Arrived at its fifth edition, the Train of Memory was born as a research upon our memory and our roots in the time when the direct testimonies of the terrible facts of the World War II start vanishing conclusively. During the diverse editions, the Train was able to make its reflections more mature, until it came to proposing a non-formal educational path between peers to its more and more numerous participants.
The Train of Memory is, first of all, a year-long educational path. It focuses upon four keywords, spelling its timetable also: history, intended as analysis of the World War II phenomenon, of its effects on territories and of the lowest points reached in the recent global history. Memory, intended as personalization, encounter and confrontation with the few remaining witnesses, with the entities working in order to preserve memory, and above all with the places impregnate with it. Testimony, that is the encounter with all the situations that at present show the loss of dignity and human rights, in order not to forget that the “must not to let it happen anymore” depends upon collective effort by everyone, at at last commitment, our proposal for all, in the small ambition of our everyday lives, to be able to look out and contribute not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
The core of the project is the journey to Krakow (PL) that is carried out between the end of January, on the event of the Day of Memory (January 27th), and the beginning of February. The journey has the visit to the former extermination camps in Auschwitz and Birkenau as its ultimate aim, with the re-elaboration of the visit itself, educational activities in 25-people groups, and the presentation of the testimony phase tied to themes of actuality and commitment.
The Train of Memory is a really strong experience, involving the young participants in deep reflections having the ambitious objective of stimulating them to an active participation and knowledge that, starting from the tragic historical facts of World War II, get them to analyzing the present in a critical and constructive manner.