Through My Eyes, In My Words:

The Open Wall and the New Europe of the 21st Century: Berlin, Prague, and Munich

Taught by Rado Pribic, Oliver Edwin Williams Professor of Languages, and Robert I. Weiner, Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Professor of History

Kristin Hamman of Northborough, Mass., is a biochemistry major. A member of Biology Club, Newman Association, and College Republicans, she also plays rugby.

By Kristin Hamman '07

Our interim course in Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia covered World War II and the Holocaust and their effects on Europe throughout the 20th century and into the future.

We departed Philadelphia on December 26 for Berlin, Germany. Berlin was our longest stop; we stayed for a week. Our days were structured so that we took a tour or visited a museum in the morning, had the afternoon free to do our own sightseeing, and then had class in the evening. We began to develop the bases for the course by visiting the Jewish Museum, House of the Wannsee Conference, Checkpoint Charlie, and Berlin Wall.

We then left Germany for Prague, a beautiful city with an interesting history. The most difficult part of our trip came next, in Krakow, Poland. In addition to touring the city we visited the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. We had learned about the Holocaust, but nothing hit us as hard as being in the death camp. As hard as going to the concentration camps was, it was helpful to us in completely defining the meaning and effects of the Holocaust. We were able to see how Germans and Eastern Europeans now view the Holocaust and how, through memorials and museums, they have honored those who were killed.

After Poland we spent one night in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, before returning to Germany to visit Munich. I really enjoyed Munich (especially since this was where we had the best weather of the trip). We went to the Deutsches Museum, a technical museum with everything from airplanes to waterwheels to cars. Outside Munich we visited Dachau concentration camp, now kept as a memorial to the former prisoners. We departed Munich on January 13 to return home.

This trip was, overall, an amazing experience. We learned about Germany and Eastern Europe’s past, present, and future through lectures, readings, and, most important, our own experiences. The cultural differences were very interesting, not just between the United States and Europe, but also among the different cities we visited. One of the best things about the trip, for me, was the fact that we visited Prague, Krakow, and Bratislava, places I may not have visited otherwise.