Gate of Concentration Camp Sachsenhausen

Jewish cemetery in Berlin-Weißensee

Carriers of the Torah scrolls (oblate from around 1900)

The Holocaust & Present-day Jewish Life in Germany

July 14-21, 2013

This one-week study tour in July of each year is designed for U.S. secondary school teachers and other multipliers in the field of education to gain insight into many of the historical, social, religious, political, and economic factors that cumulatively resulted in the Holocaust. A program brochure can be downloaded here.

It includes educational visits to historic sites in and around Berlin that played an important role in the history of the Holocaust and the Third Reich with the participation of eyewitnesses and survivors, as well as representatives of the Berlin city government and distinguished members of the Berlin-Jewish community. Among other activities, the curriculum includes visits to the following sites: German Resistance Memorial Center, House of the Wannsee Conference, Liebermann Home & Gardens, Grunewald Deportation Station, Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, Otto Weidt’s Workshop for the Blind, Jewish Museum of Berlin, the Reichstag, Berlin’s City Hall, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the Jewish Cemetery at Berlin-Weissensee, Central Council of Jews in Germany.

Applications are evaluated by the foundation’s board as they are received -- so applying early is to your advantage, as participation is limited to 12 individuals. All applications must reach our office no later than April 1, of each year. If accepted into the Berlin Summer Academy, a €uro 200.00 non-refundable down payment on the program fee in the form of a traveller’s check is required to confirm your participation in the program.

Cost to the applicant is €uro 1,000.00, including transportation to historic sites, hotel accommodations (2 to a room) and 3 meals daily. Round-trip travel from the United States to Berlin-Tegel Airport is excluded and must be arranged individually by each participant. Due to a cooperation with the Education Division of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum U.S. secondary school teachers, who have successfully completed the Museum Teacher Fellowship Program of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C., will be awarded the Moses-Wolfenstein-Travel-Grant of 150,00 €uros, if accepted for participation.

Program Goals:

• To advance education in U.S. secondary schools about the Holocaust and present-day Jewish life in Germany;
• to deepen teachers' knowledge and strengthen their ability to implement Holocaust studies in their classrooms;
• to gain insight into many of the historical, social, religious, political, and economic factors that cumulatively resulted in the Holocaust;
• to understand how a modern nation can utilize its technological expertise and bureaucratic infrastructure to implement destructive policies ranging from social engineering to genocide;
• to reflect about the use and abuse of power, and the roles and responsibilities of individuals, organizations, and nations when confronted with civil rights violations and/or policies of genocide;
• to create an understanding of the roots and ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping in any society;
• to develop an awareness of the value of democratic pluralism and encourage acceptance of diversity in a pluralistic society.

For further information contact:

Checkpoint Charlie Foundation
Wolfensteindamm 9
12165 Berlin / Germany
Tel: +49 (30) 844 90 60
Fax: +49 (30) 844 90 6-20
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