . She didn’t live with us. She was married, had children and her own shop. Because of the shop Germans let her stay in Szczyty.

- What did every day life look like under occupation?

- We were displaced to France to a town called Nance. It was in the Vichy occupation zone. It meant, there was French government but it was under German command. When the WW2 broke out that part of France signed an agreement with the Germans and that’s why displaced people were sent there.

We were lucky, the host we worked for, was a good man. Younger children looked after the cattle and the older ones helped in the house as I did. We were treated well.

- How did you celebrate the church holidays?

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- As I have already told you, we lived with good people and they treated us well.

The French people are Roman Catholics and celebrate holidays almost the same way as we do in Poland. There were some different traditions and dishes, but the atmosphere was the same.

- Did you have enough food during the war?

- Yes, we did. We never were hungry in France. But I think it was thanks to the hosts we lived with. A lot of people starved during the war.

- Did all of your family survive the war?

- Unfortunately not. My sister’s husband died in the concentration camp in Auschwitz. They stayed in Szczyty after we were displaced and somebody told the Germans that he was selling goods which were forbidden then (unfortunately I don’t remember what goods they were). Under occupation it was enough to arrest a man and kill him. My sister was informed about his death by a notice sent from the camp and she received an urn with his ashes.

Such procedure was taken at the beginning of concentration camps existence.

Later nobody took care of it.

- What happened after the war?

- After the war we all returned to Szczyty. When we arrived we saw that almost everything was stolen or destroyed by Germans. My parents with my younger sisters and brothers decided to rebuild their farm. The rest went west to Lower Silesia (Dzierżoniów, Wrocław) and Silesia (Chorzów) to look for work.

- A lot of people looked for their family for many years after the WW2 through international organizations. Was the same in your family?

- I don’t know about such situations in my family. But your great grandfather told me his family was looking for him. When he was 14 he joined the partisans of AK (Armia Krajowa – Home Army). He was caught and sent to the concentration camp in Auschwitz where he spent a year. His family didn’t know what happened to him.

He survived the camp, but after the war he had to hide in the forest for some years because he could be arrested by communists as he was Home Army soldier.

Unfortunately I don’t know the details.

- Granny, why did you settle permanently in Lower Silesia? How did it happen?

- In our region it was very difficult to find a job, everything was plundered and destroyed. Then we heard that in the west lands, which were given to Poland after the war, it was much easier to get good work. The first from my family to go was my cousin with her husband. Soon I went to work in the clothing industry in Dzierżoniów and I have lived here till today.

- Thank you Granny for such important and valuable information. It was a great history lesson for me.

- I have to say thank you . It’s really great that so many young people are interested in their great-grandparents’ past.

Julian Palimonka, class 6b interviewed his great-grandmother Natalia Tyczyńska born in 1928.

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Those events I won’t forget to the end of my life…

My name’s Agnieszka Swancar. I was born on 19th April 1909 in Pojana Micului. I was Franciszka and Łukasz Juraszek’s second child. I had two brothers – Szymon (the elder one) and Oktawian (the youngest) and one younger sister – Joanna.

I don’t remember my father because he went to the World War I and he didn’t come back. We were brought up by our mother. We were very poor. Life was very hard in those days. I worked for Germans to earn some money and help my mother. In the village Pojana Micului lived Germans and Polish people. In 1928 I married Jerzy Juraszek. We had four children – Maksymilian born in 1929, Rozalia born in 1933, Jadwiga born in 1935 and Rudolf born in 1937. In 1940 my husband had to join the army and I had to bring up our children on my own.

On Sunday evening 30th April 1940, this date I will remember to the end of my life, something terrible happened. In the morning we went to the church. The priest wasn’t there but we were saying the prayers, we were very anxious and worried. Then a group of Germans came, closed the door of the church and threatened to burn us all. Fortunately they didn’t do that – thanks to people who spoke German and asked those people not to do such a terrible thing. We went home very sad and anxious about our future. At about 6 pm we saw German and Romanian soldiers going out of the forest. I was preparing supper then. While I was making ‘totch’ – a potato cake, a German soldier came into our house and said ‘Funf minuten her raus!’ – ‘Leave the house in five minutes’. We had only 5 minutes to take the most needed things and leave our home. I remember I threw a blanket on the bed and put on it all the needed things. My oldest son ran to the stable and led the cows out of it and took half a sack of flour. My daughters took blankets and a feather quilt. The youngest son Rudolf took pots and pans.

We ran out of our house. However we didn’t run to the place where the German soldier told us to go. We escaped into the forest. Despite the spring it was extremely cold, the temperature was below zero and there was some snow on the ground. Twilight fell very soon and we started to build a shelter. We went to the hill to see our village. The fire spread over the entire Pojana Micului.

Despite the night it was very bright. The view was terrible and excruciating. We lost everything we owned. This picture will remain in my memory to the end of my life.

Without a house, without any possessions, in dread fear I started my long wandering with my children.

After burning the village, the Pojana Micului inhabitants’ fates weren’t the same. Some people were caught and taken to the glade near the stream, where Germans and Romanians wanted to kill them all. Fortunately they didn’t do it.

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Nobody knew why . The Polish people were sent to Gura Humoru and then further into Romania. I with my children and some of our neighbours were living in the forest. We had to be very strong and courageous to live with children in the forest full of wolves and bears.

When the front line was getting nearer and nearer the Soviet soldiers talked us into moving to a safer place, where the military actions didn’t take place.

Altogether we marched in a column for a few days, through Serec, to Tereblecz. Once it was a Romanian village, but after Soviet army occupied a part of Bukowina in 1940, it was on the Ukrainian side.

Life there was quite good. We worked on the fields and in return we were given food and grain. We took the grain and potatoes which we had earned to Pojana on 6th January 1945, when we returned home at last. The view was terrifying – everything was burnt.

Amongst all our bad luck we had some good luck. My mother’s house stood in an out-of-the-way place and the arsonists missed it. The house was untouched.

For me and the others who returned it was the first home after coming back from the wandering.

People were returning and they had to build shelters to live in. Slowly they started to rebuild their homesteads. In spring we sowed the grain and grew the potatoes we had earned earlier. We were starving – we ate only cheese, cream and milk. Despite the poverty, people were friendly and helpful.

All those events are engraved in my memory forever. I will never forget them.

In 1946 as the Polish people Agnieszka and her family could go to Poland and she decided to return to the country where her ancestors had lived about 150 years earlier. Together with many Pojana Micului villagers she reached Lower Silesia, where my great grandmother Agnieszka lived long years till her death.

The village Poiana Micului before the World War Two

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Agnieszka Swancar when young

Maciej Zając from class 5c, SP 9 Dzierżoniów has written about his great-grandmother’s life

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I love my country and I know what homesick is…

- Grandma, you have survived World War II. Can you tell me about life in those days?

- When the war broke out I was 4 years old and I lived not far from Białystok, exactly in a forester’s lodge in the middle of the Białowieża Forest in a village Żakowszczyzna. My father was a forestry worker. Many events I remember only from my parents’ stories, but the transportation on 10th February 1940 I remember very well.

At night I woke up and saw strangers and my parents walking. I started crying, my mum was calming me saying that we are going to our grandmother. Then a Soviet soldier came to me and gave me a biscuit, which didn’t taste good to me at all. I remember the taste till today. It tasted like caraway and it wasn’t sweet.

- Do you remember anything else?

- I remember the way to the railway station. We went on a cart with the most needed things parents took in a hurry. It was a winter morning. Behind the cart a woman ran and shouted something. Probably she wanted to say goodbye to us, but the coachman didn’t stop. She was my godmother.

- And what happened then?

- We were taken to the railway station where goods wagons stood. We were loaded onto them. Every wagon was closed and guarded by two soldiers with rifles in their hands. I remember there was a steel stove inside the wagon. In the corner there was a round hole in the floor – it was our toilet…

My mum hugged me and covered with something to keep me warm. The train was going and going for days and nights…

- Do you remember where you arrived?

- There were wooden barracks placed one next to another, in the country, near a cemetery. There was a NKVD station nearby. When somebody said that after the war we would return to Poland, Russians pointed to the cemetery and said: ‘There your Poland is.’

We missed our homeland a lot and sometimes somebody sang a part of the national anthem of Poland outside the barracks. If Russians found out about it they started investigation immediately to find the person who dared to sing the anthem. It was forbidden then.

- Where were you deported?

- We were in Barabasz, not far from Czelabinsk. My father and my older sister (17-years-old) had to work in an iron ore mine, where water reached their ankles.

There were terrible conditions. The worst were the night duties – nobody could 32

be late. My mum stayed awake and woke up my father and sister. The other 14year-old sister had to work in a canteen. She was forced to learn Russian but she opposed it absolutely and said she wouldn’t learn Russian. As punishment she was forced to work.

- What happened later?

- When Władysław Sikorski (Polish Prime Minister) held talks with Stalin about common fight against the Nazis, we were moved to Kazachstan to kolkhoz (collective farm) in a village Bratskoje. I remember the name of the railway station – Burnoje. My father and sisters worked in kolkhoz in the fields. Every family stayed with a family of natives, it means with Russians or Kazakhs. We often were moved to another families – so that we didn't become too close.

There also were Chechens who were treated extremely badly. They were starving all the time and they couldn’t work in kolkhoz so they were dying from hunger. I remember the father who carried in a sack their dead children to the cemetery.

It’s really hard to talk about hunger, how we were obtaining food…

The situation changed when the front got closer to Stalingrad. Then my father was taken to Karaganda (Central Asia) to work in a coal mine there. He wrote to us, he was starving. In the photo he sent us, we saw he was swelled up from hunger. He survived thanks to a Russian doctor.

We met our father in Poznań, where we travelled ‘west’, because the borders were changed after the WW2 and our house was outside Poland, in the USSR. The train we travelled on stood in Poznań for a dozen or so days. One day my older sister found out that a train from Karaganda was coming to Poznan with Polish forced labourers. What a meeting it was! Tears of joy, we were so happy!

I’d like to tell you about the end of the war. I remember, my mother had to go to the office to deal with something, and what a happy news: closed because of the end of the war: 9th May 1945. Germany signed the capitulation!

When we were in Russian captivity I asked my mum: Are there any flowers and trees in Poland? And then she answered: There are a lot of beautiful flowers and trees, the meadows are full of flowers and in the woods there are bilberries, mushrooms and singing birds...

Łukasz Mól from class 5a, SP 9 Dzierżoniów interviewed his grandmother born in 1935

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He saved Austrian farmers from death…

My great grandfather Wacław Krasoń was born in 1923 in a village Gorzkowice about 70 km south of Łódź. He was 16 when the World War Two began in 1939.

Two years later the Germans gave an order that from each family in the town one person had to go for forced labour to Germany. My grandfather had an elder brother who was to go, but he was afraid of it. That’s why my great grandfather Wacław went to forced labour in terrible conditions. He was deported to Austria to work on a farm. The farmer had two sons who were SS men and he was very bad for the workers. He beat them, didn’t give them enough food (they were often starving) and they had to work from the dawn to dusk.

It was really difficult and my great grandfather together with another Polish worker decided to run away. They walked from Vienna in Austria, through the Czech Republic to Cieszyn Silesia. Unfortunately there, they were caught by Germans and imprisoned. During the war, those who ran away from any kind of camps or forced labour places were killed or sent to concetration camps. In prison, my great grandfather worked very hard, the Germans noticed he was a very good worker and decided to send him back to forced labour in Austria.

This time my great grandfather was lucky, because he was sent to a village called Hochvolkersdorf to a good farmer, where he was working till the end of war.

In January 1945 Germans took all the workers from the farms to Vienna, where they had to build trenches around the city. For a whole month they had to work outside where the temperature reached -30 degrees. When they finished they were sent back to the farms.

The village, where my great grandfather worked was taken by the Red Army.

The Russians wanted to kill all the farmers in the village. Then my grandfather started to protect them, he explained they had been good for their workers, but the Russian soldiers didn’t understand him. It took quite a long time, and fortunately a Russian officer appeared. He knew the Polish language and at last my grandfather could explain everything clearly enough. This way he saved Austrian farmers from death.

The Austrians were very grateful to my great grandfather for what he had done for them. They made friends, wrote letters to each other for many years after the war. They also invited my great grandfather to their village. Every time he arrived in the village he was welcomed as a friend.

Witold Palus from class 5a, SP 9 Dzierżoniów has written about his great-grandfather’s life

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They came and took me and my two-year-old daughter…

Every family has some incredible events. About the most important ones from World War II in my great-grandmother’s life, I talked to my father’s grandmother Jadwiga Kotwica nee Budzińska.

- How old were you when the World War II broke out?

- I was born in 1922, it means I was 17 when the war began.

- Where did you live before the WW2?

- I lived in the Eastern borderlands, in a village Niewierków, district Równe, voivodeship Volhynia (Wołyń).

- How did life change in your village after the war began?

- In September 1939, the Soviet Army invaded the Eastern borderlands. The Polish Army troop, which stationed not far from my village, welcomed the Soviets as defenders from Germans. But it wasn’t like that – the Red Army took all Polish soldiers prisoners. Soviet occupation wasn’t long – it lasted till summer 1941. Then the Germans invaded the USSR and they came to our village too. Our life changed a lot then. Germans weren’t good for us, but the worst were the Ukrainians who belonged to UPA (The Ukrainian Insurgent Army). They were called Banderowcy (Bandera’s people) as their leader’s surname was Bandera. The worst happened when I was a wife and a mother. We ran a farm. There was a lack of food, because Germans took a bigger part of the food we produced.

- Which events from WW2 do you remember most?

- I went through many difficult periods during the war. But most I remember what happened in 1943. In this year Ukrainians from UPA murdered hundreds of thousands Polish people in the Eastern borderlands. First they killed Jews and pillaged their properties.

I saw myself a situation when Ukrainians put a bottle on a Jew’s head and shot to it. They said that first they had to kill Jews and after that they would do the same with Poles. And unfortunately they did .

It happened when my husband wasn’t at home one day in 1943. Bandera’s people came and took me and my two-year-old daughter. They told me to sit onto a horse-drawn wagon and took us to another village. There they were killing Polish people. They wanted to do the same with me and my daughter. I was very lucky because we had to wait and the Ukrainians went to help to kill another 35

Poles. Then I saw nobody was looking at us. I jumped down from the wagon and ran towards the fields of crops. Suddenly I realized I forgot to take my baby with me (I was in such a shock) and I returned very quietly and took her. We jumped into the crops and ran for many hours. I don’t know why, but I didn’t go home – I went to another village where my uncle lived. When I reached his house I fell down and lost consciousness. Later they said they couldn’t open the front door because I was lying there. They had to go out through the window to see what happened. They took me and my daughter in and helped us. I was very lucky I didn’t go home as the Bandera’s people were looking for me in my house. I also found out that the Ukrainian who was the wagon driver, was seriously beaten by Bandera’s people because he let us run away.

I and my daughter lived with my uncle Paweł (Paul) for some weeks. It was safe enough then because his wife was Ukrainian and Bandera’s people let them live.

But soon Germans deported us to Germany to work there. In Germany we lived till the end of the war. Life there was very hard: lack of food and a lot of work.

Several times I was close to death. But these are another stories. I remember I was carrying food to Russian pilots who were hiding in the forest nearby, because their plane was shot down by Germans. I don’t know what happened to them. One day I went to the forest and they weren’t there. I only found a piece of paper with a poem for me. I don’t remember the poem as I had to destroy it because it could be dangerous for me if someone found out about it.

- What happened to your family, friends and neighbours during the war?

- I, my husband – your great-grandfather and our daughter survived. My parents and my brothers and sisters also lived through to the end of the war. My husband’s brother was caught by Germans and sent to the concentration camp in Dachau and died there. My uncle Paweł (I lived with his family in Volhynia) and his family were murdered by Bandera’s people. His son – as people told me after the war - was buried when he was still alive and he started to speak before he died. He was dumb since he was a child. I don’t want to talk about Bardera’s people murders, because they were horrible, gruesome and it’s really difficult to talk about them.

- How did you celebrate church holidays during the WW2?

- In Germany we didn’t have a day off because of church holidays. We celebrated the holidays in our souls, quietly, dreaming about the end of the war.

- What did every day life look like then?

- When we were in Germany in a village Wiechau (now it’s in west Poland in Lubuskie voivodeship) we had to work hard all the time – in the fields, on the buildings and later we had to dig trenches.

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- Did you have enough food?

- No, we didn’t have enough food. We were often very hungry. At the end of the war even Germans had shortage of food. There were food ration coupons and the rations were very small. Once while I was cleaning the attic I found a biscuit. I was very hungry and I ate it immediately. In a moment I found a packaging of the biscuits and I found out they were poisoned biscuits for rats. But I survived – I had a terrible stomachache. I think the biscuit was very old and the poison didn’t work. I don’t know.

- What happened to your family after the war?

- After the liberation as the repatriates we were sent to the west and we settled in Łysiny near Wschowa, Lubuskie voivodeship. Some years later we moved to Księgnice Małe not far from Sobótka in Lower Silesia.

- A lot of people looked for their family for many years after the WW2 through international organizations. Was the same in your family?

- Yes, many people from our family turned up even several years after the war.

We made use of the Polish Red Cross and they helped us a lot.

- Granny, thank you very much for the conversation. It was a real History lesson for me.

About the most important war events during the World War II Artur Adam Rajczakowski was talking to his great-grandmother Jadwiga Kotwica.

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5. Learning about World War Two The United Kingdom in World War Two The only part of the British Isles to be invaded during World War Two were the Channel Islands. The mainland of Britain was not invaded. However, civilians were affected by the war.

We learned about the 'Blitz'. This was the period for 8 months from September 1940 when British cities were bombed by the German Luftwaffe.

London was attacked many times, as well as other cities such as Coventry:

Searchlights were used to look for enemy aircraft and we painted these images:

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Families were encouraged to build Andersen shelters in their gardens, where they could take refuge during the bombing raids. Also, everyone was told to grow vegetables, so that people in Britain didn't run out of food. We made models of the shelters and vegetables.

Children were evacuated from some English cities to live in the countryside.

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World War 2 on Slovenian grounds On 6th April, 1941, German Army entered Slovenian ground with no previous notice of their intentions. A week later Italian and Hungarian Army came, too. This is how the WW2 started in our country, the land being split among three invaders.

The occupying forces tried to make Slovenian land their own and to assimilate the local people. They were very agressive and they took many men, women and children into concentration camps.

27th April is a Slovenian bank holiday as we celebrate the day when the Slovenian officially started their open fight against the occupying forces. On this day in 1941 a combative political organisation was formed and it connected all the Slovenian people, no matter their religion or beliefs. It was meant to fight the enemy and organize the people's revolution.

In summer 1941 the partisan corps arose and in autumn they gathered into batallions.

In 1942 Ljubljana was encircled with barbed wire.

The 33-kilometre path, which crosses both urban areas and the surrounding meadows and forests, runs along the course of the barbed wire fence which surrounded Ljubljana during World War II (from 1942 onwards), when the Italian and later German occupying forces tried to prevent contacts between the city and its hinterland. The barbed wire fence was guarded by around 1,300 soldiers and 400 policemen, who checked the identity papers of those travelling to and from the city.

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The path marked in red on an OpenStreetMap of Ljubljana

An avenue of birches along the path, in the Rudnik District In memory of those events every year thousands of people take part in the walk around the wire of invaded Ljubljana on 9th May. In 1942 people started organizing partisan schools on the land that had been freed. They had no books or things for school so people only got basic education.

The freedom took a very long time to come. WW2 in Europe ended on Slovenian grounds.

It is believed that in Slovenia at least 97,459 people died during the war, which is 6.5 per cent of the population.

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Norway during World War Two The German occupation of Norway started on 9th April 1940. Norway was really important for them because we had iron ore.

Even though Norway was occupied, most people could go to their ordinary jobs.

The Norwegian government and some other people who played a big part on how Norway was ruled, escaped to England.

Around 10 000 Norwegians died because of the war. Some of them were sent to concentration camps in Germany and Poland.

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Poland during World War Two On 1st September 1939 very early in the morning Germany without declaring war, invaded Poland. Enormous German air forces bombed not only military objects but also hospitals signed with a red cross and roads full of fearful citizens escaping in a hurry. The Germans according to Hitler’s orders, from the beginning of the war were killing not only soldiers but also children, women and older people. This way the most cruel world war in mankind's history began.

The Polish government, according to earlier signed pacts with Britain and France, waited for these countries’ military help. Unfortunately Britain and France only declared the war on Germany and did nothing more. The Polish nation had to defend itself on its own. Even though Germany had a much bigger army, the Polish army defended from 1st September and invaders occurred huge losses.

The most famous battles from September 1939 took place in Westerplatte (north of Poland, coast), in Silesia, on the River Bzura and for the Modlin fortress.

Not only soldiers were brave, but also civilians. They helped the army, took care of the wounded, sometimes they even fought like soldiers. The best example is the defense of Warsaw, the capital city of Poland.

While the Polish nation was fighting against the Germans, without declaration of war, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, the Ribbentrop-Molotow pact signed with Germany in 1939 about dividing Polish territory of Poland. The Red Army crossed the Polish border on 17th September 1939 invading Polish territory to the rivers Bug and San. On 28th September Germany and the Soviet Union signed another pact and divided Poland ( 388 000 square kilometres with 35 million people): the Soviet Union took 200 000 square km with 13 million people, Germany: 200 000 square kilometres with 22 million people.

Both occupiers wanted not only to gain Polish territory, but also to destroy Polish culture and the Polish nation as a whole.

Germany engaged in a concentrated effort to destroy Polish culture. Numerous cultural and educational institutions were closed or destroyed, from schools and universities, through monuments and libraries, to laboratories and museums.

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Many employees of these institutions were arrested and executed as part of the wider persecutions of the Polish intellectual elite.

The Polish language was prohibited to be taught even in elementary schools; landmarks from streets to cities were renamed. All manner of Polish enterprises, up to small shops, were taken over, with prior owners rarely compensated. Signs posted in public places prohibited non-Germans from entering these places warning: "Entrance is forbidden to Poles, Jews, and dogs.", or Nur f端r Deutsche ("Only for Germans"), commonly found on many public utilities and places such as trams, parks, cafes, cinemas, theatres, and others.

The Germans kept an eye out for Polish children who possessed Nordic racial characteristics. An estimated total of 50,000 children, the majority taken from orphanages and foster homes in the annexed lands, but some separated from their parents, were taken into a special Germanization programme.

A total of 2.3 millions of Polish citizens, including 300,000 POWs, were deported to Germany as forced labourers.

The Polish civilian population suffered under German occupation in several ways.

Large numbers were expelled from land intended for German colonisation, and forced to resettle in the General-Government area. Hundreds of thousands of Poles were deported to Germany for forced labour in industry and agriculture, where many thousands died. Poles were also conscripted for labour in Poland, and were held in labour camps all over the country, again with a high death rate.

There was a general shortage of food, fuel for heating and medical supplies, and there was a high death rate among the Polish population as a result. Hundreds of thousands Poles were also killed in prisons and death camps. The biggest German concentration camp was in Auschwitz, where at least 1.1 million prisoners were killed.

Poland had a large Jewish population, and according to Davies, more Jews were both killed and rescued in Poland, than in any other nation: the rescue figure usually being put at between 100-150,000. Thousands of Poles have been honoured as Righteous Among the Nations - constituting the largest national contingent. When AK Home Army Intelligence discovered the true fate of the transports leaving the Jewish Ghetto, the Council to Aid Jews (Zegota) was established in late 1942, in cooperation with church groups. The organisation 44

saved thousands. Emphasis was placed on protecting children, as it was nearly impossible to intervene directly against the heavily guarded transports.

In response to the occupation, Poles formed one of the largest underground movements in Europe. Resistance to the Nazi German occupation began almost at once.

Soviet terror in the occupied eastern Polish lands was as cruel and tragic as Nazi in the west. Soviet authorities brutally treated those who might oppose their rule, deporting by 10 November 1940, around 10% of the total population of Kresy, with 30% of those deported dead by 1941. They arrested and imprisoned about 500,000 Poles during 1939–1941, including former officials, officers, and natural "enemies of the people", like the clergy, but also noblemen and intellectuals. The Soviets also executed about 65,000 Poles. Soldiers of the Red Army and their officers behaved like conquerors, looting and stealing Polish treasures.

An inherent part of the Sovietization was a rule of terror started by the NKVD and other Soviet agencies. The first victims of the new order were approximately 250,000 Polish prisoners of war captured by the USSR during and after the Polish Defensive War. As the Soviet Union did not sign any international convention on rules of war, they were denied the status of prisoners of war and instead almost all of the captured officers and a large number of ordinary soldiers were then murdered ( Katyn massacre) or sent to Gulag.

Over 6 million Polish citizens – nearly 21.4% of the pre-war population of the Second Polish Republic — died between 1939 and 1945. Over 90% of the death toll involved non-military losses, as most civilians were targets of various deliberate actions by the Germans and Soviets.

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Students works Learning about WW2 – Steeton School We started our work on World War 2 by thinking about what we already knew and what we wanted to learn.

Food rationing in England in World War 2 Rationing was introduced in January 1940. Everyone was issued with a ration book containing coupons. Food rationing lasted for 14 years in Britain. Following the end of the War in 1945, rationing continued until ending in 1954.

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The outbreak of war in the UK We learned about the events leading to the UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's announcement on 3 September 1939 that Germany had invaded Poland and that therefore we were at war with Germany:

D-Day: 6 June 1944 We watched a film about D-Day and learned about the 5 beaches in Normandy (Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword).

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We learned which schools were taking part in the eTwinning project.

Evacuation Children were evacuated from some English cities to live in the countryside.

View from the train window on the journey to the countryside.

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Imagining what an evacuee would have written home to their parents.

A trip to Eden Camp When we were doing our world war two project we went to Eden Camp. It used to be a prisoner of war camp and now is a museum. There were three huts called mess huts and there were twenty nine other huts and a gift shop. There were different things in different huts. The scariest huts were Hut 3 (the u-boat) and Hut 5 (the blitz). There were different things in the gift shop like bullets, sweets and toys.

Anne Frank Anne Frank was a Jewish girl. She survived in an attic for a couple of years with her mum, dad and her sister, and also with another family, behind a bookcase in a house in Amsterdam. She wrote a diary of all her tragic memories of the war.

Their hiding place was discovered and they got caught. She died in a labour camp a few weeks before the camp was liberated. She died due to a disease she caught in the camp. Her mum and sister also died as well. So her dad published her diary to remember her, which meant she became famous.

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Learning about WW2 – SP9 Dzierżoniów Polish students studied the reasons of World War Two outbreak, what was the political situation in Europe in 1939.

Next they worked on Defensive War in 1939 in Poland as Germans invaded Poland from the west on 1st September and the Soviet Union from the east on 17th September. The Polish nation had to fight against two invaders which was very complicated and difficult. Laura made a presentation showing this period of history:

To watch the presentation click the link below: http://www.slideshare.net/annaszsp9/defensive-war-1939-in-poland On 10th February 2014 in Poland we remember as the 74th anniversary of first wave of Polish people deportations into the USSR. Over a million people were deported into Soviet Union (Siberia, Kazachstan and others). Most of them died.

Those who survived were really lucky. Łukasz's grandmother’s family was among the lucky ones...

Szymon made a presentation showing the part of World War Two which isn't very well known in the west part of Europe.

To watch the presentation click the link below: Deportations into the Soviet Union

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We studied the life under occupation in Poland. One of the most tragic moments during the WW2 was the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. The Home Army soldiers wanted to avoid Soviet occupation after the war and they wanted to liberate the capital city before the Red Army. Unfortunately Stalin ordered not to help the Uprising and about 200 thousand people were killed while the Soviets were watching them from the east bank of Vistula. They even didn’t let British and American planes land on the territory they had liberated.

The Warsaw Uprising was the largest single military effort taken by any European resistance movement of World War II. Joanna made an ebook about Warsaw Uprising.

Warsaw Uprising 1944 Polish soldiers fought against Germans in many countries in Europe, for example in Italy (they fought for Monte Casino), in Holland, France, Belgium and in the Battle of Britain. Kacper studied the history of No 303 Polish fighter squadron.

Click the link below to watch the presentation: No 303 Polish Fighter Squadron

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The Battle of Monte Cassino (also known as the Battle for Rome and the Battle for Cassino) one of the biggest and most important battle during the World War Two. The battle started in January 1944 and lasted till 18th May 1944, when Polish soldiers reached the top of the mountain and planted Polish flag there. During the battle about 55 thousand Allies soldiers were killed.

For Poland this battle is very important because the Polish soldiers from Polish II Corps (created in 1943) were victims of Soviet deportations from occupied Poland in 1939-40. They had been processed by the NKVD and sent to concentration camps, labour camps or penal exile in Siberia. The German-Soviet pact of August 1939 effectively ended on 22 June 1941 when Germany invaded the USSR. The release of many thousands of Poles from the Soviet Gulags, following the signing of the Polish-Russian Military Agreement on August 14, 1941, allowed for the creation of a Polish Army on Soviet soil. The released joined the Polish Armed Forces in the East being formed in Southern Russia and Kazakhstan. For political reasons the Soviet Union soon withdrew support for the creation of a Polish Army on its territory and reduced the supply rate, which resulted in General Władysław Anders withdrawing his troops to British-held Persia and Iraq. From there they were moved to British-controlled Palestine, then through Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea to Italy.

Among the huge variety of troops serving at Monte Cassino, probably the most unusual was a bear from Iran, called Wojtek. He helped the Polish soldiers carry artillery shells during the battle.

Witold from class 5a made a presentation about the Battle of Monte Cassino which students watched in class:

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Polish students learned about famous people who were brave during the WW2 and helped other people even though they could be killed for it.

During World War Two the whole of Poland was occupied (west part by Germans and the east part by Soviets). Germans wanted to exterminate the whole nations, first of all Jews. On the territory of Poland Germans set up many extermination (death) camps, where they killed about 11 000 000 people. In Poland during the war Germans set up a law - "Everybody who helps the Jews will be killed". And it didn't frighten all the Poles as thousands of Polish people helped the Jews, thousand were killed because if it. Janusz Korczak could avoid death, but he didn't want to leave the Jewish orphans on their way to the extermination camp Treblinka.

Wiktoria made a presentation to let you know Janusz Korczak:

To watch the presentation click the link below: http://www.slideshare.net/annaszsp9/janusz-korczak-in-english

Aleksandra made a presentation about Irena Sendler - a nurse who during the WW2 helped Jewish people from the beginning of the war. When The Warsaw Ghetto was set up, she as a social worker could come in and out of the Ghetto and she helped the Jews. When Germans started deporting Jews east it was clear they were going to be killed in Treblinka extermination camp. Irena Sendler with friends started smuggling Jewish children from the Ghetto giving them new names and housing them with Polish families. Irena Sendler wrote the children's data on pieces of paper, put them into a jar and buried it in the garden. This way after the war children could know their real names and origin.

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To watch the presentation click the link below: Holocaust and Irena Sendler In Poland during the World War Two the Germans sentenced to death everyone who helped the Jews. This way a lot of people were killed. Karolina made a presentation showing one brave priest, who was imprisoned because he helped Jews, then he was sent to concentration camp Auschwitz where he as a volunteer was sentenced to starving death. After two weeks of starving he was still alive and he was given a lethal injection of carbolic acid.

To watch the presentation click the link below: Maximilian Maria Kolbe

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Stanisław Skalski (27 November 1915 – 12 November 2004) was a Polish fighter ace of the Polish Air Force in World War II, later rising to the rank of general.

Stanisław Skalski was the top Polish fighter ace of the war and the first Allied fighter ace of the war, credited, according to official list, with 18 11/12 victories and two probable. He fought in the UK in the Battle of Britain.

Wiktoria made a presentation about him: Stanisław Skalski Polish students were on a trip to Complex Rzeczka – underground corridors, part of a construction project Riese (Giant) started by Nazi Germany in 1943-1945 in the Owl Mountains and Książ Castle in Lower Silesia, previously Germany, now territory of Poland. They saw the terrible conditions the prisoners had to work the whole year long. Mela made a presentation about our trip and Complex Rzeczka: Click the link below to watch the presentation: A trip to Complex Rzeczka

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On Friday 7th April 2014 Polish school was visited by 3 men from our local Historical Reconstruction Group of 28th Regiment of Infantry.

They told us about soldiers' life before and during World War Two, showed us the weapons from those days and of course we could see the soldiers' uniforms from the war.

We also watched a film from the battle of Wizna which was performed 3 years ago and in which they took part. Boys could touch the weapons: a gun machine, a rifle and a gun. Our guests answered our questions about war and soldiers' life during the war. The meeting was an exellent experience for all the students, especially to the ones who have taken part in our project.

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Learning about WW2 : pupils' work from IC Ferraironi of Rome CONVERSATION Number ONE: THE WAR We are Year 3 pupils attending the Balzani annexe of the Ferraironi Institute of Rome.

We are nearly 9 years old, but our teachers try to help us understand bits and pieces of some harsh realities by means of approaching these themes in a way so soft as to not create any worry or sadness. Nevertheless, we are by now able to speak, reflect and share thoughts and knowledge about many subjects.

One of these subject is certainly the story of our predecessors, the way they spent their lives studying, living at home, working. Our great-grandfathers, for instance spent their childhood in such a very different way when compared to ours.

Conversation NUMBER ONE is just the beginning of what is going to happen or has already started in our classroom. We will type up the conversations ourselves, or at least the ones among us who can use Word easily. For the time being, it is our teacher Susanna who is explaining how our conversations will take place.

Thrursday- January 23rd 2014 Teacher’s question n°1: What do we know about these two words put together, “World War”?

Teacher’s question n°2: What does the word “WAR” mean?

Teacher’s question n° 3: What is “Il Gobbo del Quarticciolo”?

As for the third question, which translated means “The Quarticciolo Hunchback”, a one-man-show which will take place at our school, by an actor whose name is Emiliano Valente, was asked by our teacher in preparation of next week’s events. Seven classes, all belonging to the older grades (3d to 5 th grade) will be watching the Play in groups in our large school Theatre, on Monday 27 th and Wednesday 29th of January.

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A show about the war: Il Gobbo del Quarticciolo Children in Year 3 at the IC Ferraironi Institute watched a one man show by the Italian actor Emiliano Valente, on Wednesday 29 January 2014.

We were all celebrating the Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.

The Play tells the story of the adventures of some people living in the Quarticciolo suburbian area of Rome (located near our school building), during the Nazis’ rounding-up operations.

These dates are very important dates in the Jewish Community all over the world but not only among the Jewish.

The Holocaust had nearly finished by the time people in Italy were trying hard to liberate Italy from the Nazis.

La seconda guerra mondiale Research of photos and texts by Daniele,Ludovica, Andrea, Leon, Beatrice, Patrizio , Samuele, Ludovica, Alice, year 4, IC Ferraironi Roma • We discussed in class about what we know about the world war.

• We asked in our families to tell memories or tales or things that parents, grandparents, relatives remember about the period of the war • Many of them told about bombing in Rome and in the region • We asked info to our parents and grandparents and then we organized texts. We’ve also watched videos and songs in Twinspace by pupils of other European countries. We agreed that the Second world war is very ugly

Hitler ha scatenato la guerra. Hitler started the war.

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During Nazi occupation in Rome • There was a hunchback who was a newspaper seller and was also a part of the Resistance and helped people to get food. To capture him, the Germans arrested all the hunchbacked in Rome • Then Nazis killed 335 persons, shooting them, because 33 German soldiers were killed by Partisans so SS ordered to kill 10 Italians for each German soldier • Once two boys found a hole and inside the cave there were all these dead people.

• But at the end Americans helped us to win.

Bombing on San Lorenzo, in Rome

When my granddad was 7 he started to run away from war . With his family he went to a small village to escape from bombing but there they found the German soldiers. The soldiers lived in the school and stole food from the farmers.

Children used to ask for bread from German soldiers. There was the curfew and once in the family they forgot to turn off the light. Germans came and broke the door with their heavy boots and shot the lampbulb.

In the countryside • I’ve discovered that my great-grandfather built a bunker in the garden to hide when they heard the bombardeers' planes • My great grand-father Giacomo and his son were captured and brought as prisoners in Germany • Another great grand-father was imprisoned and then released and when he got back home he was wearing only underpants and a jacket

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Once good soldiers passed there and gave each child a coin, but when the bad soldiers arrived they stole chickens and eggs.

During the war Germans captured Jewish people and imprisoned them in the camps. Then they killed them in the gas chambers. 27th January is Memory day to remember the day when Auschwitz camp was free.

These are the medals awarded to my Grandfather who fought during the second world war.

We are lucky because now there is no more war and we can go where we want.

I think that German people understood their mistakes, except for some general.

I hope there won’t be any other world war. The whole work is HERE

Viva la pace! We love peace!

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Learning about WW2 - OŠ Cirila Kosmača Piran A VISIT FROM THE FIGHTERS FOR VALUES OF WORLD WAR II FROM THE MUNICIPALITY OF PIRAN On Monday (12th May 2014) six fighters for values of World War II from the Municipality of Piran visited us at our school. They talked about the second world war and about their life during the war. Some of them were born before the war and took an active part in it, some of them were born after the war.

They also talked about the concentration camp Rižarna (Risiera di San Sabba). When my schoolfriends and I visited Rižarna, the feeling was terrible.

We could only imagine what people went through during World War II. We were very grateful to them for paying us the visit at our school and taking some of their time to tell us stories about events which took place in the World War II.

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The stories were extremely interesting and we were very happy to listen to them and we also learned a lot of new things about the world war II in Slovenia.

Domen Eršeg, 9.a

Photos: 9th grade students visiting the concentration camp Rižarna (Risiera di San Sabba) in Italy.

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Learning about WW2 by Ecole Massenet-Pasteur, Saint Chamond We are working on this book written by Tomi Ungerer. We will play it on a theatre stage. We noticed all the historic facts about World War 2

What we learnt about World War 2 thanks to that book: - The Jews had to wear a 'The star of David' in order to be recognised and their life was very difficult at that time - Women, men and children were sent to concentration camps - In concentrations camps, there were gas chambers where people were killed by inhaling toxic gas.

- World War 2 killed many innocent people: the Jews in the concentration camps, men who were called to battle for their country, women or children in towns during air raids.

- When an air raid was coming, sirens were wailing so that people could go down to shelters to protect themselves from the air raids dropped by planes.

- After an air raid, everything was destroyed and there were fires too.

- American soldiers called GI came to liberate occupied countries.

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6. War songs from our countries One of tasks for students was to learn singing war song from their country and if possible from partner school’s countries.

Italian students sang Bella ciao. This is the most famous Italian song from the period of the WW2 and of the resistance against Nazi occupation in Italy.

The song is sung by the choir Sesta voce , the multi-ethnic choir of ICS "Via Ferraironi" di Roma. Some parts are in Kurdish language, as often the choir sings in other languages. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3HzD6NZcpQ Una mattina mi son svegliato O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao Una mattina mi son svegliato E ho trovato l'invasor

One morning I woke up O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao One morning I woke up And I found the invader

O partigiano portami via O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao O partigiano porta mi via Che mi sento di morir

Oh partisan, carry me away, O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao Oh partisan, carry me away, For I feel I'm dying

E se io muoio da partigiano O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao E se io muoio da partigiano Tu mi devi seppellir

And if I die as a partisan O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao And if I die as a partisan You have to bury me

Mi seppellire lassù in montagna O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao Mi seppellire lassù in montagna Sotto l'ombra di un bel fiore

But bury me up in the mountain O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao, But bury me up in the mountain Under the shadow of a beautiful flower

E le genti che passeranno O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao E le genti che passeranno Mi diranno: "Che bel fior"

And the people who will pass by O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao, And the people who will pass by Will say to me: "what a beautiful flower"

È questo il fiore del partigiano O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao È questo il fiore del partigiano Morto per la libertà

This is the flower of the partisan O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao This is the flower of the partisan Who died for freedom.

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This song was also sung by a Polish student Mateusz Subocz from class 3a: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol2B8TNv5jw

Polish students sang a very popular Polish war song Piechota – Infantry.

This Polish war song was probably written in 1917 and was very popular during the World War Two. Polish people still sing this song and children learn to sing it at school as it is in primary school curriculum in Music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNJ4KqWKtLA

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1. Nie noszą lampasów, lecz szary ich strój, Nie noszą ni srebra, ni złota, Lecz w pierwszym szeregu podąża na bój Piechota, ta szara piechota.

1.They wear no lampasses but uniforms, They wear neither silver nor gold, Always in front, the first to fight Infantry, the grey infantry.

grey

Maszerują strzelcy, maszerują, Karabiny błyszczą, szary strój, A przed nimi drzewa salutują, Bo za naszą Polskę idą w bój!

Riflemen keep on marching Rifles glitter upon grey uniforms, Trees salute as they go For our Poland to fight!

2. Bo idą, a w słońcu kołysze się stal, Dziewczęta zerkają zza płota, A oczy ich dumnie utkwione są w dal, Piechota, ta szara piechota!

2. As they walk, steel rocks in the sunlight Village lassies lurk behind the fence, With pride in their eyes, gazing at Infantry, the grey infantry.

Maszerują strzelcy, maszerują, Karabiny błyszczą, szary strój, A przed nimi drzewa salutują, Bo za naszą Polskę idą w bój!

Riflemen keep on marching Rifles glitter upon grey uniforms, Trees salute as they go For our Poland to fight!

Polish students sang one more war song, this time a song from the Warsaw Uprising Pałacyk Michla / Michler's Palace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwVW1Z0c-8M#t=20

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Pałacyk Michla was written during Warsaw Uprising on 4th or 5th August 1944 by one of the insurgents Józef Szczepański in Michler's Palace. This song became a war anthem of Battalion Parasol (Umbrella) which was fighting for the Michler's Palace. The Palace was destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising, but the song survived and is still sung by Polish children (and others too). The language of it is rather difficult to translate and there are many war words we don't use now. It's about young people fighting against the Germans, about insurgents' life during uprising, love and friendship.

Our music teacher at SP 9 Dzierżoniów plays the music and the school choir is singing.

Polish students Kasia Wielgos from class 5d learnt to sing the English war song

It’s a long way to Tipperary.

Then the other students also could learn this song using our film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hehmm6abpYM

It's a long way to Tipperrary, It's a long way to go; It's a long way to Tipperrary To the sweetest girl I know!

Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell, Leicester Square, It's a long, long way to Tipperrary, But my heart's right there!

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Slovenian students sang their patriotic song about highest mountain in Slovenia - Triglav

Oj Triglav, moj dom – Oi Triglav, my home

Oj Triglav, moj dom, kako si krasan, kako me izvabljaš iz nizkih ravan v poletni vročini na strme vrhe da tam si spočije v samoti srce, kjer potok izvira v skalovju hladan: oj Triglav, moj dom, kako si krasan!

Oi Triglav, my home, how gorgeous you are, How well you allure me from low plains onto the steep peaks in summer heat to rest my heart in solitude where a cold stream originates in the rocks: oi Triglav, my home, how gorgeous you are!

Oj Triglav, moj dom, četudi je svet začaral s čudesi mi večkrat pogled, tujina smehljaje kazala mi kras, le nate sem mislil ljubeče ves čas, o tebi sem sanjal sred’ svetlih dvoran: oj Triglav, moj dom, kako si krasan!

Oi Triglav, my home, even if the world Often enchanted my eyes with its wonders, Far lands with a smile boasted of their carst, It is only you that I’ve always lovingly thought about, I’ve dreamed about you amid bright halls: oi Triglav, my home, how gorgeous you are!

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English students sang

Run rabbit, run

This was a popular song during World War 2 in England.

Introduction On the farm, ev'ry Friday, On the farm, it's rabbit pie day; So ev'ry Friday, that ever comes along, I get up early, and sing this little song...

Refrain 1 Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run, run, run, Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run, run, run, Bang, bang, bang, bang! goes the farmer's gun, Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run, run, run.

Refrain 2 Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run, run, run, Don't give the farmer his fun, fun, fun; He'll get by without his rabbit pie, So run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run, run, run.

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7. Videomeetings The teachers met several times to choose the right tool for students videomeeting. They tried:

ooVoo

Skype premium

Webex

Finally they decided to use Webex, which was a good choice as everything worked during the videomeeting. Students and teachers exchanged their opinion about the eTwinning project, sang a war song.

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The conference call on 9th April 2014 Times given are UK/ then Italy+Poland+Slovenia.

15 minutes per school,

1 Welcome 10.45/11.45 Welcome to the video conference call (England) There were 4 schools taking part – from Italy, Poland, Slovenia and England.

2 Poland Hello, We are students of Nicolaus Copernicus Primary School number 9 in Dzierżoniów in Poland. Our home town is situated in the south-west part of Poland.

To our school go children aged 6/7 to 13 and this school year we have 18 classes, to which attend 410 students. From year 4 we have one sports class – with ten PE lessons a week. Boys practice first of all football and girls handball. The other classes have 4 PE lessons a week. Students have swimming lessons too.

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About our town we have made some presentations you can see in the Twinspace.

From 2005 our school has been involved in eTwinning projects what lets us know different countries and different cultures. We are very happy to be able to work on this project with you. We have been learning a lot about World War Two not only from our point of view, but also we could find out the other countries history during the war. In Poland we all like the English film about William’s story during the war “Goodnight Mister Tom”. Very valuable was the presentation with Toncka’s story made by Slovenian school. It’s incredible she was in our town during the war – before WW2 our town was a part of Germany and had different name – Reichenbach.

We had fun while making and watching Vokis. The letters from Slovenia were a big surprise for us and they let us improve our English. We have already written the answer letters and we hope you will get them in Piran very soon.

On behalf of our head teacher Wioletta Uchman-Chrząszcz and all of us we’d like to wish you Happy Easter and we hope to continue our work with you in the future.

Now we want to sing one of the most famous war song in Poland Piechta –

Infantry

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3. Slovenia Headmistress, teachers and students said a few words.

The headmistress

Our special quest Tončka Senčar Slovenian students sang “Oj Triglav, moj dom”

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4. Italy Susanna, Paola and students said a few words about the project in Italy.

Italian children sang two songs L'Aquilone (the kite)

Bella Ciao

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5. England John Cooper, headteacher said:

Hello from England!

My name is Mr Cooper and we are all here to welcome you to Steeton Primary School, in Yorkshire.

The school is in a village, between the town of Keighley and the Yorkshire Dales National Park. We have 11 classes, with children from the ages of 4 to 11 years old.

This is an exciting opportunity for us to work with schools around Europe using eTwinning. We believe that it gives pupils an excellent experience of working internationally to broaden our friendships; creating a richer curriculum for all of our pupils Our children now readily accept and embrace the differences there are between all our cultures, whilst at the same time recognising the majority of areas within our lives where we share the same values and habits.

We welcome the opportunity to understand and see how our partners across Europe live and learn.

We look forward to hearing more from you all in the future. Our best wishes to you all from Steeton Primary School.

Children at Steeton to say: 1 eTwinning is very safe. It tells us about other countries and helps us meet new friends around Europe.

2 We really enjoyed looking at all the photos and films of the schools on the eTwinning Twinspace.

3 We really enjoyed looking at your World War 2 work throughout the topic and 76

we learned a lot.

4 We enjoyed our trip to Eden Camp, which was a prisoner of war camp and is now a Visitor Centre.

5 We liked using new tools like StepMap and making vokis and we loved taking part in the logo competition.

6 We hope to work with you all again in another project. We are now going to sing 'Run, rabbit, run.'

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8. Project in the media Our project in the local newspaper: The Keighley News Hailey (a student of Steeton School) brought in items from the second world war which had been owned by her great-grandfather, James Holdsworth:

www.keighleynews.co.uk/news/10995132.Hands_on_history_work_at_Steeton_P rimary_School/ Youngsters in Steeton have been receiving a vivid introduction to what ordinary people experienced during the Second World War. Year five and six pupils at Steeton Primary School are taking part in a learning project, which also involves schools in six other European countries.

The programme for the term includes a trip to the Eden Camp modern history theme museum, near Malton.

As well as finding out about Britain's role in the war, the children have been sharing information with their young counterparts elsewhere in Europe.

A Steeton Primary spokesman said: 'They've heard about a retired Slovenian teacher who was sent to a labour camp in the war, learned about a Polish man who was part of the resistance, and saw a film of the bombing of Rome.

'One pupil, Hailey Spencer, brought in some photos of her great grandfather, James Brian Holdsworth, who worked in Reykjavik from July 1940 to September 1942.'

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Our video call was reported in the Craven Herald, a newspaper published in Skipton, near Steeton

Steeton children make foreign friends Read online here Schoolchildren chatted with youngsters in Italy, Poland and Slovenia.

The pupils of Steeton Primary School, near Keighley, took part in an international video conference call.

The call – which was projected on a giant screen – was part of the Steeton pupils’ work on the Second World War The children exchanged information about how the war affected their country, and each school sang a song from the war.

The youngsters have also written blogs about their research.

The children in Slovenia were joined on the call by a former teacher who had been imprisoned in a Nazi labour camp in German-occupied Poland during the war.

Teacher Diana Linford was the project co-ordinator at Steeton Primary and is an eTwinning Ambassador for the Yorkshire region.

She said: “Both children and teachers benefit enormously from working with schools in other countries.

“It helps to give a depth and sense of perspective.”

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Diana Linford was interviewed by the Guardian Teacher Network and they included the interview in an article How are primary schools preparing to

teach languages? published on 20th May 2014:

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The link to the whole article: http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacherblog/2014/may/20/primary-schools-preparing-teach-languages

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Our project in local newspapers and portals in Dzierżoniów, Poland On 21st January 2014 after visiting us by World War Two survivor Mr Józef Oleksiewicz an article about our project appeared. http://www.dzierzoniow.pl/pl/news/sp-9-poznaje-histori-ii-wojny-wiatowej

They wrote about Mr Józef’s life, our project’s aims and what we had done to that time. They also wrote Tončka Senčar’s war story including the labour camps in Lower Silesia.

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An article about or project also appeared in our local weekly “Dzierżoniowski Tygodnik Powiatowy”:

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On 10th April 2014 an article about our videomeeting appeared in local portals and info websites in Dzier偶oni贸w. Even on the local tv website you can read about our videomeeting and about the whole project, which is a great success for all of us. http://www.dzierzoniow.pl/pl/news/wojenne-wideospotkanie-sp-9 http://ddz.doba.pl/?s=subsite&id=39557&mod=3 http://dtp-24.pl/wojenne-wideospotkanie-sp-9,57483 And the local tv website: http://www.tvsudecka.pl/34,4037-wojenne_wideo_spotkanie_sp_9_.html

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9. Students working together Students wanted to know each other better and that is why they had the opportunity to introduce themselves in different ways: they created Vokis, wrote traditional letters and wrote emails.

Steeton School We made these vokis to introduce ourselves to the other people in the project.

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English students wrote letters to Italian, Polish and Slovenian students:

SP 9 Dzier偶oni贸w Polish students made these vokis to introduce themselves to the other people in the project.

They practised English, they knew a new for them ICT tool.

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Polish students wrote letters by hand and on computers:

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OĹ Cirila KosmaÄ?a Piran Slovenian students wrote letters by hand in English and sent them to England and Poland. They also wrote in Italian and sent the letters to Rome. The happiest moments were when they got the answer letters.

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10. Logo competition We held a competition to find a logo for the project. This was very popular with all the students! Logos were drawn by students in the participating schools, and then uploaded onto the Twinspace. Pupils in each school then voted on their three favourite logos – and, of course, we couldn't vote for our own logos!

We ended up with a tie for first place, so we voted again. The winning logo, designed by Julia in Poland, was bright and clear and therefore very suitable for a logo. The notion of war was included with the camouflaged first letter of the words. It captured the nature of the eTwinning project with students in different countries working together and sharing their research.

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Julia from Poland – she designed the winning logo 91

11. Our reflections on the project Students’ reflections: PUPILS OF CIRIL KOSMAČ ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PIRAN ABOUT THE PROJECT We think that the project was very interesting. We have learnt a lot of interesting things about World War II from our grandparents and from Mrs Tončka Senčar, a lady who survived the war. We loved listening to our grandparents but at the same time we felt sorry for the people who died in the war.

Students of 5.B

I liked everything we did, watched and listened to, because I think it is important to learn how it was in the past and we realized how many people suffered.

Endi Malkar, 5.a class

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For me the best part was video-chatting on Skype and when we sang a song »Oj, Triglav, my home«. Activities that I remember most were the conversation with Tončka Senčar and watching movies Life is Beautiful, Do not cry, Peter and the Boy in the stripped pajamas.

Sean Walter Šker, 5.a class I have found out that in other countries people experienced World War II in different ways. Many people survived.

Aleksander Stanič, 5.a class The most interesting thing for me was when we got to know about Tončka's life in a labour camp and when we talked to other schools by Skype. I liked the project because I have learnt many new things.

Taša Vižman I have learnt a lot of new things. We listened to many songs, we talked by Skype, we watched a lot of films and we listened to Tončka Senčar who told us about her life in a labour camp.

Ajla Bečirović

REFLECTIONS ON OUR PROJECT FROM THE PUPILS AT STEETON PRIMARY SCHOOL

I liked all of the project really. I liked the build up to the conference call. I liked all of the different countries and schools and I liked to speak to the different countries in the conference call.

I liked the WW2 project because I got to see what other countries thought and felt like in war-time. I also liked the conference call the songs from other countries.

I liked it when we got together in the hall and did the conference call. I liked all the schools and learning about the different songs they sing.

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I liked doing the conference call and hearing more about the world war. I liked all the different schools and countries.

I liked it when we learned songs. I liked the conference call, learning how they lived in Slovenia, Italy and Poland and the disastrous moments that they went through. Every moment was special in its own little way but knowing how they felt won it for me.

We enjoyed the conference call because we got to talk and interact with the other children. We learned a lot from receiving the information. The logo competition was great. It was interesting learning about how people in other countries coped with the war and the bombing.

I enjoyed doing the logos and voting for the other ones. The powerpoints were great. Eden Camp was the best trip have been on.

I enjoyed learning about men going from many countries to try to do what's right.

I enjoyed going to Eden Camp. I enjoyed learning about World War 2, especially the rationing, the blitz and Anne Frank - it was very interesting and very sad.

I really enjoyed looking at some videos about world war 2. I have enjoyed learning about Hitler and the Jews and some of the songs like 'It's a long way'.

Also I have enjoyed the art work that we have done.

I learned that war is horrible. I enjoyed going to Eden Camp and I learned that Hitler hated Jews.

REFLECTIONS ON OUR PROJECT FROM THE PUPILS AT SZKOŁA PODSTAWOWA NR 9, DZIERŻONIÓW I learnt a lot about World War Two. I enjoyed watching film "Goodnight Mister Tom” and voting for logos. Dawid I learnt about bad people who caused World War Two. I really liked the film "Goodnight Mister Tom”. Jakub The most interesting thing in the project was watching film " Goodnight Mister Tom". I learnt a lot what World War Two was, how people lived during the war.

Kasia

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I learnt a lot about the war. I liked the film "Goodnight Mister Tom" and I enjoyed using VOKI. Robert I found a lot about World War Two. I enjoyed watching films (“Goodnight Mister Tom”, “A boy in striped pyjamas”, “Courageous heart of Irena Sendler”).

I liked drawing logo and making my avatar on VOKI. Mela While working on this project I found a lot about World War Two. I liked the presentations and especially the film about William "Goodnight Mister Tom".

Aleksandra I enjoyed watching the films about war "Goodnight Mister Tom" and "A boy in striped pijamas". I learnt you have to be nice and polite to everyone even though you do not know him/her. We commemorate the war victims. I know a lot of people were killed during the war. We have to remember. Paweł In this project the biggest impression on me made the film "Goodnight Mister Tom". I enjoyed voting for the logos. I liked the the films and presentations from another countries. I learnt that Germans and Russians occupied Poland and life during the war was really difficult. Łukasz I like the film "Goodnight Mister Tom". Now I know how people lived during the war in some European countries. I learnt an English war song "It's a long way to Tipperary" and some Polish war songs, what I like. I studied the history of Warsaw Uprising and now I know how terrible war is. Joanna I like the film about war in England "Goodnight Mister Tom". I found out a lot about World War Two and at last I saw in what conditions people lived during the war. Our trip to underground corridors in Rzeczka learnt me how terrible conditions prisoners had in the German concentration camps. Kacper The most from the project I like the film "Goodnight Mister Tom". This film showed me English people life during the war. Before I knew nothing about war in England and other European countries. Szymon I learnt that war started by Germany invasion on Poland and later Germany invaded another countries. Now I know in Norway war was from 1940 to 1945. I also know in different countries living conditions were different. In Poland we were invaded by two enemies: Germany and the Soviet Union. Now I know in Poland some soldiers (those from Home Army) after the war were treated as

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traitors and were imprisoned and killed by communist government. I know it from the meeting with Mr Józef who visited us at school. Wiktor I like the film "Goodnight Mister Tom" most. I enjoyed using VOKI and voting for logos. I liked the meeting with soldiers from Historical Reconstruction Group who told us about soldiers life during the war. Wiktoria

WW2 reflections in the YEAR 3 section A class of the IC Ferraironi of Rome January 2014 - from some of the pupils’ workbooks: “I imagine the war to be this way: ordinary men who throw bombs, military people killing each other. Another man who throws a bomb where a mother and a child are outside their house and they are playing together. Then a helicopter keeps on dropping bomb after bomb.”

Martina “I imagine the War as a moment when the soldiers destroy my school and therefore I feel sad and full of fear because I couldn’t any longer go to school or meet my friends. If there was a war I wouldn’t be able to go to the gym either.”

Nicolas P. “The war to me is when there are lasers being used to fight. There are devils and some are the strongest ones. Their lasers are red, green and blue, but the strongest one of all is Lord Fener and the Devil because their swords are very very red.”

Samuele “The war to me is when someone suffers or goes to Heaven dying but fighting with great courage. When War is done, I feel very sad, it is as if a piece of me is taken away. I have seen with my very eyes a lot of soldiers, walking on foot or on the helicopters. In my classroom, war is when everybody fights with each other”.

Margot “I imagine WW2 with tanks shooting all the time against their enemies, killing many people. The airplanes drop bombs and the houses are destroyed and there 96

are many people who are wounded or die. To me there shouldn’t be wars because there is a lot of suffering and I am sorry for this”.

Alessandro O “To me war is when people suffer and get hurt. The war breaks up everything, destroys the houses, the schools, a bit of everything. In the war people also die and I am sorry for this.”

Nicolas G “I’ve heard about the World Wars and I know that there were two. To me it’s war when our teachers are upset and children are sent to other class groups and I am sorry about this.”

Andrea “There have been two Wars and they have destroyed a lot of things. To me war is when there is a lot of noise in my classroom” Lorenzo “To me the World War is when two nations fight or even when parents are upset with their children or they get angry at work” Marta “To me the World War is when I am in a row with my brother and our parents get really upset with the two of us.”

Giulia “War is when two countries fight over something one of the two has and the other one wants it too”.

Noemi “A War is when two cities or even more fight one another to obtain what they don’t have in their city. For example: France against Spain, the French want to take away what the Spanish have and the Spanish want to take away something like cheese” Alessandro F

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Teachers’ reflections REFLECTIONS ON OUR PROJECT FROM THE TEACHERS AT STEETON PRIMARY SCHOOL My colleagues and I have greatly valued being a part of this project. I think there was a good balance between flexibility to allow the project to fit in with the curriculum at all the different schools, with also some shared activities such as the vokis, StepMap map-making and, of course, our wonderful schools' videoconference call.

It has been helpful sharing resources, links to websites, songs, ideas for new IT tools, with all of the colleagues in the project. Holding the teachers' videoconferences at week-ends was very helpful in planning the future work for the project.

The webex video-conference call really brought the project to life for the whole school at Steeton. All the classes from Year 1 to Year 6 took part - 9 classes and their teachers, plus our headteacher. Many children have come up to me to say how much they enjoyed taking part and seeing all the other pupils in the other countries. I think the sharing of songs in a big project like this one is particularly effective when doing a conference call as the songs can be shared and enjoyed even without the words being completely understood.

I think the sharing of all the countries' experiences in the war has enriched the curriculum enormously, making our pupils think about the consequences of war throughout the whole of Europe, not just the effects in the UK. Being able to see events from more than one point of view has been invaluable and it has encouraged us all, pupils and staff, to start thinking about the nature of history itself.

Diana Linford, Steeton Primary School, England

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TEACHERS OF CIRIL KOSMAČ ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PIRAN ABOUT THE PROJECT Education for peace, tolerance, acceptance of differences and safeguarding of cultural and natural heritage have been at the core of our UNESCO school and other UNESCO schools worldwide that have helped us be what we are for the last twenty years. Nowadays, we continue our work through eTwinning project together with our friends from Poland, Italy, England, Norway, France and Ireland. The young ones learn about the horrors of war, aware of the significance of transmitting values by means of word of mouth, songs… that emanate from the struggle for national liberation.

I pride myself on our school and its cooperation in the project, the aim of which are, among others, intercultural learning, communication between teachers and pupils, and, last but not least, weaving friendly ties.

Zlata Milič, principal of Ciril Kosmač Elementary School, Piran, Slovenia

Learning about European history, investigating WWII in particular countries and exchange of information with the peers from other european countries are some of the purposes of our project.

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The project is an excellent opportunity for intergenerational cooperation, mainly by means of various activities, such as discussions with older people who spent their childhood or adolescence in wartime. In this way pupils experienced a direct learning about consequences of war and the impact it has on people. Our pupils were able to compare, on account of the narrations, life in the years from 1939 to 1945 with modern times. Pupils learned about history by means of patriotic songs and songs from WW ll, films about the war, lectures held by senior pupils and video-conferences which enabled them to express their views.

They participated in all the phases of the project and helped create a joint ebook.

This project both stimulates our pupils to become aware of our common european history and to preserve peace as well as to learn about tolerance and friendship with other nations.

Mojka Mehora Lavrič, coordinator of e-Twinning projects at Ciril Kosmač Elementary School Piran

Through this project our students had the opportunity to use and practice English and Italian. They wrote short letters in which they introduced themselves. They were very glad when they got letters from partner schools.

Nataša Kozlovič, English teacher

We, the adults, often ask ourselves what children ought to be taught and what is better left unsaid. The children are not bothered with such questions, they absorb everything that is interesting, tense, about them, directly or indirectly.

On this account, I am enraptured with our participation in the research work about WWII because it gave us an opportunity to peep into the ways how those 100

who lived in the war time felt and comprehended what befell them. Our pupils interviewed their parent, relatives and acquaintances, rummaged through the pages of books, surfed the Internet and came up with many interesting things.

They gained knowledge about children and their childhood in wartime and that’s what is worthy of our efforts. To feel our fellow-men, to become cognizant of history and not to breed hatred, to find links with peers, to be aware of the fact that it is man who causes wars and that wars ruin lives and they can happen anywhere anytime. The only protection against them is to respect ourselves and our fellow-men.

It is good to meet in order to develop and cultivate respect, to research our past and to plan our future. All these ideas were nicely presented in the activities that shaped our joint project.

Vika Kuštrin, class teacher, 5.b

Teachers’ reflections from SP9 Dzierżoniów History and especially the history of World War Two is quite a difficult topic for primary school students. At our school we try to encourage our students to broaden their knowledge also in History. Working on “World War Two: our shared history” eTwinning project, a team of teachers was created: a History teacher, a Music teacher and an English teacher and we worked just like a team, we just complemented each other. The History teacher introduced the topic of WW2 in her History lessons and suggested to the students which people and events they could study in detail. In cooperation with the Music teacher we worked on the war songs in different languages. I have to admit that even one student’s mother was involved into the project – she speaks Italian and taught her son Mateusz how to sing “Bella ciao”, which was a great success.

For all of us, the project was also a great History lesson, we found out about so many historical facts we didn’t know earlier. For students it was an amazing experience to learn not from books but from other students’ works, interviews, meetings with WW2 survivors.

One of the most interesting parts of the project was watching the English film “Goodnight Mister Tom”. For most of our students it was the first time they had 101

watched a film in English (I just explained some of the scenes to them). They remember it very well. It was an opportunity to know what students in England are taught at school. We also watched “A boy in striped pyjamas” and “Courageous heart of Irena Sendler”, which they also watched with big eyes and beating hearts .

Students (and we as well) could know what war was like in different countries, what difficulties people had in everyday life during that terrible period of world history.

On 8th May on the 69th anniversary of the ending of World War Two, students visited the WW2 monuments and lit candles to commemorate the war victims. It was an opportunity to discuss why so many people had to die.

We’d like to thank all the teachers and students who have taken part in this project for sharing your experience with us. Without your work it wouldn’t have been possible for us to learn so much.

Anna Szczepaniak, Barbara Walczak, Waldemar Koprowski Szkoła Podstawowa nr 9 im. Mikołaja Kopernika, Dzierżoniów, Poland

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World War II: Our Shared History eTwinning project 2014

Teachers who have participated in this project: England: Steeton Primary School Diana Linford (Project Founder, French teacher) Daniel Paton (Year 5-6 teacher) Rachel Sherwood (Year 5-6 teacher) Susan Whitford (Year 5-6 teacher) France: École Massenet-Pasteur, St Chamond Cécile Matricon (Class teacher) Italy: ICS 'Via Ferraironi' di Roma, Rome Paola Arduini (Teacher, Year 4) Susanna Serpe (Teacher, Year 3) Norway: Bjønsveen ungdomsskole Gjøvik Raymond Jannetta (History teacher) Victoria Hesla (History teacher) Poland: SP 9 im M Kopernika, Dzierżoniόw Anna Szczepaniak (Project Founder, Class teacher), Barbara Walczak (History teacher) Waldemar Koprowski (Music teacher).

Slovenia: Ciril Kosmač Elementary School, Piran Zlata Milič (Principal) Mojka Mehora Lavrič (Co-ordinator of eTwinning projects) Nataša Kozlovič (English teacher) Vika Kuštrin (Class teacher) Tatjana Uršič (Class teacher) Zorica Matović (English teacher) Anica Žumer (Italian teacher)

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