by Jakob Gulder, Lea Engelmann, Philipp Depaoli [University of Vienna]
How the student buddies experienced the MemoriaLink (Pilot project in Vienna – Meet the Library)
In everyday history lessons, the culture of remembrance surrounding the Shoah is often overlooked, with the focus mainly on learning facts and figures rather than on how society deals with coming to terms with the Nazi past.
As part of the EU pilot project CU-Remember, we, as buddies and prospective teachers of history and political education, had the opportunity to support and accompany students in research-based learning using the biographies of expelled scientists and students from the University of Vienna.
Working in groups, the pupils used archival materials and personal documents provided to them to compile the biographical details of a person who had been expelled from the University of Vienna by the Nazi regime. They were also given the contact details of the descendants of the expellees, whom they interviewed after completing their work in the archive.
Our role as buddies
Our task was to support the pupils in carrying out this process, both in terms of organization and content. Our assistance and expertise were available to them throughout the entire duration of the project. This enabled us to gain a deeper insight into the general project structure, the development phases, and also the group dynamics.
After a brief get-together over snacks at the university archives, we started working on the archive materials with our groups and used the information we gathered to design a poster as an initial overview. We then remained in constant digital contact with our groups and were able to organize and accompany interview appointments, formulate questions for the interviews, and create video concepts. Throughout the entire project, lively feedback loops were established between us buddies and the students, in which we were able to develop ideas for finished works. In doing so, we paid particular attention to dealing sensitively with the past and ensuring the accuracy of the content.
Student buddies (from left to right): Lea Engelmann, Jakob Gulder, Philipp Depaoli; Image: Veronika Schallhart
New insights and practical experience
We found working on the CU Remember project to be a great enrichment for our future in education. We found the opportunity to take a look behind the scenes of this large-scale project particularly exciting. The insights into the diversity of the actors involved, who are needed to get such a project off the ground, surprised us and broadened our horizons.
As future teachers, we are delighted that we were able to gain additional practical experience in this way and immerse ourselves in the biographies of the displaced persons.
Such a project shows that history does not have to remain in the past, but that students can become researchers themselves in the present.