'Testimonies/Témoignages' by Samantha Lakin & Waleed Al Bazoon

This lunchtime talk discussed Samantha's research concerning what happened to Jewish children, specifically adolescents, who were refugees in Switzerland during World War II.  The “sejour en Suisse” for many refugees is not well documented, and the last survivors of the Holocaust are becoming older and harder to speak with.

Through in-person interviews with the child survivors themselves in addition to archival work, Samantha shared her research findings and discussed the specifics of the refugee story.  Photographs of the people and places important to this story, taken by professional photographer and former Fulbright scholar Laura Bernier, was also shown. 

Waleed Al-Bazoon, a CARA fellow supported to complete a PhD in English Literature from the University of Chichester, has now published a collection of poems entitled 'The War on Idigna' that provide his insight into the events following the 2003 war in Iraq. He provided a short poem reading to conclude the talk.

Waleed's story was a contemporary reminder that despite almost 80 years between World War II and now, the issue of people fleeing persecution and tyranny still exists.

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