„Holocaust and Human Rights“ Educational Trip through Germany and Poland, 2016 & 2018
Educational Trip through Germany and Poland
For American educators
On behalf of the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center, White Plains, NY www.hhrecny.org
What are human rights and how can they be taught in class?
Under the heading “Human Rights,” this educational trip for teachers takes us from the Third Reich and the Holocaust, through the communist dictatorships in the GDR and Poland with the Stasi and the peaceful revolution or Solidarnosc (Solidarity movement in Poland), to current developments and up-to-date questions of migration, integration, discrimination, racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
Historic and specific social or political events are conveyed and reflected through visits to original sites, memorials and monuments, museums, educational institutions, NGOs and associations. Through guided tours, discussions, and interactive workshops the different topics get vividly communicated and reflected.
A balance between the Holocaust and contemporary human rights violations provides the teachers with strategies how to teach historical events and human rights today and how to sensitize and enable students to stand up against injustice.
The educational mission also offers the opportunity for an intensive exchange between the participants and reflections on what they have experienced. The last day of the trip is always an open day to allow the participants to explore and enjoy Berlin by themselves.
5 Nights in Berlin including excursions to Oranienburg and Leipzig
1 Night Gdansk
2 Nights Warsaw
3 Nights Krakow including excursion to Auschwitz
3 Nights Berlin
Itinerary
Day 1
During the day
Today your educational trip on the topic of “Holocaust and Human Rights” begins with your departure from the USA to Berlin.
Day 2
Morning
Arrival in Berlin and warm welcome by your tour guide. Afterwards you will take your own bus to the hotel. Depending on the availability of the rooms, you can check in or leave your luggage and take a short break.
Afterwards
On a city tour you will get a first overview of the diverse history and current life in Berlin.
Noon
Individual lunch break
Afternoon
Free time
Evening
Welcome dinner where you can get to know your fellow travelers better and review the impressions of the first day.
Day 03
Morning
How does a country, a city, a society remember its own history? How is it kept awake and how does this manifest itself in the image of a place? You will pursue these and other questions on the “Remembrance Tour”, during which you will visit the various Holocaust monuments, a memorial site for the dead of the Berlin Wall, as well as monuments to German poets and generals.
Noon
Individual lunch break
Afternoon
You will visit a synagogue and learn something about the history of German Jewry and the place during a guided tour. During a subsequent discussion you will learn about modern Jewish life in Berlin.
Afterwards
You will visit a human rights organization which will give a short lecture on the human rights policy of Germany and the EU in comparison with the USA and will also discuss the current human rights situation in Germany. Afterwards there will be an opportunity for discussion.
Evening
Group dinner
Day 4
Morning
Continuation of the “Remembrance Tour” and visit to other memorials and monuments on various topics.
Noon
Individual lunch break
Afternoon
You visit the House of the Wannsee Conference and deal with the history of anti-Semitism and Jewish hatred, the tyranny of the Nazis and above all with the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question”, the implementation of which was discussed and decided upon during the so-called Wannsee Conference.
Afterwards
Free time
Evening
Group dinner
Day 5
Morning
Transfer to Oranienburg
Afterwards
Today it is about the persecution of various minorities and dissenters during the Nazi era. During a visit to the Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum you will hear about the history, the detainees, the prison conditions and the SS guards of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
Furthermore, it is about how these events of the past are communicated today in the educational work with pupils and adults.
Noon
Individual lunch break
Afterwards
Return to Berlin
Afternoon
Free time
Evening
Group dinner
Day 6
Morning
Train ride from Berlin to Leipzig
Afterwards
Today is marked by the Cold War, Communism and the State Security (Stasi) of the GDR. A visit to the “Round Corner” brings you closer to the ideological confrontation between East and West and shows you the working, surveillance and oppression methods of the Stasi.
Noon
Group lunch
Afternoon
On a guided walking tour through the city centre of Leipzig you will walk on the traces of the “Peaceful Revolution” of 1989 and also hear a lot about the long and interesting history of the city.
Afterwards
Free time
Evening
Return to Berlin
Evening
Individual dinner
Day 7
Morning
Train ride from Berlin to Gdansk
Noon
Individual lunch break in the train
Afternoon
Arrival in Gdansk and transfer to the hotel. Depending on the availability of the rooms, you can check in or leave your luggage and take a short break.
Afterwards
What was the communist period like in Poland? How did resistance manifest itself? What influence did the developments in Poland have on the decline of communism, the fall of the Iron Curtain? You will explore these and other questions during a guided tour of the Solidarnosc Centre in Gdansk and will then be able to discuss parallels and differences with developments in the GDR.
Afterwards
Short walking tour through the historic city center.
Evening
Group dinner
Day 8
Morning
Train ride from Gdansk to Warsaw
Afterwards
Arrival in Warsaw and transfer to the hotel. Depending on room availability, you can check in or leave your luggage and take a short break.
Noon
Group lunch
Afternoon
You will visit the Polin Museum, which impressively and comprehensively presents the history of Polish Jews over a thousand years. Before you embark on an individual tour, you will learn in a short lecture about the history of the museum as well as about the different approaches of the educational work of the house for pupils and adults, with which the history is kept alive and today’s racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination is counteracted.
Afterwards
Short walking tour through the partly rebuilt old town of Warsaw with city wall, market place and royal castle.
Evening
Individual dinner
Day 9
Morning
On a guided walking tour through the former Jewish ghetto and surrounding streets you will learn more about the history of the Warsaw Jews, especially about the time of the German occupation during the Second World War, the living conditions in the ghetto, the transports to the extermination camps as well as about the uprising and the liquidation of the ghetto.
Noon
Individual lunch break
Afternoon
Train ride from Warsaw to Krakow
Afternoon
Arrival in Krakow, transfer to your hotel, check-in and short break.
Afterwards
Short walking tour through the old town of Krakow takes you up the Wawel Hill with the Royal Castle and the Coronation Church, behind the Jagelonien University, one of the oldest in Europe and across to the Great Market Square with the impressive St. Mary’s Church and the famous Cloth Makers’ Halls.
Evening
Group dinner
Day 10
Morning
On a guided walking tour through the old Jewish district of Kazimierz, you will get to know the rich history of the Krakow Jews and their influence on life in Poland. You will visit synagogues, the old cemetery, today’s community center, and also see places where the film “Schindler’s List” was shot. During the following conversation you will hear something about Jewish life during communism and in today’s Poland.
Noon
Individual lunch break
Afternoon
Free time
Evening
Individual dinner
Day 11
Morning
Today is marked by the Holocaust and begins with an introductory visit to the Krakow Ghetto and a drive past Schindler’s factory and the former Plaszow labor camp.
Afterwards
Transfer to Oświęcim by coach
Afterwards
During a guided visit to the former Auschwitz concentration camp and the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, you will learn about the cruel history of the camps and the fate of the people imprisoned, forced to work and murdered there. You will see their legacies and various forms of remembrance today.
Noon
Individual lunch break
Afternoon
Return to Krakow
Evening
Group dinner
Day 12
Morning
Free time
Noon
Individual lunch break
Afternoon
Train ride from Krakow to Berlin
Evening
Individual dinner on the train
Afterwards
Arrival in Berlin, transfer to your hotel and check-in
Day 13
Morning
Flight and expulsion, migration and integration, what makes people leave their homeland? A visit to the exhibition shows you facets of these topics and in a subsequent discussion with employees and residents of a refugee facility you can discuss current issues.
Noon
Individual lunch break
Afternoon
Free time
Evening
Group dinner
Afterwards
Visit to a concert, play or show
Day 14
Morning
An interactive workshop will show you approaches and methods of how to relate historical events to current developments and events and how they can provide teaching opportunities to sensitize students to contemporary forms of racism, hatred, injustice, and exclusion, and how to tackle those things.
Noon
Group lunch
Afternoon
On a guided walking tour through Berlin’s Kreuzberg district you will experience another and quite different facet of Berlin. Here you can see all its multicultural, multi-religious, political and social diversity. When visiting a mosque, a youth center and the local museum, there are always opportunities for questions and discussion.
Evening
Individual dinner
Day 15
All day
Free time
Today you have the opportunity to relax, let your soul dangle, look at one or more of Berlin’s many museums according to your interests or buy souvenirs.
Noon
Individual lunch break
Evening
Farewell dinner
Tag 16
Morning
Now it’s time to say goodby and to transfer to Berlin airport
Afterwards
Return Flight to the USA
