At the University of Vienna, 24 students have enrolled in the course Narrating Trauma: Dutch Children’s and Youth Literature about the Holocaust in an International Context, taught by Levente Erős. A key objective of the course was to teach students how to effectively communicate the knowledge they gathered throughout the semester by producing a podcast episode.

The course began with introductory meetings where students learned about the history and remembrance of World War II and the Holocaust, as well as the theoretical framework for analysing youth novels. They read a total of six novels and comic books in German and English translation, examining how these works introduce young readers to the persecution of Jews. The reading list included Sterrekinderen (1946) – Kinder mit Stern (1961) – by Clara Asscher-Pinkhof, Oorlog zonder vrienden (1979) – War without Friends (1982) – by Evert Hartman, De ontdekking (2003) – Die Entdeckung (2009) – a graphic novel by Eric Heuvel, and Dolf Verroen’s Oorlog en vriendschap (2016) – Krieg und Freundschaft (2016).

As the semester draws to a close, the students are working in seven groups in the university’s MediaLab to produce English-language podcasts discussing a book of their choice. Once the recordings and editing are completed, the podcasts will be made available to listeners.