PRISMA (Memory from the EU Peripheries: Resisting Holocaust Distortion, Activating Exchange for Resilient European Remembrance) brings together 6 partners from Belgium, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia in a transnational effort to safeguard authentic Holocaust memory and counter distortion, denial, and the conflation of the Shoah with contemporary conflicts. The project responds to the decline of survivors’ testimonies and rising antisemitism across Europe, threats that particularly affect younger generations and communities with no direct historical link to the Shoah. PRISMA builds a European network of educators, researchers, journalists, memory activists and grassroots organisations, working closely with memorial sites, universities and schools to promote intergenerational dialogue and foster a nuanced, multi-perspective understanding of the Holocaust that highlights the roles of victims, bystanders, collaborators and rescuers.
It targets six main groups: youth, educators and librarians, engaged through local literary labs and storytelling circles that recover overlooked Holocaust testimonies from peripheral regions; women’s associations and educators, involved in memory labs and educator meetups that reclaim the stories of female rescuers; students and youth, who take part in counter-narrative labs and cross-border debates addressing silenced or contested histories; descendants of survivors and young leaders, who share inherited memory through interview circles and are trained as transnational Young European Memory Ambassadors; journalism students, who examine archival silences and media ethics through newsroom simulations; and teachers, policymakers and journalists, engaged through comparative memory labs, public exhibitions, and a final youth assembly and institutional encounter in Brussels. The project is delivered through seven thematic work packages combining participatory labs, storytelling, cross-border youth debates, intergenerational interviews, newsroom-style simulations and educator training, complemented by a transnational visibility and awareness campaign. All activities are gender-sensitive and inclusive, involving minorities, migrants and vulnerable groups to ensure a pluralistic European dimension.
The expected impact is a stronger common European culture of remembrance, increased resilience against Holocaust denial and revisionism, and deeper awareness of antisemitism’s historical and contemporary forms. PRISMA will reduce gaps in historical understanding, foster transnational dialogue, and empower citizens to uphold democratic values, with sustainability ensured through open-access educational resources, strong institutional partnerships, and the consolidation of the PRISMA network beyond the project’s lifetime.
Duration: 24 months (01 July 2026 – 30 June 2028)
Partners: ALPHABET FORMATION (Coordinator, Belgium), Lietuvos zydu (litvaku) bendruomene (Lithuania), FECE (Bulgaria), Zidovska opcina Osijek (Croatia), Center judovske kulturne dediscine Sinagoga Maribor (Slovenia), Lietuvos gyventoju genocido ir rezistencijos tyrimo centras (Lithuania).
The PRISMA project is funded by the European Commission under the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) Programme.