SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?!
LIFE AMONG THE RUINS OF THE
AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN MONARCHY
International Competition for High School Students
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DESCRIPTION
The twentieth century began with the devastation of the First World War. During the war and after its end, ordinary people faced the consequences. By autumn 1918, the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy fell apart and ceased to exist. More often than not, the defeated were tremendously hurt, and the victors triumphant. Everyone had to try to survive on the imperial ruins while the living conditions totally changed. Some decided to move, some stuck to their old dwellings. Others were relieved because, finally, they had become citizens of nation-states where they were members of the titular nation. Of course, others rather found themselves as minorities within these new states, as citizens but not co-nationals. Whatever their decisions, they had to conform to the rules and regulations of these new states.
With this international competition, you have the opportunity to take a look at the lives of ordinary people of that time on the grounds of the newly formed countries. The teams will choose a real or fictious historical character through whose eyes they can see a glimpse of everyday life in post-imperial Austria, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia, Poland, or Hungary. The competition will have two online rounds, after which a final round will take place in Pécs, Hungary where the best teams meet for a weekend and compare their knowledge and talents live, in real time. The work of the teams is supported by a selected bibliography, primary sources, and the recent research results of the European Research Council project Negotiating post-imperial transitions (ERC Nepostrans) of the Institute of Political History in Budapest.
APPLICATION
Teams in this competition will consist of 3 members each. The language of the competition is English. We kindly ask each team to create a distinct gmail address dedicated to this competition in order to make communication and uploading exercises and documents easy.
You can register by
- submitting the completed exercises of the first round no later than midnight (23:59), January 22, 2023 to nepostrans.contest@gmail.com, and
- completing this REGISTRATION FORM to provide details about your submission.
PERSONAL STORY
The teams must follow and carry on with the personal story of the selected character through the years 1918–1921 during the whole competition. The choices of personal stories (version 1 or 2 or 3) may be one of the followings:
- Personal Story 1: Fleeing. This person, or his/her family, chooses flee from his/her home because that area now belongs to another country after the conclusion of the postwar peace treaties. He/she continues his/her life in a new place.
- Personal Story 2: From Majority to Minority. This person, or his/her family, does not flee, but on the contrary stays in the same home, an area within the administrative conditions and structures of a new postimperial successor state. Although he/she remains in his/her original place, he/she does so as a person who now belongs to a minority group in the new state.
- Personal Story 3: From Minority to Majority. This person, or his/her family, remains in his/her home and regards the new state as his/her motherland following the treaties. He/she considers himself/herself as part of the majority group in the new state.
DEADLINES
Deadlines of submitting the documents for the rounds:
- First Round: 23:59, 22 January, 2023.
- Second Round: 23:59, 6 March, 2023.
FINAL ROUND AND AWARD
The best 4 teams meet for a weekend and compare their knowledge and talents LIVE, in real time:
- Date: 21-23 April 2023
- Venue: Pécs, Hungary
We provide a 2-day weekend program (accommodation, guided programs, travel costs, meal) in the fifth largest city of Hungary, which has been recognized for its cultural heritage, including by being named as one of the European Capital of Culture cities in 2010. As part of the programme, the students will also participate in a historical-memorial workshop with international researchers from the ERC Nepostrans project. This will involve a joint comparison of the historical memory of the successor states of the Monarchy for the period covered by the quiz.
DOWNLOAD
Download all this information in PDF format here.
CONTACT US
Do not hesitate to contact us in case of any questions!