What if Facebook had existed 100 years ago? That was the starting point of the WWI storytelling commemoration campaign “Small stories in a Great War” of the Province of Limburg.

With that idea in mind, we created a unique Facebook story based on true events and told by fictional characters. Combined with unique archive material, we brought the war in Limburg back to life. Over a period of 3 months we told stories from 4 years of war in such a way that people really got involved. To further strengthen this story of text and photos, we also created a number of fictional videos based on true stories to highlight important moments in the Facebook story.

This not only resulted in more than 12,000 likes for the facebook page, but also generated a lot of positive reactions and questions. Questions answered with the support and expertise of WWI historians.

All fiction videos, supplemented with extra footage, became a short film about everyday life during the war. The short film was projected during the closing event and subsequently released on DVD.

This campaign won the international first prize and best achievement award at the Heritage in Motion awards! This international recognition is the icing on the cake and illustrates that creativity and effort can lead to projects with a great international appearance.

challenge

To make the stories from WW I known to a large audience in an appealing and interactive way.

solution

We created a unique Facebook story based on true events and told by fictional characters. Combined with unique archive material, we brought the war in Limburg back to life. Over a period of 3 months we told stories from 4 years of war in such a way that people really got involved. To further strengthen this story of text and photos, we also created a number of fictional videos based on true stories to highlight important moments in the Facebook story.