• Develop innovative approaches to rural development remembrance using video storytelling skills.
• Encourage a lively coexistence, diversity and a democratic exchange between generations.
• Bring young people into an exchange with older people from the region.
• Strengthen dialogue between generations and across national borders.
• Overcome the unspoken history and 'voicelessness' more than thirty years after the opening of the border.
• Inspire those affected to tell their stories and bring them to life.
• Enable young people to reflect on elementary democratic values.

Activities

Planning and preparation:

• Preparatory meeting of project sponsors in Helmstedt.
• Information day for interested families and contemporary witnesses from the Flechtinger Höhenzug region.
• Press conference with project presentation.
• Information evening for interested families and contemporary witnesses organised by the Grünes Band im Landkreis Helmstedt region was also attended by numerous people from the Flechtinger Höhenzug region.
• Video conference with interested families and contemporary witnesses from both regions with project sponsors.

Film workshops:

• Kick-off event in the Offleben village community centre with all participants from both regions with project sponsors.
• Film workshop in Nordgermersleben/Hohe Börde.
• Film workshop in Helmstedt.
• Post-production, use, publication:
  • Post-production: completion of nine short films by the participants, as well as the overall film and a short trailer.
  • Preview of the complete film for the workshop participants. Public film presentations followed by discussion in Helmstedt and Hohe Börde.
• Follow up by planning further distribution of the film.

• Thirty-five participants produced nine short films, reports, interviews and personal essays in two workshops.
• A small documentary film team followed the project to create a feature-length film, which lasted around 80 minutes and has since been shown publicly many times in both regions.
• Increased awareness of historical contexts that shaped the two regions and social structures that emerged from the post-war division, fostering a deeper comprehension among viewers.
• Community engagement and participation have been facilitated by incorporating local narratives through video storytelling, and residents can share their experiences and perspectives on rural life in both regions.
• This participatory approach not only empowers individuals but also cultivates a sense of belonging and collective identity within communities, which is vital for successful rural development.
• By showcasing initiatives from either side of Germany's former divide, these projects can inspire collaboration and learning among rural populations, promoting economic resilience through shared expertise.
• Four days of storytelling cafés were attended by many people to create new content for the project stakeholders.
• There were also plans to create a podcast series on this topic as part of a follow-up project.

Key lessons

• Gaps between the former eastern and western Germany can be overcome. Participants were given space to talk and listen, and then were tasked with getting creative together.
• LEADER encouraged young people to engage with regional history and or socio-political values, not as students in school, but creatively and in a self-determined community-led way.
• Rural educational outcomes can be enhanced by integrating video resources into academic curricula focused on regional studies. Visual materials enhance cognitive retention by providing students with relatable content that illustrates theoretical concepts in a practical context. This transformation fosters critical thinking about historical inequalities and encourages discourse around contemporary challenges faced in rural Germany.