Footnotes from the fields: A new generation learns about the First World War

The ruins of Ypres on the Western Front in Belgium in 1919 (© Wikimedia Commons)

The First World War came to an end one hundred years ago, but its impact is still felt in many points of friction to this day, and its lessons are never to be forgotten. This award-winning programme accompanies Dutch political studies professor Koen Koch of Leiden University and a group of his Dutch and American students on a memorable tour of the battlefields of the Western Front. A confrontation with the past and the lives of soldiers who were no older than the students themselves.

Producer: Marijke van der Meer

Broadcast:  May 5, 2004

Winner of a Gold Medal in the Category Education at the 2005 New York Festivals

Professor Koch at Fort Duomont near Verdun in 2004 (© Marijke van der Meer)

Professor Koen Koch (1945-2012) was head of political studies at Leiden University, professor of international relations at Groningen State University, and a member of the scientific board of In Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres, Belgium.