Vienna by Julie Mastro
Such an amazing day! We got to see the beauty of Austrian architecture and art while visiting Schonbrunn and Belvedere palaces. Walter was an especially knowledgeable and humorous guide. The Ampang train station memorial was another somber reminder of the atrocities that took place here. Being given a free night afforded me the opportunity to […]
Vienna: Resources, persistence, and working together by Deb Kruger
 The City Temple is the only surviving synagogue from pre 1938 Vienna. At one time there were 50 synagogues. This particular one sits in the heart of the city and was the center of the Jewish community. It is more than likely for that reason that it may have been spared by the Nazis […]
Vienna/Prague Seminar 2023 Community by Chelsea Kordecki
As we began our morning entering the only surviving synagogue of Kristallnacht, I heard our guide mention the word ‘community.’ A community, defined by Oxford Languages, is a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. Before WWI, approximately 200,000 Jews lived in the community of Vienna; finally […]
Reflections on Vienna, My Family History and Education by David Oestreicher
We have just completed our third day in Vienna with Classrooms without Borders. Today on July 5th what stood out to me the most was our visit to the Memorial to the Jewish Victims of the Shoah at Ostarrichi Park. Guided by Hanna Lessing, our group learned about the efforts to establish a Holocaust memorial […]
July 4th in Vienna by Meg Frank
Today we spent the day touring the Leopoldstadt, the Jewish museum and the Jewish cemetery. We learned the history of the Jews in Vienna. My key takeaway is that the treatment of Jews was very cyclical with ongoing acceptance and expulsion. There were three communities of Jews in Vienna starting in the Middle Ages. All […]
July 4th By Kate Lukaszewicz
Walter, our knowledgeable and passionate guide in Vienna, tells us that where we see a synagogue, we will also see a gray police box. It is a security measure necessitated by anti-semitism past and present. Throughout the day, Walter points out to us the locations of previous synagogues, destroyed by Pogrom Night, November 9-10, 1938, […]
Journey to Vienna by Jim Lucot
Our flight was slightly delayed due to lightening but we made up the time. Josh has been extremely helpful retracing his steps from four days ago leading the group through terminal charges and gates. Several people are meeting each other and getting acquainted and/or re-acquainted. Everything is going well as we wait in Heathrow to […]
Vienna by Heather Land
I’m here a few days early in Vienna. A friend wanted to ride the huge Ferris wheel, so we did. Like a ferris wheel, my mind had been going ROUND and ROUND about the places we will visit, the tidbits we will learn along the way. I am eager for our trip to start. Looking […]
Reflection by Dr. John Mitcham
This past week, I had the pleasure of accompanying approximately 75 educators and students on a Classrooms Without Borders tour of Poland. Now that I’ve had some time to decompress (both physically and mentally), I’d like to offer a few thoughts on my experience. I began this journey with somewhat mixed expectations. On the surface, I […]