Heritage

82 heritage for peace and reconciliation | manual for teacherContentsof remembrance education (knowledge, attitudes, reflection and action) will remainonly partially or even completely unachieved. Moreover, the risk of stereotypical representationwill increase.tlTeaching limitationOne important teaching limitation with regard to re-enactment is that it is sometimesmore about the present than the past. We have previously argued the importance ofnot neglecting the proper historical context. In many cases, re-enactments offer a nostalgicor romanticized view of the past. There is also a genuine risk that certain gapsor inaccuracies in historical knowledge will be filled by imagination. Re-enactmentsfocus exclusively on reliving an event such as a battle. War and peace, however, entailmuch more than the clash of weapons. Finally, a moral question must be raised: Is itpossible to re-enact the true suffering and the true horror of war violence in an ‘authentic’manner? The pain and sorrow of those who have experienced war first handis often highly individual; it is not possible to compare it, let alone re-enact it. Thisis evidenced in fragments of journals written by sailors on board ships and soldiers inthe trenches.to Teaching optionLiving history becomes more credible if it is understood as a play, with a script anddirection. For the spectator, it is clear that it is a performance and that the actors arestaging events from the past. We are thus well aware that it is an interpretation ofhistory. War should, however, not turn into a game, and the appropriate approachshould be respected.tt Teaching tipRazzle dazzleThe British called it ‘Dazzle painting‘, the Americans ‘Razzle Dazzle’. This type of camouflagewas used by both the British and the American Navy during the two World Wars.Dazzle ships were painted with cubist geometric patterns. This ‘war cubism’, however,was not intended to be an artistic statement. During the World Wars, the commandersof German submarines had to target their torpedoes manually. The ‘dazzle’ camouflagewas used in order to hinder the enemy in their attempts to estimate the distance, speedand direction of the targeted vessel; similar to zebras, whose stripe patterns distract theirpredators. This type of painted camouflage was first used during the First World War.