Educational activity for school groups visiting the museum
Over time, the Museum and Documentation Centre of Deportation and Resistance has confirmed its role as a reference point of regional relevance for visitors and school groups, mainly from secondary schools from various parts of Tuscany, but quite often from other Italian regions and even from abroad.
Through its constant activity in culture, education and documentation the institution helps schools to
extend their knowledge of persecution and deportation, as well as of Resistance and opposition to Fascism and Nazism. As many teachers have remarked, the Foundation’s mission is also to raise young people’s awareness of issues such as peace and the universal rights of man through guided tours of the museum, Power-Point presentations, showing of films and documentaries, and workshops on historical sources.
Teachers as a rule receive our museum guide/catalogue, as well as detailed material on specific issues and maps they can use in class after the visit to the museum. In the past the guided tours were conducted by survivors who by telling their own experiences could offer students a poignant, first-hand approach to events of the past. Now that even the last survivors are no longer with us, the tours are conducted by qualified and experienced personnel.
School groups usually visit the museum between January and May.
In 2006 a Memorandum of Understanding was agreed upon between the Museum, which acts as a consultant, the Education Authority of the Province and all secondary schools in Prato and its province, with the aim to complement the teaching of contemporary history with projects such as school trips focused on 20th century history in Italy and abroad (school year 2005/2006 Rovereto and Berlin; 2006/2007 Paris and Trieste/Ljubljana; 2007/2008 Guernica/Bilbao; 2008/2009 Berlin), workshops etc. supported financially by local authorities and by UNICOOP of Florence.
The Museum and the Centre also promote projects and courses for teachers on topics related mainly to the Second World War and frequently host conferences, lectures, film and book presentations, theatre plays and music performances, temporary exhibitions, often working together with major Italian and international scholars of contemporary history.
