During the hands-on game, they will experience what it is like to make decisions in situations which are common in everyday life in an undemocratic society. Only they can decide whether to choose as their life goal either the highest achievable standard of living or an uncorrupted value system.

The FUTURAMA project focuses on the totalitarian Communist past of the countries which are now members of the European Union and how it has influenced creating European identity. Through a hands-on format, the students will get to know various aspects of life under a totalitarian regime and be able to make a direct comparison with the present time. First the students will watch short documentary films from the series Wonderful Years Without the Curtain in which the high school students question young Czech individuals who spent one half of their lives under Communism and the other half under democracy. The film will be followed by a discussion and the hands-on game COM-COM.

In the COM-COM game or Totalitarian Times in a Nutshell, the players will be divided into five groups - students, potential emigrants, artists, scientists and secret police agents (or their counterparts in other countries). In their new role, they will walk through seven rounds simulating situations common under totalitarian regimes, such as cooperating with the secret police, participating in organized forms of leisure, experiencing limited freedom of expression and movement,  enduring a shortage of goods or undergoing constant pressure to adapt to the value system of the official political doctrine.

“They must face consequences of their decisions that will either annoy, disappoint or surprise them. For kids, such a concern is in many cases much more valuable than history lessons at school. If a student tells stories about his parents’ unusual experience, his audience finds out that the exploration of the recent past can be as interesting as a movie or a computer game,“ shares her own experience Ms. Adéla Foldynová, author of the COM-COM game and FUTURAMA lecturer.

The game refers to the Totalitarian Simulator project and is designed as an interactive hands-on space simulating life between the years 1948 – 1989. The students will be able to get a close look at the scale model of the Totalitarian Simulator which was designed by renowned Czech artists. The model is embellished with comments describing the fundamental attributes of living in the East bloc for the students.

Communism had different shape in each of the countries, similarities as well as contraries. Is spite of it FUTURAMA captured all the student regardless of their nationality (in Budapest took FUTURAMA place at international school where are student from all around the world - even from countries where is totalitarian regime today).  According to existing experiences role game and hand-on form of teaching lead students to new perspectives, interest in history facts and cross-generation dialog.

FUTURAMA: Reflections on the Past and Perspective of the Future
Berlin   June 15th - 18th 2010

Partner school: The John F. Kennedy School

The project is funded by the Community action programme „Europe for Citizens“ and is offered to schools free of charge. It was also sponsored by the Ministry of Culture Czech Republic, the CEPRO company and BeKa moving company.