PAP ÁGNES (BUDAPEST)
Journalist, sociologist, documentary filmmaker; Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Face to Face Foundation
In her work, the memory of the Holocaust is not a closed historical subject, but a moral issue that inspires action in the present. As the head of the Face to Face Foundation, she has created a pedagogical network that connects historical knowledge with the development of empathy, independent thinking and personal responsibility against prejudice.
In 2016, the Hungarian version of the Holocaust Education Trust Ireland European initiative, the Crocus Project, was launched in Hungary. In the program, schoolchildren plant yellow crocus bulbs in memory of the approximately one and a half million children murdered during the Holocaust. In the months between planting and the spring bloom, students and their teachers explore through independent projects how hatred, exclusion and prejudice can lead to persecution and genocide.
She built a network of teachers, which expanded to include schools and civil society organizations nationwide and abroad. With the support of the Institute of Educational Sciences of ELTE PPK, she provided lesson plans, bibliography, filmography and other methodological aids. She organized workshops where teachers from different school types could share their experiences; the program offers methods for several age groups, from kindergarten sensitization to secondary school projects. Every autumn, she organizes a public opening event in front of the Dohány Street synagogue.
The slogan "With flowers against violence!" simultaneously expresses the relationship between commemoration and action. The project involved thousands of students over nearly a decade and created a national professional community for teachers. Éva Fahidi was the main patron of the Crocus Project, participated in its opening events, and strengthened the work of teachers and young people with her personal presence.
For me, the most important thing in my job is – the candidate wrote
I believe in an open, accepting society and the education that establishes this and connects knowledge bases.
That's why I organize "Talking Circles" with my friends, in which I initiate a dialogue based on knowledge-understanding-acceptance-compassion, respecting each other and the facts. Led by highly knowledgeable and credible professionals, these circles bring together the most diverse people and help participants realize: what unites us is much more important than what separates us, and with cooperation everyone wins (will be much more productive and get a lot of joy).
Both in my profession (as a journalist) and as a citizen (as the president of the Face to Face Foundation), the dissemination of scientifically sound knowledge and raising awareness of facts are my guiding principles.
I have been friends with Éva Fahidi for many years. Under the auspices of the Face to Face Foundation, we jointly launched a special Holocaust remembrance program for the children who are most important to both of us and the teachers who have had a great impact on their lives, entitled Crocus Project - Against Violence with Flowers. (More than 140 schools at home and abroad have joined our historical knowledge and personality development program, which is now entering its 11th year and is a joint effort with 15 civil organizations and institutions.)
With our support, communities process prejudices (including their own prejudices) according to their own decisions, and gather inspiration to undertake cooperation without exclusion, and to take loving and decisive action against exclusion/exclusionists.
References
https://www.szembenezes.hu/ifjusagi-projektek/krokusz-projekt/
https://www.szembenezes.hu/ifjusagi-projektek/emlekezni-es-emlekeztetni/
https://www.szembenezes.hu/index.php?nav=reports
https://pag.edu.hu/krokusz-projekt-viraggal-az-eroszak-ellen/
https://www.moraegymi.hu/l/krokusz-projekt/
https://www.centropa.org/hu/project/krokusz-projekt-viraggal-az-eroszak-ellen