Abstract
The paper describes and discusses the educational workshop in the form of a board game jam held in Radecznica, a village in Eastern Poland. The event, organised by researchers from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, was a follow-up of the research project on uncommemorated Jewish mass graves in the area. The aim of the workshop was to facilitate individual reflection on local Holocaust killings amongst the participating adults, as well as to bolster the memory of mass graves in Radecznica. Combining Holocaust memories with the didactic properties of rapid board game design, it was also an attempt to employ game jams as a method in Holocaust-related education. The workshop’s success leaves us optimistic regarding the method and its possible applications in the future.
Highlights
We consider the practice of board game design as a tool in Holocaust education, serving as an effective means for bolstering personal connections to it and explaining the systemic conditions of the genocide to teenagers
The event was a part of “Uncommemorated Genocide Sites and Their Influence on Collective Memory, Cultural Identity, Ethical Attitudes and Intercultural Relations in Contemporary Poland” research project conducted by the Research Center for Memory Cultures of Jagiellonian University in Krakow, with Roma Sendyka as the principal investigator
The game was re-themed as “fighting evil”. This was the only controversy to arise during the entire workshop: it is telling that a fictitious theme turned out to be more problematic for students than working with local Holocaust history, testament to the efficiency of the Holocaust education that students had already received under the auspices of the “Uncommemorated Genocide Sites...” research project (Fig. 4)
Summary
We consider the practice of board game design as a tool in Holocaust education, serving as an effective means for bolstering personal connections to it and explaining the systemic conditions of the genocide to teenagers. A Holocaust-related game design workshop was prepared and offered to junior high school students from the village of Radecznica in Eastern Poland, a site of uncommemorated mass graves of Holocaust victims, researched by scholars from Jagiellonian
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