“Thessaloniki remembers” Students express themselves creatively about the First World War

In the framework of the programme “Thessaloniki Remembers”, on Saturday 12 May 2018, at 7:00 pm, the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle has the pleasure to host the exhibition of paintings and the presentation of poems by students from various schools in Greece, who participated in the “Never such Innocence” Competition (of the British charity of the same name) on the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. At the opening of the exhibition, we will read extracts from the poems entered in the competition and, in order to thank the students for their great interest and moving response to the competition, we will present them with their certificates of participation in the presence of the project staff. The event is co-organised by the British Council, the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle, the Commonwealth Committee for Military Tombs, Never Such Innocence and the British Embassy in Greece.

The programme is under the auspices of the Municipality of Thessaloniki. In the framework of the programme, students from the schools of the Prefectures of Thessaloniki and Kilkis visited the cemeteries of the Commonwealth Committee of Military Tombs and the war memorials of Macedonia, on the occasion of the centenary of the landing of the Allied forces of the Entente in Thessaloniki (Macedonian Front) during the First World War. At the same time, students were given the opportunity to approach historical “memory” interdisciplinarily, using information from both the exhibition and the research area (database) of the Macedonian Struggle Museum Foundation. The whirlwind of the War was for them a need for expression, as they raised their own voice through their creations in a powerful hymn of peace.

The programme, from the Museum’s side, was designed by Mrs Stavroula Mavrogeni, Assistant Professor of the University of Macedonia and Director of the Macedonian History Research and Documentation Centre of the Macedonian Struggle Museum. The British Council’s Programme and Partnerships Coordinator is Mrs Chrysoula Melidou.