Description:
This memoir is the story of Lucie Widl (1930-2023), born in Vienna
and, due to her Jewish background, sent to the United Kingdom
as a child refugee following the Nazi annexation of Austria. She
recounts her childhood, her experiences with the Kindertransport
refugee scheme in Scotland, her post-war years with vocational
training in London and travels across Europe and North Africa, and
her eventual settlement in Sweden. There she started a family and
came into close contact with the medical facilities of the welfare
state. With its keen observations, trenchant commentary, dry humor,
and hopeful aspirations, Lucie Widl's firsthand account vividly brings
history to life.
This publication includes additional research, annotations, and an introduction
by Norbert Götz, professor at the Institute of Contemporary History
at Södertörn University
Brief description: Norbert Götz holds the chair of contemporary history at Södertörn University. His current research focuses on humanitarianism, moral economy, global civil society, and civil society-state relations. His interests also include populism and nationalism, political culture, peace and international relations, democracy and the welfare state, and conceptual history. The larger Baltic Sea region, including the Nordic countries and Central and Eastern Europe, are special target regions, although his research includes the British Isles, global history, and the UN.Götz is the Swedish representative in the steering group of the research programme "Reimagining Norden in an Evolving World (ReNEW): An Excellence Hub in Reserach, Educaton and Public Outreach" (funded by NordForsk 2018-2024). He is responsible for working with doctoral researchers and emerging scholars, and is the organiser of the Fifth Nordic Challenges Conference, 1-3 June 2022, in Stockholm.Götz leads the project "Civil Society without Boundaries: Nordic Humanitarianism Facing the Biafra Crisis" (funded by the Swedish Research Council 2022-2024). His academic engagements include the Swedish Graduate School of History and the Association for Political History.Norbert Götz has been awarded the Hans Rosenberg Memorial Prize of the Heinrich August and Dörte Winkler Foundation in the Friedrich Ebert Foundation for his dissertation, as well as the 15th Annual Scholarship Award of the Swedish Women's Educational Association International (SWEA)."