Colourized history is to me a very exciting conduit to understand the past through. Although I do feel that original images, videos, and audio files that are unedited, and unrestored have their own immense value as primary sources for students, their restored Million-Dollar-Man or RoboCop counterparts (whichever you prefer) serve as an excellent means of having the students immerse themselves in what would otherwise seem like distant content for them. By adding colour and ambient sounds to otherwise silent, faded and/or monochromatic video we can bring a world that would otherwise seem far and lost, outdated, and unrelatable, into the forefront of their minds through vibrant sights and sounds (how could we ever relate to a world where there was no colour, not to mention sounds).
The following is a restored colour recording of Berlin in July of 1945 towards the tail end of the war. It depicts life in the ruins of war, the everyday people affected, but also reminds students that struggle doesn’t end with the battle, but continues on in the lives of those who survive.
