Travel Day On Wednesday, the team took an 8+ hour bus trip from Berlin to Krakow. It was uneventful, beautiful, restful…needed. We got to the hostel early enough to walk around Old Town Kraków and visit Wawel Castle. Here are a few pics: Thursday we will visit Auschwitz I and II…
U.S. Embassy, Babelplatz, and the Olympic Stadium of Berlin Tuesday was our last full day in Berlin. We managed to cram in a visit to the U.S. Embassy where we had a very interesting and impressive meeting with and briefing by a spokesman for the ambassador and several of his deputies, a visit to the Rosenstraβe Protest memorial, Bebelplatz, and may other venues. One group I met up with went to the Olympia Stadion, location of the 1936 (Jesse Owens) Olympics and another went exploring through Hackescher Markt. On Wednesday, we travel to Krakow. Thursday will be our visit to
Ravensbrück Concentration Camp On Monday, we journeyed by regional train one-hour north of Berlin to Furstenberg-an-der-Havel. Just on the other side of the beautiful Lake Schwedtsee sits the women’s camp of Ravensbrück. Here are a few pics from that site – as well as the rest of the day. The next day we will get a briefing at the U.S. Embassy and enjoy some “free Berlin” time.
Sachsenhausen – one of the most important camps in the Nazi system On Sunday, we toured the Sachsenhausen labor camp in Oranienburg, just a few miles north of the German capital. This “city of oranges,” was renamed in the 16th century due to one of William of Orange’s granddaughter’s fascination with the town. However, in addition to this interesting history (complete with baroque-style castle, by the way), it also carries the burden of playing host to one of the most significant camps in the Nazi Lager Camp system, Sachsenhausen. This camp was designed to be the one on which other
The Jewish Museum of Berlin Today was primarily taken up with a visit to the Jewish Museum of Berlin. In the installation, the visitor in confronted with a fantastic amount of factual information spread across three floors of displays, and it is all wrapped and presented within a structure bursting with symbolic meaning – from the interior design of the hallways and “voids,” to even the outside of the building, which looks scarred and torn. Here are some of the shots taken by those of us on the tour: The next day we will go to Sachsenhausen, one of the
A trip to Brandenburg an der Havel The main event for today was a trip out the western side of Berlin on a Region 1 train to the historic town of Brandenburg. Before we left Berlin, we were met by Dr. Christian Marx and his colleague Dr. Petra Fuchs who chose to not only travel with us but to also give us a tour of this beautiful northeastern German city. Eventually, we made our way by foot to the Brandenburg Euthanasia Memorial, where Christian serves as the director of education. On the way, we saw building, churches, walls, and towers
First Day Summary Challenging first couple of days here for Group 1. Despite several challenging traveling issues, all made it here safely and on-time except one group who, due to a flight cancellation, will arrive tomorrow morning. Thankfully, we were able to make adjustments to the schedule and we are very hopeful that all scheduled events will still take place. Highlights of the day – safe arrival at the airport and transportation to our hostel (Ibis, Mitte Berlin); walking tour of Museum Island and Hackescher Markt, a visit to the famous East Wall Gallery, and a group dinner at Vapiano’s
A Special Thank You from a Student Student acts-of-appreciation are simply the best! And this year I just received an incredibly creative, funny, and thoughtful thank you from a graduating psych major. It’s simply too good not to share. [Scroll through the attached PowerPoint file – she is riffing off of a class I teach on the History and Systems of Psychology.] Thank you so much, Sommer Toadvine! (By the way, Sommer is one of the 30 students who will be meeting me in Berlin for our Holocaust Studies tour later this month.)
One of my hopes for this blog is to present, in short essay form, a collection of thoughts and reflections designed to shed some light on the foundations of the contentious cultural discussion sometimes referred to as the religion-and-science debate. This theme will be ongoing as the size of this topic, the ground to be covered in terms of the origins, history, and variety of definitions these words currently embody, is perhaps only matched in scale by the cultural weight that is being placed on them. Covid policy, education reform, crime and punishment, LGBTQIA+ issues, racism, evolution, and abortion are
After a two-year Covid-induced hiatus, I will once again be guiding students through a holocaust-studies experience this May and June. The build-up of interest since the last trip has necessitated two tours this time around. The first will go from May 12 – 22 and the second will be from May 23 – June 2. (I will attach the travel packets, detailing the events of each day for reach tour, as soon as they are done.) In many ways, the experience will reflect the typical flow of previous tours. The first half will center in Berlin and other places in