The students participate in an ongoing research project on the history of local children’s homes. By the end of the seminar they will have gained some historical knowledge of the social history of corrective training (child and youth welfare) and are able to distinguish between individual, social and structural violence.

Until very recently, the public barely knew that in the first decades after 1945 thousands of children lived in public and private care homes in Austria. Even less well known was the fact that they were handed over to these educational institutions in a way that is virtually unimaginable today. With the help of historical documents, film footage and contemporary texts and by examining contemporary testimonials, students will gain an insight into this complex subject and an understanding of the conditions and effects of (corrective) violence.

Presentation, group work, reading groups and practice work with historical sources

Final paper

Will be made available at the beginning of the seminar.

mailto: michaela.ralser@uibk.ac.at