The third day of the conference was our parliamentary day. But it was not just any parliament! We travelled in time to 1921, to the Italian parliament. Our students had the goal of establishing a ruling coalition. What discussions were held, what emotions were felt, what negotiations and calculations were undertaken! After many hours of work two coalitions were established, each having an equal number of votes. What could be done? The same thing that happened in history – the decision had to be made by His Majesty King Victor Emmanuel III. Now we can only hope that there will be a question about Italian politics just before the emergence of fascism in the IB exam – our students are now experts in that field!

And on Sunday, when most of the participants were already back in their homes, we travelled with our friends from Klaipėda to visit the German concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. This was a sad, but valuable closure of our conference about the interwar dictatorships.

Now we need a bit of rest, and let’s start organising next year’s conference! If you liked this post, and like the idea of such a historical meeting – we invite you to participate!