Tracing the Spiral of Jewish History: From Nuremberg’s Medieval Past to Berlin’s Present by Alida Jekabson
On our train ride to Berlin from Nuremberg, spans of green and tan fields flashed by my window, decidedly different from the expansive sand-colored mountain landscape of my home in southern California. Fluffy, verdant green trees lined the tracks and began to thin out as the train approached smaller cities and towns on the way […]
Nuremberg by Melanie Silver
Today we travelled to Nuremberg. Our first stop was the Nazi party rally grounds. Not the ones that have been finished and used (though we saw that at the end of the tour) but the new ones in progress and then abandoned at the beginning of the war.On the bus ride in, I noticed the […]
Echoes of Preservation: Exploring Dachau’s Complex Legacy by Adam Reinherz
The last thing we saw before leaving Dachau was a Russian Orthodox chapel. Its modular structure was erected shortly before the Soviet Union crumbled, Gerd Modert told us. The tour guide, who trains Dachau’s tour guides, said the Soviets wanted a record of their mistreatment at the camp. One could see the nearly 30-year-old wooden […]
Reflecting on History: The Urgency of Combating Modern Antisemitism by Shira Hershenfeld
Today we visited the memorial at the former site of Dachau Concentration Camp and the Munich Documentation Center for National Socialism. What strikes me the most is how so many similarities can be seen between what occurred in the years leading up to the Holocaust and what is happening in the present day. It feels […]
The Power of Remembrance by Andy Laub
The Resilience of Survival and Reconciliation for the Future: I was incredibly moved by todays DAAD/Classrooms without Borders visit to the Dachu Memorial. I was at first struck like any human being by the raw of emotion thinking of the lives senselessly lost there. But I was impressed with the transparency no longer was history […]
Shalom, München by Jason Kikel
Today was the first day for the Classrooms Without Borders cohort’s Germany Close Up Fellowship. Our group of over two dozen Jewish young professionals from all over the United States and Canada have gathered in Munich to begin our journey, reflecting an incredibly diverse set of backgrounds. This morning’s first activity was a group welcome […]
Germany Close Up Day 1 by Shira Ophir
First impressions of Munich leave me wanting more- a European city, seemingly devoid of hoards of tourists, (very at odds with other places I have been) with fun markets and restaurants intermingled with remnants of old city walls. In our afternoon walking tour I was most struck by the repetition from our tour guide that […]
Upcoming Germany Close Up Study Seminar: A Transformative Journey
Classrooms Without Borders is thrilled to announce the upcoming Germany Close Up Fellowship, an open program for young professionals. This immersive experience offers a unique opportunity to delve into Germany’s rich history, culture, and contemporary issues through a carefully curated itinerary. Participants will begin their journey in Munich, where they will have the chance to […]
Remembering by Zenon Cieslak
The cherry on top of a rather strenuous trip came in an exhibition of tourism. The Wieliczka Salt Mine was a welcome change of pace as compared to visiting Auschwitz only 2 days prior. A visit to what was once the lifeblood of a medieval Polish economy long ago reminded me to not only consider […]