Educational projects.
World War Two
In the classroom.
In combination with a full time job in logistics i am active in two educational projects. The first project is part of my interest in the history of the Second World War and this interest started when i was a kid from about the age of twelve.
After my visit to Normandy in 2007 and after reading a lot of books and viewing lot's of DVD's with films and documentary's i desided that the Normandy beaches would be my speciality in the future.
Its important for the young generation that they know that todays freedom is something special and presious and that others had paid with their lives or suffered injuries by liberating our country from German occupation and nazi terror .
Both pictures from Normandy
France, Omaha Beach.
For young kids i use in the classroom different methodes
to make this clear and understandable.
I refer to the oxygen in the air and their birthday.
Freedom and oxygen.
To explain what freedom is i explain that they need oxygen every day, but its so common that we have accept it as a automatic daily routine.
Only in a filled up classroom with the windows closed and after a long time we are missing the fresh air and enough oxygen.
At that moment we realise that we need it badly.
Its the same with freedom, we don't realise this gift on a daily
basis, but its hurds when you are missing it.
A kids birthday and impotant moments in history.
To explain what the impact is of moments in history and a date like
6 june 1944 (The landing in Normandie on D-Day) i refer
to their birthday.
When you stand up in the morning on your birthday and nobody
realises that its your birthday, no pressents and
nobody say's congratulations it can give you a bad feeling.
Its the same for a WO2 veteran , visiting the country
he has liberated after a long time and nobody
knows what had happened...
In front of the map of our liberation
i thank a WO2 veteran for what he did
for our freedom.
After something about 15 minutes i make a change in my presentation
and i shift from talking to a DVD presentation.
I use fragments from the movie The Longest Day to explain
the situation on the beaches in Normandy, the expectations from the Germans, the impact of weather conditions on the operations and at last the landing itself (suitable for kids).
After the interview in the veteran magazine Checkpoint , where i told about the school project and my interest in WW2 i received a call from somebody who wants to speak with me.
It was the widow from a man who took a leading part in a resistance group in the netherlands.
She is a strong women , about 90 years old and when i met her she was looking back on her live and told some impressive story's about the war and about the terrible suffering in the winter 1944-1945.
She had some special gifts for my school projects.
She and her man lived for 20 years in Normandie France and in the sixties they found some special items on the Normandie beaches.
The first item is an exploded navy artillery shell fired from a navy ship.
The remains of this artillery shell are found on the beach in front of the so called "Pluskat bunker ".
The second item is whats left from a Garand rifle found in the sand of the Normandie landing beaches.
When you bring in this items in the classroom you can see and feel that its important to bring history allive, items to touch and feel speek more than 1000 words.
After i explained the working of a British entrenching tool
the boys are focused on the different parts.
