Further projects

Peter Handke’s crows as a major school project

The children have read texts in which the crow plays the leading role and painted fascinating pictures to accompany them.

(Bild: Europaschule)

The primary school pupils at the Europaschule St. Michael deal with texts by the world literary figure and inspire with their works of art. A musical is now also planned. 

"I saw a crow sitting on a tree branch, the wind almost drove it away, but it held on, black and unwavering, like a silent watchman over the city", reads Peter Handke's text "Der kurze Brief zum langen Abschied" (1972).

Project for the fifth anniversary
To mark the fifth anniversary of the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature to Peter Handke, the pupils of the third and fourth classes at St. Michael's European School also chose the animal - to which Handke attaches particular importance - as their project. "The crows stand for freedom, constancy, the connection between past and present," explains principal Danilo Katz, who wants to convey a message with the project: "How deeply literature, art and culture are anchored in the classroom."

The children spent a week learning all about Handke. They read texts, drew pictures and made a video that appeared in two languages on social media.

For the past five years, we have been doing our own annual school project for our Nobel Prize winner Peter Handke.

Danilo Katz, Direktor der Europaschule

"I liked the animated crows in the video best, and the texts were also really interesting," says Christian from fourth grade. "I drew big, black crows. The texts totally inspired me," adds Janek.

Musical planned
The project was supported by the art-loving teachers Reingard Koboltschnig, Maria Krištof, Alexandra Loser, Carmen Opetnik and Ernestine Perč. The pupils' paintings of crows can be admired in the elementary school. "They will accompany us throughout the school year. Because next year we will be rehearsing a crow musical."