Dr Katherine Lebow’s History Society Lecture
On 24th January Headington School’s History Society welcomed the local branch of the Historical Association, with speaker Dr Katherine Lebow from Christ Church College on the subject of autobiographies written by people who had been refugees as children as a result of the First World War in Eastern Europe.
Dr Lebow drew the girls into the topic by reading an arresting start to one of the autobiographies, written in response to a competition run by a research group of sociologists in Poland in the inter war period. She reminded the audience of the human dimension to the First World War, and the perhaps largely forgotten Eastern Front, where families might need to move to avoid the fighting and then found nothing left of their homes and farms on their return.
The topic, with its detail of the human suffering and displacement as the result of war has much resonance, sadly, with our world today. Questions continued over refreshments and all of the attendees commented on how interesting and engaging the session had been.
Mrs Monica Buckley, History teacher, said: “We’d like to thank Dr Lebow for coming to talk on such an interesting subject and using her experience to keep the girls captivated in what would likely be considered a disheartening subject.”
