“You're not allowed to say anything anymore!” is a common refrain in today's discussions. Yet it is currently easier than ever – thanks in no small part to social media – to take a stand in the media, in public, and even globally, and to express one's own opinion. The great value of a democratic and free media landscape is often overlooked.

This is where the “Post It!” project comes in, which we implemented for the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg (mabb) in cooperation with the Weiße Rose Foundation. It reminds us of the expression of opinions under the conditions of totalitarian social and media systems and raises awareness of the value of liberal social orders.

“Post it!” consists of two modules: The first is an escape game for intergenerational groups that can also be used in public spaces, e.g. in museums, at exhibitions and trade fairs, or even in market squares. Participants go on a journey through time to the years 1943, 1986 and 2021 and explore the history of freedom of expression and dissent in different times and systems. They solve puzzles, discover historical artifacts and learn how different media were used for expression and counter-speech. The game is based on action cards and a digital companion on a tablet – making it highly mobile.

The focus is on the activities of the resistance groups “The White Rose”, “The Red Chapel” and “Uncle Emil”. In a media landscape that was controlled by the state, leaflets and stickers were often the only way to spread public opinion. The game encourages players to compare these historical experiences with today's digital communication culture, in which expressing an opinion is seemingly just a click away.

The second module was developed for use in primary schools and is aimed at students in grades 5 to 7. The workshop centers around a role-playing game in which participants take on the roles of six young people discussing which medium they can best use to take action against injustices at their school. The profiles of these characters are based on historical figures who used leaflets as a means of counter-speech during the Nazi era and stood up for diversity.

The role play is embedded in modular workshop units that can be flexibly combined and adapted to different framework conditions. Here, for example, students learn to distinguish between “opinion”, “facts”, “disinformation” and “hate speech”. Another module is a history lesson in which participants are introduced to the history of National Socialism and its media system.

The project thus has a (media) historical focus: in both modules, participants get to know people and groups who practiced counter-speech in their respective political systems and stood up for an open, democratic and non-discriminatory society. The resistance group “Weiße Rose” from the Nazi era and their form of expressing opinions via leaflets and stickers appears in both modules.

What's next? We hope to implement the modules many times! On the one hand, in Berlin and Brandenburg through media educators from the mabb, whom we have trained for this purpose. However, we are also allowed to use the modules in our own workshops and therefore welcome requests!