By Luke Burke My favorite place to go in Wroclaw has quickly become a comedy club right down the street from where our group has been staying because it is a perfect manifestation of the new society post communism. From the invasion of Poland by both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939 to […]
By Hannah Gavin Studying the Holocaust is an emotional task. It can be easy to de-personalize what happened during the genocide and reduce it to mere statistics. Throughout my time in Central Europe I have found myself grabbing onto the stories I find that remind me that this six million, were mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. […]
By April Dvorak To enhance my experience of studying and traveling around Central Europe, I have been fortunate enough to take part in an internship at the Wroclaw Pantomime Theatre (Wrocławski Teatr Pantomimy im. Henry Tomaszewskiego.) The theatre is named for its founder Henryk Tomaszewski, who focused on movement and technique to portray a story. […]
By Esmé Rummelhart Artists must make a multitude of choices when designing memorials, and we saw many approaches on display in Berlin. I found the Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Victims of National Socialism (commonly known as the Nazism) to be particularly effective. Designed by Daniel Karavan, this memorial is powerful in its ability […]
By Kate Christie Resistance can take many forms. It can be physical, meaning to uproot given oppressive institutions through explicit verbal or armed struggle. But what about spiritual resistance; a form of resistance–while less explicit, but just as crucial? Holocaust survivor, researcher and activist Rachel Kostanian Danzig, defines spiritual resistance as: “any intellectual activity of […]
By Jacqueline Murrer When someone mentions the name, “Auschwitz”, the first thing that most likely comes to mind is the concentration camp in Poland, Auschwitz-Birkenau. But, did you know that this camp was actually named for a historic town where the Nazis established the camp – Oswiecim, which is still a functioning town today? Before visiting […]
By Zoe Fruchter There is a prayer towards the climax of the Kol Nidre service of Yom Kippur, the evening service before the holiest of holy days in the Jewish year, called Ki anu amecha, “for we are your people.” In this prayer, the congregation calls out to God and to those who sway around […]
By Maryrose Dollard During my travels through Krakow, Poland located not far from the Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau and Berlin, Germany, which is home to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, I noticed a similar trend at each site I had the honor of visiting. I felt that visitors at each site were […]
By Madison Bollart When we think about totalitarianism, an immediate reaction often associates such a form of government with restriction, political repression, and complete control. In studying the 20th century particularly, we see this political system deem a particular prominence in Europe more times than one, specifically in Germany. To different extents, under the Third […]
By Caroline Simon Our walk ends in a huge square in the central Mitte neighborhood of Berlin, one of the two districts that includes both former West Berlin and former East Berlin. This fusion of the city shows a reconciliation for Germany’s divided past and sets the tone for its future. We are amid many […]