Dresden

We took at short overnight trip to Dresden, to see how a town other than Berlin is dealing with its history. I think the images will make it clear that Dresden has, out of its ashes, built a city that is nearly the same as it might have looked 200 years ago and "left out" references to its not-so-great recent past. It is a beautiful town and we happened to be there during the a Jazz festival so we got to hear some German interpretations of Dixieland tunes and there was also the Riverboat Shuffle, which included a lovely fireworks show.

Check out the slideshow below.

Day 6: Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe

Today we spent our time discussing the ideas of the conference from yesterday and experiencing (and discussing) the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe. This is a very powerful place in the most central part of Berlin, showing, I think, that Berliners are not hiding the difficult parts of their past but trying to remember every day. We also saw what we decided was a very badly-done memorial for persecuted homosexuals during the Nazi regime.

Frau Chambers offers us the background and context of the site. We are all good listeners.

Day 5: Conference and Opera

Today we took part at a conference held at the Topography of Terror (the historical spot of and new museum/ memorial for the site where the Nazi secret police had its offices). The presenters were from a smaller holocaust museum in Israel and they were discussing, with us and their counterparts at various sites in Berlin, how to teach and do community outreach, while at the same time follow their original mission of presenting the history of the holocaust. Very interesting stuff that we were able to discuss the next day in a very profound way.

After the conference many of us went to the German Opera and saw a great version of "The Barber of Seville."

Looking fancy to rub elbows with the opera crowd. Where is Herr Bilsing?

Day 4: Jewish Museum

On the fourth day of the course we spent a full afternoon at the Jewish Museum, which is both an impressive building and an impressive exhibit. Visitors are meant to be put into various emotional states as they move through the building. Form and content really fall together here.

It's not my camera that's off-kilter, but the building itself. You can't walk through the bottom floor of the museum without feeling uneasy. 

Day 3: Sachsenhausen

On Thursday we had a rough day. We traveled about 20 minutes north of the city to the site of a former concentration camp at Sachsenhausen. It was both physically and emotionally challenging to move through this massive and ominous space of Nazi Germany (and later Communist East Germany!). The museum is a decentralized space where the visitor is meant to move through the whole camp and see – and hear with the help of a handheld digital tour guide – what prisoners were forced to experience. It's a very well done museum and worth the visit to get a sense of the atrocities of the time.

The main gate through which all prisoners must pass.

Day 1: Bike Tour

For the first day of class we choose a more... experiential... approach that would give us a broad overview of what was to come as we get to know more about the city. Our guide and cycling hero for the day was Keiran from Fat Tire Bike Tours. Our three hour trip took us from medieval Berlin (the name comes from an ancient Slavic term for "swamp"...) to Nazi bunkers to East German walls to postmodern memorials. Berlin is truly one of the most complex cities in the world – historically and otherwise. 

Everyone chooses and tries out their steed for the day. The seats on these things were amazingly comfortable and one doesn't need more than three speeds in flat Berlin (Iowa seems mountainous in comparison).

Day 0: Arrivals

For the most part, everyone arrived on time and more or less intact. Happy were the few that slept on, others became quickly energized from all the new things to see and hear. I had a 12 hour day running back and forth between airports but it was worth knowing that all are safe and sound.

The sun does shine in Berlin. A first outdoor coffee for early arrivals. Miya, Anne, and Erica try out their German at the Cafe am Engelbecken.