Yeshiva College Honors Program Explores Germany鈥檚 Jewish History and Culture
Fourteen Yeshiva College students spent their summer exploring Germany鈥檚 rich history and culture up-close as part of the study abroad program.
Program participants stand in plaza across the street from the Holocaust memorial. In the background is the Bundestag (German Parliament).
The 鈥淪ummer in Berlin鈥 program began in New York, where participants studied Berlin鈥檚 modern Jewish history, life and culture and German literature and poetry in two three-credit courses offered at YU, June 3-20.
Dr. Jess Olson鈥檚 course 鈥淢odern Jewish History: Jewish Life and Culture in Berlin and Beyond,鈥 explored the dynamic evolution of modern Jewish history both in Berlin and in Europe as a whole. Dr. Elizabeth Stewart鈥檚 course, 鈥淐ities of History: Literary Weimar and Visual Berlin,鈥 focused on Weimar, a European cultural center for literature, philosophy and music in earlier times, and examined Berlin through the prism of film.
From June 23-July 7, the students traveled to Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig and Weimar, where they visited historical and cultural sites around the cities that brought the classroom lessons to life.
Professor Negroni discusses German Romanticism in Weimar, the home of Goethe, Schiller and birthplace of classical German culture.
鈥淪tudents benefit from going out and seeing the world and it complements what they learned in the classroom very well,鈥欌 said Dr. Gabriel Cwilich, director of the Honors Program, who accompanied the group on the trip. 鈥淚t also expands the horizons of the students by giving them the opportunity to visit the Jewish community there, meet the youth and get a feel for the culture of the city.鈥
Dr. Maria Negroni of Sarah Lawrence College, an expert on German romantic poets and German expressionist film, also joined the teaching team and traveled abroad with the group, sharing the knowledge she gleaned from authoring more than 20 books of poetry, novels, essays and literary criticism on German romanticism.
鈥淚t was intellectually satisfying to be able to study the subject matter in New York and research it firsthand in Europe with experts in the field from 黑料社 All,鈥 said David Jasphy, a Yeshiva College student studying political science.
For Jasphy, who is writing a research paper for the course on 鈥淕erman Nationalism through the prism of Nazi architecture and Richard Wagner鈥檚 Ring Cycle operas,鈥 the trip was a great way to learn extensively about the subject and gain access to additional resources.
鈥淒r. Cwilich gave us the liberty to tour the city on our own in the evenings and some afternoons, and I found an unbelievable amount of information and resources that I could include in my research paper,鈥 he said.
Among the places that the group visited was the world-renowned Pergamon Museum; the Ku鈥檇amm, a famous Berlin avenue filled with shops, houses, hotels and restaurants; Rathaus, Berlin City Hall; the Judische Museum designed by Daniel Libeskind, architect of the new World Trade Center; the Film Museum at the Sony Center; House of the Wannsee Conference, where Hitler鈥檚 final solution was conceived; Buchenwald concentration camp; and the house of German writer and politician Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
To learn more about Jewish life, the students toured Berlin鈥檚 Jewish neighborhoods and spent Shabbat in Leipzig鈥檚 Jewish community. They also visited the Chabad of Berlin, the Ronald Lauder Yeshiva, the New Synagogue and visited the burial site of German-Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, father of the Jewish Enlightenment.
鈥淭he trip was a terrific success,鈥 said Olson. 鈥淪tudying in-depth Weimar and interwar German literature and film as well as the unique history of German Jewry, YU students experienced firsthand the rich history of Berlin, Weimar, Dresden, Potsdam and Leipzig, while at the same time encountering firsthand the complex Jewish life of contemporary Germany.鈥
Program participants stand in plaza across the street from the Holocaust memorial. In the background is the Bundestag (German Parliament).
Professor Negroni discusses German Romanticism in Weimar, the home of Goethe, Schiller and birthplace of classical German culture.
鈥淒r. Cwilich gave us the liberty to tour the city on our own in the evenings and some afternoons, and I found an unbelievable amount of information and resources that I could include in my research paper,鈥 he said.
Among the places that the group visited was the world-renowned Pergamon Museum; the Ku鈥檇amm, a famous Berlin avenue filled with shops, houses, hotels and restaurants; Rathaus, Berlin City Hall; the Judische Museum designed by Daniel Libeskind, architect of the new World Trade Center; the Film Museum at the Sony Center; House of the Wannsee Conference, where Hitler鈥檚 final solution was conceived; Buchenwald concentration camp; and the house of German writer and politician Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
To learn more about Jewish life, the students toured Berlin鈥檚 Jewish neighborhoods and spent Shabbat in Leipzig鈥檚 Jewish community. They also visited the Chabad of Berlin, the Ronald Lauder Yeshiva, the New Synagogue and visited the burial site of German-Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, father of the Jewish Enlightenment.
鈥淭he trip was a terrific success,鈥 said Olson. 鈥淪tudying in-depth Weimar and interwar German literature and film as well as the unique history of German Jewry, YU students experienced firsthand the rich history of Berlin, Weimar, Dresden, Potsdam and Leipzig, while at the same time encountering firsthand the complex Jewish life of contemporary Germany.鈥
Program participants stand in plaza across the street from the Holocaust memorial. In the background is the Bundestag (German Parliament).
鈥淒r. Cwilich gave us the liberty to tour the city on our own in the evenings and some afternoons, and I found an unbelievable amount of information and resources that I could include in my research paper,鈥 he said.
Among the places that the group visited was the world-renowned Pergamon Museum; the Ku鈥檇amm, a famous Berlin avenue filled with shops, houses, hotels and restaurants; Rathaus, Berlin City Hall; the Judische Museum designed by Daniel Libeskind, architect of the new World Trade Center; the Film Museum at the Sony Center; House of the Wannsee Conference, where Hitler鈥檚 final solution was conceived; Buchenwald concentration camp; and the house of German writer and politician Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
To learn more about Jewish life, the students toured Berlin鈥檚 Jewish neighborhoods and spent Shabbat in Leipzig鈥檚 Jewish community. They also visited the Chabad of Berlin, the Ronald Lauder Yeshiva, the New Synagogue and visited the burial site of German-Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, father of the Jewish Enlightenment.
鈥淭he trip was a terrific success,鈥 said Olson. 鈥淪tudying in-depth Weimar and interwar German literature and film as well as the unique history of German Jewry, YU students experienced firsthand the rich history of Berlin, Weimar, Dresden, Potsdam and Leipzig, while at the same time encountering firsthand the complex Jewish life of contemporary Germany.鈥
