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12.10.2018

ZnajZnak/Felismered?

On the 62nd anniversary of the anti-communist uprising in Hungary in 1956, the premiere of the first Polish-Hungarian educational game took place.

The premiere of the first Polish-Hungarian educational game  - Warsaw, 23 October 2018
The premiere of the first Polish-Hungarian educational game  - Warsaw, 23 October 2018
The premiere of the first Polish-Hungarian educational game  - Warsaw, 23 October 2018
The premiere of the first Polish-Hungarian educational game  - Warsaw, 23 October 2018
The premiere of the first Polish-Hungarian educational game  - Warsaw, 23 October 2018
The premiere of the first Polish-Hungarian educational game  - Warsaw, 23 October 2018
The premiere of the first Polish-Hungarian educational game  - Warsaw, 23 October 2018
The premiere of the first Polish-Hungarian educational game  - Warsaw, 23 October 2018

62 years ago, students gathered at the monument of General Józef Bem in Budapest to show their support for changes taking place in Poland at that time. This is how the anti-communist uprising in Hungary began. The educational premiere of the ZnajZnak/Felismered? board game also took place a few meters from the monument of General Józef Bem, but in the Bemowo district of Warsaw, in the Session Hall of the District Office. The guests were greeted by Michał Grodzki, the mayor of Bemowo, and Adam Hlebowicz, director of the IPN’s National Education Office. Ákos Engelmayer, the Ambassador of Hungary in 1990-1995 was an honorary guest of the event. He participated in the 1956 Hungarian uprising, and was a member of NSZZ "Solidarność". Ambassador Engelmayer emphasized the strong brotherhood of Poles and Hungarians. He reminded the audience about one of the slogans of the demonstration, with which the uprising began: "Poland is setting an example today, which Hungary must follow." In this way the protesters referred to the Poznań June, that is the first rebellion of workers against the communist rule. Ákos Engelmayer, encouraging teachers to play the ZnajZnak/Felismered game and to learn about Hungarian history, said that 30 days of freedom in 1956 shaped him for life. With such experience he left for Poland and became the first non-communist ambassador of Hungary.

After the lecture, Karol Madaj, the author of the game, trained the teachers how to use it during classes at school. Similar trainings are also planned in other cities, including Katowice, Kielce and Poznań. Every participant of the event received a package containing a lesson plan and the ZnajZnak/Felismered? game to be played during the class.

About the game

The history of Poland and Hungary has intertwined for centuries. We find examples of this not only in the distant past, but also in the 20th century. The Poles and Hungarians could also count on mutual friendship and support in the face of the greatest totalitarian regimes of that time - Nazism and communism (even despite the fact that Hungary stood alongside Germany during the Second World War). Common history has borne legends and symbols. Nonetheless, we know too little about each other and our past. We should get to know each other better, and we hope that the historical ZnajZnak game will support that process. We hope that it will contribute to better understanding of the Hungarian history by Poles, and Polish history by Hungarians. The history of both nations is saturated with so many symbols that when preparing the game historians from Poland and Hungary limited the timeline to the 20th century only. In this way, a set of 133 symbols was created, which have been featured on the game cards.


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