The project “Re4 Healing – Cross-border Remembrance, Reconnection, Restoration, and Resilience” unites anthropologists, historians, and psychotherapists from Slovenia, Italy, and Austria. Together, they explore how to contribute to reconciliation, pacification, and healing of traumatized border communities carrying painful memories of fascism, Nazism, World War II, and the Istrian exodus.
The project’s goal is to address divided and often misused memories at the border – some exposed, others silenced. It promotes intercultural and international dialogue and the formation of a shared European memory based on responsibility, empathy, and respect for diversity.
Through a documentary film, workshops, conferences, public debates, memory path excursions, and a concert of silenced groups, the project will give voice to overlooked stories and contribute to the holistic healing of collective trauma.
In the first year of the project (2025–2026), Zavod Epiona will conduct six creative therapeutic workshops.
These psychotherapeutic workshops will combine creative techniques with psychotherapy. Their purpose is to create a safe space where participants can share and explore their burdensome and traumatic memories through artistic media such as storytelling, symbol drawing, and creative movement. Our aim is to foster an environment that supports healing and reconnects participants with their often transgenerational family histories. The workshops will not only serve as a platform for expressing personal experiences but also offer participants theoretical insights into trauma and coping mechanisms. By raising awareness about mental health, we aim to contribute to education and sensitivity in this field. All events will be led by psychotherapists and/or counselors.
The workshops will take place with participants from diverse backgrounds in Slovenia, Austria, and Italy (Društvo Pristan in Koper, Sklad Mitja Čuk in Opčine near Trieste, Lung – Center for Adult Education in Nova Gorica, and the Psychosocial Center for Refugees and Victims of Violence Aspis in Klagenfurt, Austria). We strive to gather diverse testimonies and narratives within each workshop, including from various ethnic and minority groups. This inclusive approach, although sensitive in nature, will promote empathy and understanding among participants. Materials for the documentary film will also be collected during these workshops.
In the second year of the project (2026–2027), a borderland concert on the theme of psychological borders will take place.
Music, when thoughtfully written and composed with meaningful content, can be widely accepted and offers deep experiences of collective healing, as it helps dissolve divisions within communities and enables important catharsis. The goal of this phase is to disseminate the documentary film and our research findings through a concert. We believe it is crucial that personal stories are treated with compassion and that we advocate for a cross-border perspective free of hatred and nationalism. To this end, we decided to create an event spreading this message, where the documentary film will be screened and a cross-border concert performed. The leading musician at this moment is Toni Bruna, a singer and songwriter from Trieste, whose songs (in the Triestine dialect) reflect on the traumas of the border through his family’s personal stories – his family settled on the outskirts of Trieste after World War II as esuli (migrants of the Istrian exodus). We will add other musicians and artists to the concept, thereby developing the idea of representing all minorities in the region, enabling us to approach the topic from the perspectives of art and cooperation.
Project partners: Faculty of Humanities (UP), University College of Teacher Education Carinthia, Zavod Epiona, Quarantasettezeroquattro, Fixmedia; associate partner: Directorate for Cultural Heritage (Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia).
The Re4Healing logo was designed by Manca Švara from Zavod Epiona.
Official project website:
https://fhs.upr.si/re-4-healing-crossborder-remembrance-reconnection-restoring-and-resilience/