On Monday, 12 October 2026, the education programme at the Historical Archives of the European Union (HAEU) welcomed 14 students and two history teachers from the Internationales Ganztagsgymnasium am Leonardo da Vinci Campus in Nauen, Brandenburg, Germany. The 16-year-old students are taking history and global politics courses in their upper secondary education.
The visit was initiated by Tina Raehse, who both teaches and coordinates ERASMUS activities at the school. Having followed a Europass Teacher Academy course at the HAEU three years ago, she was inspired to eventually return with a class of advanced students.
“I wanted them to gain an understanding of the importance of history—how it is documented and how it is written—to their daily lives,” she said. “What you find here in the Archives is the DNA of Europe.”
In her work with the students, Tina observed that the ERASMUS exchanges such as the one bringing her students to Italy have a strong impact on how they view their connection to Europe. “The international experience opens their eyes to something beyond their small town, beyond Germany. They realise that there is more, and that they are part of something more.”
In fact, in written statements prepared by the young participants for the workshop, they often mentioned the freedom of movement in Europe as one of the most important advantages of European citizenship. At the same time, however, they were critical of Europe’s effectiveness in demonstrating other advantages for European citizens.
"Being European, for me, stands for a diversity in communities and for advantages in being able to take on opportunities around the world. Travelling and being able to freely move between most countries and being able to live without having to cross strict borders is an advantage as well. But there is also uncertainty in the benefits of being European other than just being able to travel more freely. The EU is not standing out or giving us a view on the advantages they give us," wrote one student.
The Archives’ Director ad interim, Evangelia Koundouraki, welcomed the group and took part in the plurilingual conversation, which touched upon issues such as European identity, belonging and the values that connect people across countries and over time.
Observations on the parallels between their own classroom governance and that of the European institutions also emerged during the discussions. As they themselves come to decisions together, seated around a table, mindful of the diverse needs of the collective within their negotiations, they see the European institutions doing the same.
“Europe is about arriving at constructive solutions, by accepting a diversity of opinions, by negotiating and interacting,” one young woman expressed.
In a regular exercise at the Historical Archives, the students were also invited to describe an object or artefact that held particular meaning for them or their family, and to locate it within the longer European trajectory, past, present, and future.
Fueling European innovation with “unheard of ideas”
The visit to the Archives was only the first in the Italian itinerary of the Ganztagsgymnasium students. In the second stage of their trip, the students will work with peers from the International School of Bologna to formulate a set of “unheard of ideas”, a global politics project inspired by German authors Peter Jelinek and Katja Sinko, authors of Das beste Europa aller Zeiten: Unerhörte Ideen für ein besseres Morgen [The Best Europe of All Time: Unheard/Outrageous Ideas for a Better Tomorrow]. The project invites students to develop proposals for initiatives, policies and programmes that could bring European citizens closer together.
At the Archives, the Nauen students introduced some of the ideas underlying their work and considered how their own understanding of Europe might contribute to the project. They will eventually prepare and present their proposals to their regional Members of European Parliament in Germany. “They are young, they have the ability to bring new ideas,” Tina explained.
Incorporating the “unheard of ideas” exercise into the Archives’ educational activities was a natural fit. “We always aim to help students realise that they, too, are part of Europe, and that they have a voice in shaping its future,” explained Leslie Hernandez, education coordinator for the Archives.
"Visiting the different spaces of the HAEU brings them closer to the EU institutions in a concrete way. They meet the archivists and other people who work here, they use the archival sources deposited by the Institutions, and they are stimulated to establish links between their memories and EU integration history", she continued. “We wish them luck with their ‘unheard of ideas’ and look forward to hearing their proposals.”