Our implication is the result of our personal experience. Without knowing each other, we developed a similar view of historical matters et above all about the reception of the history by the French young. The discovering of Central and Eastern Europe allowed us to become aware of the lack of knowledge on this part of Europe by our compatriots. Then, we both had lived in Poland and would like to push away the European border by discovering and present Western Ukraine.

 
Blandine Scrève (researcher)

I lately became aware of the history importance for our societies. During my stays in Lithuania and Poland, I discovered the size of the past in those regions. The national history is for the young generation a factor of national cohesion in the contrary of in our 'old democracies', where thanks to political and economical stability, the history is pushed at the background in the collective imaginary.

Coming from a law formation, I choose Geopolitics to study our societies as actors of the international arena. I decided to pursue my studies by a PhD, without scholarship, thanks to my desire to understand the functioning of our societies. My topic, innovative in international relations discipline, aim to analyze the place of collective memory in State-nation relations (thesis project joined).

My role in the creation and realization of the project 'Memory for the Future' is and will be to insure the historical and pedagogical part. I bring to the project my knowledge on collective memory and on Ukraine (mainly Galicia) as well, as my linguistics, editorial and professional (teaching) competences.

This project allowing me to acquire a practical knowledge, however, constitute also a challenge. Restitution of academic researches' work is the most delicate task of researchers. This implication will then be for me an occasion to leave my books to apply a knowledge that I gathered for years along. 

Matthias Crépel (photographer)

I am photographer in freelance since more than five years. From several years I am specializing on the fight against the racism and I take interest in the Holocaust topic. I became aware of the need to work on it thanks to a first travel in Auschwitz in april 2004. My work process is based upon a personnal postulate : the Human is fundamentally good. However, we mustn't forget atrocious acts he is able to commit. On the contrary, we must know it and transmit this knowledge to evoid repetitions. But we also must report what goodness Human does, in order to transmit hope and to keep off the resignation. When the hope is frail and the resignation as trong as ignorance, The area is favorable to human atrocity.

I worked at first during 4 years on the “ psychological ” impact that let on my mind / heart my first visit of a death camp. You can find on my official website www.matthias-crepel.com one part of this work as a photographic exhibition named “ Souviens-toi... J'y pense toujours ! ” (Remember... I am still thinking on it)

Afterwards, I decided to realize an in-depth work on Auschwitz topic during 6 month, preparing also by this way my stay in Ukraine learning Slavian languages, discovering an ex-sovietic region of Europe and making deep research on the Holocaust topic. Finally, those 6 month were mainly used to do a work in background in order to realize a complete educational tool of transmission of memory by pictures for young people. I am planning to work one year more (froma Jan. 2010 to Dec. 2010) in Oswiecim-Auschwitz to set up this tool and to promote it. About my stay in Oswiecim - Auschwitz and reasons which lead me to this topic, I started to write a daily-blog that I will continue coming back there for one year :

Ukraine is for me the opportunity to discover an other face of the Holocaust, the one in eastern Europe, and understand better this part of the history. It is also a chance to work with a specialist on the role of the memory on the international relations, precisely in ex-Sovietic Union.

  Matthias' CV :