As part of our ongoing conversations with young people within the Joint History Project, this lesson is dedicated to religion and coexistence in the Balkans. Were conflicts in this region truly inevitable, or can history help us debunk the myth of “centuries-old hatred”? Historical reality shows us that the coexistence of people of different faiths was the norm for centuries, while conflicts arose mainly when religion was manipulated for political purposes. In this video, high school students analyze testimonies and sources—from Evliya Çelebi’s 17th-century accounts of Sarajevo, to moving examples of civic solidarity in occupied Athens in 1943, all the way to visual symbols like the church and mosque standing side by side in Ferizaj/Uroševac. Through these examples, we explore how different communities shared daily life, what the past teaches us about the true nature of tolerance, and how we can identify and refute superficial narratives claiming that “we could never live together.” Join our students in critically examining historical sources and building an understanding of our shared past.

Multiperspectivity in History Teaching In history teaching, there is rarely only one side to the story.

That is why through this video, as well as through all of our work, we promote multiperspectivity—a methodology that teaches us to view historical events from different angles, critically examine sources, and understand the complexity of the past without bias.