Two weeks ago I participated in The Sixth International Finnish Oral History Network symposium: Fragile Memories: Doing Oral History with Vulnerable Narrators, which took place in Helsinki. I presented there our Network and my preliminary findings with regard to the research on Polish Children Born of War and taboo. For me it was also very interesting to listen other researcher’s stories about their struggles with various difficulties, successes and limitations in oral history practice with vulnerable populations. The theme of the symposium was vulnerability and it seems to be an answer on developments we face currently. Anne Heim, chair of FOHN writes in the introduction of conference bookl

Last week, ESR Michal Korhel received the Student Prize of the Rector, of the University of J. E. Purkyně in Ústí nad Labem, for his research on children born of mixed Czech-German relationships in the post-WWII Czech society. He gained third place for outstanding achievements in research, development, artistic or other creative activities. (© UJEP)

On November 17, 2016, an evening of lectures and a panel discussion on Occupation Children in Austria was held at the picturesque Trautenfels Castle in Styria, Austria. The aim was to discuss parameters that are crucial for the often difficult biographies of these Children Born of War and their lengthy search for their paternal roots. It should also offer the possibility for Occupation Children as well as the second generation to get to know each other and exchange their experiences. After an introduction by Katharina Krenn, head of the Trautenfels Castle, Barbara Stelzl-Marx, Deputy Director of the Ludwig Boltzmann-Institute for Research on Consequences of War and Director of Research of CH

In August 2016, Sabine Lee and Bob McKelvey made a preparatory visit to Vietnam to prepare the Wellcome Trust-funded pilot project on Vietnamericans in Vietnam and in the US. With the help of a US-based organisation Amerasians Without Borders, they located many Amerasians who are still living in Vietnam and they visited several of them and their families in and around Ho Chi Minh City. The visit also facilitated making contact with the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City, and it was possible to establish a collaboration with the local Department of Anthropology. As a result of this, Dr Truong Thi Thu Hang will join the project, and it is hoped that students from

A workshop for data analysis on child marriage among Syrian Girls in Lebanon took place at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada at the end of October, set up by CHBOW partner Dr. Susan Bartels. It was the first meeting of all researchers involved in the project, since data collection was carried out in Lebanon this summer, including ESR Sophie Roupetz. The World Bank Group / Sexual Violence Research Initiative-funded project collected more than 1,400 stories from unmarried and married Syrian girls, mothers and fathers, unmarried and married Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian men, as well as community leaders, to better understand the sensitive topic of child marriage within the comm

Saskia Mitreuter, member of the European Union’s Marie Curie Initial Training Network, “Children born of war – past, present and future project,” from the University of Leipzig, went on a 5-weeks-research stay with the Center for Children in Vulnerable Situations (CCVS) and the University of Gent to different cities in Uganda. Saskia spent almost two weeks with the CCVS in Lira, whose goal is to provide psychosocial activities and help to individuals and groups in communities, schools, and prisons, who have been traumatized or otherwise psychologically wounded by armed conflict in Northern Uganda. A particular focus is on children and youth, but many activities are also directed at adults. S