Innocence and Experience: Childhood and the 1930s Refugees. Dealing with Trauma

Child psychology and therapy were disciplines developed in pre-war Germany and Austria, and Britain benefitted hugely from the refugees' expertise in the area. Many of the children who came to the UK as refugees or Holocaust survivors were themselves of course in need of support. This online conference brought together expertise in the field from the UK, Europe and Israel, and presentations which dealt with diverse aspects of childhood amongst the refugees from Nazism, including education, therapy, literature, art, photography, and play. In this recording, Anthony Grenville and Charmian Brinson (both from the Research Centre for German & Austrian Exile Studies at the Institute of Modern Languages Research), speak about the depiction of trauma in literature by Jewish Refugee writers in British exile and the work of refugee youth organisations in wartime Britain.

Chair: Monica Bohm-Duchen (Insiders/Outsiders, London)
1. Anthony Grenville (Research Centre for German & Austrian Exile Studies, IMLR): Childhood Trauma as Represented in Literary Works by Jewish Refugees from Nazism in Britain;
2. Charmian Brinson (Research Centre for German & Austrian Exile Studies, IMLR): ‘In loco parentis’: The Work of the Refugee Youth Organisations, Young Austria and Free German Youth, in Wartime Britain

Author: Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies

Speaker(s): Anthony Grenville (RCGAES, London); Charmian Brinson (RCGAES, London); Chair: Monica Bohm-Duchen (Insiders/Outsiders, London)

Organisations: Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies

Event date: Wednesday, 1 December 2021 - 1:45pm