The project ”Networking in preserving the First World War multicultural heritage in the Danube countries” - NETWORLD is nearing its end. After two and a half years of working together with 24 partner organizations from 11 countries in the Danube region, we are proud to report the final events of the project.
 

The project partnership expresses its gratitude to all stakeholders who, with their efforts and support, have contributed to the successful realization of the project objectives and tasks!

International Conference “The Great War in the Common Memory”

The NETWORLD project final conference “The Great War in the Common Memory” held on 14 June 2019 inside the City Art Gallery “Boris Georgiev” in Varna, Bulgaria. The conference was hosted by Varna Economic Development Agency (VEDA) and Regional History Museum (RIM) – Dobrich.

The conference started with quick national Bulgarian folklore dances followed by greetings from Mr. Georgi Nedev - Mayor of City Region Odessos, Varna Municipality presented by Mr. Atanas Hristov - Deputy Mayor of the Region.

The opening ceremony continued with a welcome speech by Mr. Metodi Nikolov, Chairman of VEDA, followed with a speech by Ms. Vesna Kozar – NETWORLD Project Manager.

The conference's panel was composed from ten national and international speakers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia, as it was very diversified and engaging. The 63 project participants from the 9 Danube countries and Varna citizens showed great interest to the World War I presentations, made by guest lectures, museum workers, cultural experts and historians.

The exhibition “Maritime Education in Bulgaria and theFirst World War” was presented to the conference’s attendees.The Art Gallery in Varna was the final exhibition venuew for the 2019 year after its presentation at the Military Clubs in the cities of Aytos, Burgas and Ruse and in the Historical Museum „Aleko Konstantinov” in Svishtov, during the period February-May. After the project end, the exhibition will be permanently located at Varna Naval Club and the Museum of Maritime Education (Varna Naval Academy).

The panel presentaion finished with a joint picture of partners and speakers in the conference.

After the conference the international participants went to Dobrich city where Regional Historical Museum of Dobrich organized cultural World War I heritage site visits, including the Complex Military Cemetery and the museum itself.

NETWORLD project partner meeting in Varna

The fifth NETWORLD project partner meeting took place in Varna a day before the final conference - on 13th June, 2019 at the conference hall “Odessos” of the Black Sea & Casino Hotel. It was a very productive meeting with full participation of all partners where all deliverables and outputs were discussed in details to ensure smooth finish of the project. The event was organized and hosted by Varna Economic Development Agency. Special thanks to Ms. Vesna Kozar from Soca Valley Development Centre (Lead Partner) of taking the lead and facilitate the meeting.
 

Sarajevo Conference ePEACEnter

Another NETWORLD International Conference - titled ePEACEnter Sarajevo Conference went great during the last project month. The School of Economics and Business, University of Sarajevo organized the conference ePEACEnter Sarajevo on June 21st, 2019 in the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The conference was designed as a full day educational activity, aiming to provide the platform for exchange of knowledge, experience and opinions on the most adequate methods to be applied when teaching and lecturing about the difficult past topics. Additionally, focus of the Conference was the discussion about the most efficient approaches to the World War I cultural heritage management.

The Conference was attended by 62 participants and organized in three parallel streams.

Workshops were held by three distinguished university lecturers for the teachers, professors, historians, students and all other individuals who are engaged in teaching the youth about the topics of difficult past, including the war and conflict.

Also, primary and secondary school students were engaged in workshops appropriate for their age covering different World War I topics. The conference also included the exhibition on the World War I and the ballet and opera performance set up as artistic response to the war tragedies.

Let's Make The European Walk Of Peace

The Walk of Peace Foundation and the Soča Regional Development Center organized a two-day international conference: Remembering World War I heritage after 100 years - Let's make Walk of Peace. The event held from 28th to 29th May, 2019 in Bovec, Slovenia. On the first day, representatives of 18 organizations from 9 countries (Slovenia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia), who are exploring and representing the heritage of the World War I, presented their experiences and events from the time of the centuries of the World War I and future ideas. The Walk of Peace Foundation highlighted the possibility of new European co-operation under the initiative of preparing the European Walk of Peace.

On the second day, the event was intended for the general public. The results of the NETWORLD project were presented, followed by an interesting presentation of the museum and tourist experience in the field of the World War I from Belgium. The Walk of Peace Foundation described the mission and vision of a common European idea. The most important act was the signing of a historical charter Let's make the European Walk of Peace, signed by representatives of 13 organizations from 9 countries.

Testing the NETWORLD application in partners’ countries

During the fifth project period all partners were actively involved in testing the NETWORLD App and Database linked to World War I sites. The target groups of the testing involved students from the secondary school to adults and elderly people. We are glad to share the experience of the partners, showing their contribution by countries in alphabetical order:

Austria

The Austrian NETWORLD project partners die Berater and Danube University Krems organised a stakeholder event that took place on April 25, 2019 in the village Purgstall (Lower Austria) in order to test the NETWORLD App and Database linked to World War I Sites. The event was organised in cooperation with the association Erlauftaler Bildungskreis, which is in charge of a World War I exhibition and a local Walk of Peace along the remains of a former war prisoner camp.

Guided by Franz Wiesenhofer, Holger Bienzle and Julia Walleczek-Fritz, together with different regional and local stakeholders from Vienna, Lower Austria and Upper Austria first walked along the Walk of Peace / Weg des Friedens in the Erlauf Valley. This route was arranged by Franz Wiesenhofer twenty years ago to raise awareness of the history of POW camps in the Valley that had been built during the World War I by Austro-Hungarian military authorities. The camps accommodated more than 80.000 prisoners during the war. At the still existing POW camp cemetery Purgstall all participants tested the NETWORLD App and Database.

Following the walk, the stakeholders met at the Feuerwehrmuseum Purgstall museum to discuss how the transnational tourism label Walk of Peace, the NETWORLD database and mobile app, as well as the national NETWORLD brochure may help in increasing the visibility of the First World War heritage in the region.

Bosna & Hercegovina

Department for Development and International Projects of Zenica-Doboj Canton (SSRMP IPA PP2) under WP5.2 (Testing) organized a testing event that took place on April 17, 2019 in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to test the NETWORLD application ww1sites.app and ICT tools in tourism with the participation of young people. This activity had the purpose to test the web platform / application created to network the preservation of multicultural heritage of the World War One of the Danube region and to make it more interesting and attractive to young people. The participants were high school students of the First Gymnasium school in Zenica. During the testing of the application which lasted for 10 days, the young people documented their perceptions and problems they encountered when using the application.

The participants were extremely satisfied with the new and interesting topic, and with having the opportunity to participate in creating an interesting smart tool and platform intended to better understand the cultural and historical heritage of the World War I.

Bulgaria

Regional Museum of History – Dobrich successfully implemented the planned activities connected with World War I mobile application testing. Some youth workers were chosen as moderators to work together with students. More than ten different meetings were done in different cities and villages in Northeast Bulgaria. During those activities young people were told about the NETWORLD project and were given the opportunity to download the application at ww1sites.app.

Furthermore they tested its options on the spot visiting some World War I cultural heritage sites in the region. Students shared their firsthand impressions and gave us an objective feedback.

Hungary

On 4th of June this year our NETWORLD project in Hungary was a stop at the popular and traditional Sergeant Jutasi Tour, the task for the students was to test the appropriation and the usability of the ww1sites.eu application on their ICT tools. As we are looking at the numbers, we can experience growing interest in the tour since 2014, from around hundred participants in this year almost 800 students and teachers have registered and 633 students and 34 teachers have completed the challenge successfully. With the support of the Interreg NETWORLD Project 500 pendrives were distributed among the participants and we also got some very useful comments from them on the World War I heritage of Veszprém

Romania

National Institute of Research and Development in Tourism organized in Bucharest an event for testing the application - ww1sites.app as well as the ww1sites.eu database, developed within the NETWORLD Project - Danube Transnational Programme.

Testing took place at the Arc de Triomphe, which is one of the heritage related of World War I, which was included in the NETWORLD Database and the Walk of Peace application.

The Arch of Triumph is among the monuments commemorating Romania's participation in the World War I (together with the Alba Iulia Coronation Cathedral, the Marasesti Mausoleum, the Caraiman Mountain Heroes Cross, the Unknown Soldier Mausoleum) at the end of which almost all the territories inhabited by the Romanians were united.

The event was attended by volunteers, tourists and a representative of the Administration of Monuments and Tourist Patrimony Buchares.

National Brochures-maps to World War I Cultural heritage

Along with the International brochure, devoted to the World War I cultural heritage in Danube countries, NETWORLD project partners developed their national brochures-maps with routes to the World War I national cultural sites like military cemeteries, monuments in memory of those who died during the war, prison camps, etc. Some of the partners’ brochures are presented below.

Brochure - maps Austria

At the end of April 2019, the Austrian NETWORLD project partner die Berater and Danube University Krems met stakeholders in Lower Austria who are in charge of World War I Sites as well as of local Walk of Peace. Holger Bienzle and Julia Walleczek-Fritz presented the national NETWORLD map which includes also particular World War I sites related to the stakeholders' concerns and discussed how the map may help in increasing the visibility of the World War I heritage in the region.

Brochure - maps Bulgaria

Regional Museum of History (RIM) - Dobrich organized a series of capitalization activities under the NETWORLD project in March 2019. Together with the mAPP My Europe project, related to the elaboration of cultural routes in several directions, RIM – Dobrich initiated interactive training activities in the period 18 - 21 March, intended to young people. The training included presentation of the historical and the natural heritage of the Dobrudzha region, the heritage of the World War I and the cultural heritage associated with the water sources in Dobrudzha from the National Revival period.

Moderators of trainings were experts from RIM – Dobrich and language school “Geo Milev” in Dobrich, and from the Ministry of Defense - Sofia, who presented to the wide audience interesting and unknown facts about places and events in Northeastern Bulgaria.
 

The training’s target groups included students between 12 and 19 years of age, lecturers, journalists and museum specialists. During the visits to the museum and the Military Cemetery, a NETWORLD project was presented. Promotional materials for the monuments and memorial sites from the World War I were distributed as well.

The aim of the training meetings under the NETWORLD and mAPP my Europe projects is that young people, knowing local and regional culture, to be interested in others' cultural heritage, build a proper attitude to this heritage and preserve it as a sustainable value.

Brochure - maps Slovenia

Tourism leaflet THE WALK OF PEACE FROM THE ALPS TO THE ADRIATIC represents heritage of World War I in a beautiful nature on the walk from Julian Alps to the Adriatic see. It was created by the Pot miru/The Walk of Peace in the Soča Region Foundation through the funds of the project NETWORLD, Interreg Danube Transnational Program.

Learn more at https://goo.gl/zLc8RD

Many other activities in period 5th of NETWORLD project implementation were concluded to reach the project goals and objectives. Partners collaborated on each major project activity to achieve the best possible results. Most of the partners became friends and feel as a family during this 2,5 project period , motivated by the wish to preserve, to manage and to commemorate jointly the World War I common heritage, and to turned it into an opportunity for development of profitable quality cultural tourism in Danube countries.

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