Teacher blog

Train stations are meant to convey comings and goings, movement and change - sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.  German examples include the Anhalter Banholf - where thousands of Jewish children's lives were saved with the Kindertransport program with England (see the pix) for new beginnings. And the Gleis 17 Grunwald Station - which we will see tomorrow - where many Jews saw the last light of freedom as they boarded cattle cars for the concentration camps ending their lives.

It was strange this room from the Jewish Museum: I have never seen it before. And I could not help but step on heads and make them tell stories, to scream.

It is a stange feeling indeed to eat lunch in the middle of a ghetto. But it's not entirely unreasonable. The fortress, built between 1780 and 1790, was where Gavrillo Princip, the assassin of the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, the trigger for the First World War, was impriosned there and died there of tuberculosis. Czechs lived nearby and even in the fortress, as it was quite large and designed essentially as a military town. But the defensive walls worked as well to keep people in as out.

... and we had besides high temperatures very high intellectual/emotional impacts. Thanks to the speakers :-)

We found that our guide to Terezin and Lidice was the executive director of The Power of Good - but got shafted economically by the drector, and is a childhood friend of Vera Gissing. Wonderful discussions with her, and she told us that the hotel on Wenceslaus Square where Winton used to meet the parents was now called Hotel Europa. That settled where we would have dinner that night. When we got there, we asked which table he had always used - while the Gestapo sat at the other tables.

During our time at the Instituto Cervantes we viewed several films and then had lively discussions concerning possible uses in the classroom.  The synergy from the collection of so many cultures, languages, and perspectives is rare indeed.  Centropa knows what it is doing bringing such an eclectic group together.  I have been in the “business” of education for over 40 years and have never experienced a learning environment that even came close to the quality of this one.  Kudos to everyone for making this so memorable.  The informal discussions over food are some of

It's day three and trying to put together thoughts on everything we've experienced presents a challege. There is the history that surrounds you at every turn here, and you try to process for example the loss of those 40,000 who once occupied the Jewish quarter of Berlin. The synagogue that has but few who worship or the plaques to mark those murdered. Yesterday when we visited the sites of the wall remains you try to imagine the separation and the oppression. The memories remain palpable and will only continue to be as we finish our time together.

Today was amazing and exhausting! We spent most of the day at Centrum Judaicum, but were able to take brief walking tour of the East side.

It’s one thing to read about history; it’s quite another to see it in person. Participating in the Centropa’s Summer Academy in Berlin is giving me this very opportunity.

A day spent with our diverse body of teachers has resulted in more ideas than I thought possible.  It seems that a little nugget of an idea produces eightfold more.  I am so happy to hear the voices of my colleagues from Europe, Israel, and North America. I thank you all and look forward to turning ideas into concrete learning for my students.