This March break, 11 students and two faculty members are traveling to Berlin, Prague, and Krakow to explore the idea of monuments and memorials and their role in public memory, and learn more about the Holocaust and how Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Poland responded in the late 20th century and early 21st century to the study of Holocaust memory, public art, and their fusion in contemporary life. Please enjoy the blog post below from Sophie ’27 where she shares about how the group’s journey to Berlin, after a long day of travel, led to a memorable visit to the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, where they reflected on the church’s historical significance as a memorial to the destruction of World War II.
I couldn’t really believe we were in Germany as we stepped off our flight from Zurich to Berlin. After what felt like the longest travel day ever, including getting to Logan airport more than five hours before our departure time, a seven-and-a-half-hour flight to Zurich, and then finally a connection to Germany, I was super excited to be in a new part of the world, but even more excited to take a shower and change my clothes. We were greeted in the airport by our guide Leanne who took us to get a small lunch in the airport before heading to our hotel. We got onto our bus and in 40 minutes we arrived in the city. Our hotel, Hollywood Media Hotel, is very nice and located on the beautiful street, Kurfürstendamm which Mr. Liestler called “the fifth avenue of Berlin”. Each room is themed after a different famous star, and the lobby feels like a step into a movie with pictures and artwork of famous characters. We got to go up to our rooms before a quick turnaround to go look at Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, a bombed-out church in the city. We walked to the church from the hotel in just a few minutes and were able to see a bit of Berlin. When we arrived, we learned that the church was first built in the 1890s and in 1943 was badly damaged, and is now partially restored to its original state, as well as having a new building next to it that is a modern church. As a group we talked about how leaving the church in the state it was after World War Two serves as a reminder of the destruction that occurred and memorializes the war.
