Remembrance Service
 Iron girder cross on top of "Rubble Mountain" overlooking Stuttgart |
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During a recent visit to Germany by the Scottish and Finnish partner schools, we set up a project relating to World War II. A Remembrance Day Service to be held in Scotland during the week leading up to 11 November was to include the reflections of students from both Finland and Germany.
During the visit to Germany, the students were given a brief history of the war as it affected the area around Ostfildern. They were shown pictures of the destroyed city of Stuttgart and visited a museum in Stuttgart. Later the group took a trip to the top of a "mountain" made from the rubble of the destroyed buildings and were moved by the scale of destruction and the stark girder cross overlooking the rebuilt Stuttgart.
The Remembrance Service was organised by a group of senior students at Peebles High School, four of whom made the visit to Stuttgart. The service was in the form of a Powerpoint presentation with some live and recorded readings included. Powerpoint slides from Germany and Finland were incorporated into the service and the students at Peebles were moved by some of the images and messages of peace and goodwill received from countries which were former enemies of Great Britain.
The main theme of the service was looking forward rather than backwards and building friendhships between fellow EU countries. At the same time, it was proper to look back in history and to learn lessons from it.
A final version of the Remembrance Service will be produced in the form of a Powerpoint presentation.
"Well done" and "thanks" are due to all the students who participated in this successful project!
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