RE students explore Germany history and reinvention during eight-day summer excursion
Twenty Ransom Everglades students traveled to Germany in June to better understand a nation that is deeply reflective on its past even as it flaunts a vibrant, modern iteration. Under the direction of faculty members Benjamin Yeo, who designed the trip, and Abby Berler and Joe Marin, the students explored Germany's history while experiencing its most recent reinvention. The goal of the eight-day adventure: to help RE students understand how a country can create a shared, singular history.
The trip focused on WWII and the Cold War, with excursions into the Prussian imperial past and Berlin’s acclaimed art scene. The group began with a bike tour of the city to understand how quickly the neighborhoods change in a place that has reinvented itself so often. One moment they were cycling through Museum Island along the Spree River, then past Checkpoint Charlie and the Reichstag, before zipping through narrow streets alive with a dozen languages. The next six days were spent revisiting many of these initial sights to gain a deeper understanding of what happened in Germany in the last century – and to observe how Germany has not hidden its past, but rather confronted it courageously.
Students visited Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, where they learned about the brutality of the Nazi regime, as well as the Gestapo Museum, the German Resistance Museum, the Stasi Museum, the Wall Memorial Museum, the Wannsee Villa, the Jewish Museum, the many memorials to the victims of the Nazis, and Platform 17. In each place, students studied German history, through moving and, at times, disturbing reflections, programs and exhibits. They also visited the former CIA spy station, now an urban art site; the five major art museums on Museum Island; and the palaces of Potsdam. Kaddish was said at two of the memorials by Chloe Steinberg '27 and Gabrielle Tchira '27. Students and faculty lit candles, laid flowers and bought books to learn more about the experience.
The group also had a lot of fun, whether through early morning city runs, urban art tours, rowing boats in the Tiergarten, cruising down the Spree or shopping at the Mauerpark Flea Market and modern malls. Students also explored Berlin’s diverse food scene, ranging from what may be the world's best smash burger to Turkish and Syrian influenced cuisine, fondue, and traditional German food.
"It was a wonderful trip, and while it was great to come home, I think we all felt we could have stayed a little longer," Yeo said. "Berlin has so much to offer but the group got a great taste of a remarkable city."
Founded in 1903, Ransom Everglades School is a coeducational, college preparatory day school for grades 6 - 12 located on two campuses in Coconut Grove, Florida. Ransom Everglades School produces graduates who "believe that they are in the world not so much for what they can get out of it as for what they can put into it." The school provides rigorous college preparation that promotes the student's sense of identity, community, personal integrity and values for a productive and satisfying life, and prepares the student to lead and to contribute to society.
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