135824 KO Oral History Lab: Post-Shoah Flight Narratives (2026W)

Fictionalized family histories that explore flight and survival during the era of National Socialism have become a widespread and widely read genre. Often written by the children and grandchildren of those affected, these narratives reflect the transgenerational echoes of trauma within families. As literary scholars, we typically encounter such texts only in their finished, literarily shaped form. Yet their creation is preceded by extensive research and conversations — processes fraught with challenges: missing or fragmentary sources, the unreliability of memory, and silences born of trauma or shame. In this seminar, we set out to trace these processes for ourselves, adopting the perspective of the writers. Our aim is to experience firsthand how fact and fiction, history, individual memory, and literary or artistic form become interwoven — and how memories are transformed into narratives.
At the heart of the course lies an Oral History Lab, in which participants gain hands-on research and interview experience: they investigate family histories, conduct interviews with descendants of Holocaust survivors, and reflect critically on the challenges of memory work. The seminar is part of an EU-funded research project and brings together literary studies, oral history, and practice-based research. Students will be prepared for the interviews both theoretically and practically, guided by experts and the course instructors. No prior knowledge is required.