On 16–17 September 2026, the first international meeting of the Learning from the Holocaust Memories (LHM) project took place in Modena, Italy. The project is funded by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme of the European Union, and the kick-off meeting was hosted by Centro Culturale Francesco Luigi Ferrari. FECE, as leader of Work Package 1, took part with two representatives, as did each of the other partner organizations.
The project consortium brings together five organizations from Spain, Italy, Romania, Poland and Bulgaria, each contributing its own experience in education, culture and civic engagement. The main aim of LHM is to raise awareness among Europeans about the lessons of the Holocaust and to help prevent future atrocities. To achieve this, the partners will collect personal testimonies that preserve memories which risk being lost, and will create spaces for intergenerational dialogue where young people and older generations can reflect together on the past and its relevance today.
The meeting opened with presentations of the partner organizations, giving everyone the chance to get to know each other’s work, expertise and local context. The partners then agreed on how they will work together in the coming months, discussing project management, quality control, communication and dissemination, and setting out the main responsibilities and timelines for the first phase of the project.
A large part of the discussion was devoted to the activities of WP1, led by FECE. The partners reviewed the interview script that will guide the recording of testimonies with survivors, descendants and witnesses, and discussed the trauma-sensitive approach needed to ensure that interviewees are treated with care, respect and dignity throughout the process. They also agreed on the format of the local roundtables on the memory of the Holocaust, which will bring together community members, educators and young people in each partner country.
The two days ended with an open exchange of ideas for future cooperation, leaving the partners with a shared vision and a clear plan for the next steps of the project.
