The Jewish Museum, the Holocaust Memorial

Home , Kfar Saba, La Benevolencija, Ronald Lauder, Stolperstein, World ORT

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 6 Centropa Summer Academies 2007—2014 42 Vienna And The Modern Age

CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY 2014, VIENNA & SARAJEVO 72 Centropa’s Educational Networks 38 Vienna & Sarajevo 76 Budget 40 Journey Through A Ruinous Century 76 The Team 2014

4 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS SUPPORTERS

Claims Conference The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany www.claimscon.org

INTRODUCTION 6 Centropa Summer Academies 2007—2014 42 Vienna And The Modern Age

CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY 2013, BERLIN 44 When History Has A Name, A Face, A Story 8 Berlin 46 Klimt, Schiele And Vienna 1900 10 Berlin: Greatness And Tragedy 48 The National Library And The Military Museum 12 When The City Becomes The Classroom 50 Speakers In Vienna 14 The Jewish Museum, The Holocaust Memorial 52 Interlude In Zagreb 16 Walking Jewish Berlin 54 Sarajevo 18 Our Speakers In Berlin 56 Walking Through History In A City With Open Scars 20 When Teachers Learn From Each Other 60 The Siege Of Sarajevo And La Benevolencija US Embassy Vienna 22 Teacher Presentations 62 Finding Common Ground In A War-Ravaged Land 25 Using Centropa In The Classroom 64 Our Speakers In Sarajevo Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation Jewish Museum Berlin Professional Educators of North Carolina Covenant Foundation Jewish Museum Vienna South Carolina Council on the Holocaust 28 Things To Improve 66 Teacher Presentations US Embassy Budapest Holocaust Fund Of The Jews From Macedonia Spanish Embassy, Sarajevo 34 Budget 68 Bringing What We Learned Back To The Classroom US Embassy Belgrade RZB - Raiffeisen Central Bank Austria German Embassy, Sarajevo US Embassy Skopje Duke University, Department of European Studies La Benevolencija, Sarajevo 34 The Team 2013 71 Things To Improve Ronald Lauder Foundation Austrian National Bank World Affairs Council of Charlotte CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY 2014, VIENNA & SARAJEVO 72 Centropa’s Educational Networks County of Charleston School Administration Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and The Evangelical Church of the Rhineland County of Palm Beach Foreign Affairs 38 Vienna & Sarajevo 76 Budget Insight Foundation, Palm Beach North Carolina Center for the Advancement 40 Journey Through A Ruinous Century 76 The Team 2014 The Richard Russell Foundation, Miami of Teaching

4 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 5 INTRODUCTION CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMIES 2007—2014 Centropa’s fi rst Summer Academy took place in 2007, when we brought nine teach- across the Atlantic. We had never heard of teachers from different countries and ers from American Jewish schools to Vienna and Budapest. There was never sup- different disciplines working together to create lesson plans they would concurrent- posed to be a second one. The year before that we had been working in exactly no ly use in Los Angeles, Budapest, Baltimore, Vienna, and Boston, but it was happen- schools, which means we had neither educational network nor a single educator on ing before our eyes. And this was a fi eld we wished to till. staff. But teachers had been coming to us ever since we launched centropa.org in 2002 and never stopped asking what sort of programs we offered them. Originally, In July 2008, we brought sixteen teachers from four countries to Berlin; and the next we told them: none. We only knew we had developed an unprecedented way of year twenty-four teachers from six countries visited Germany’s Mosel River Valley capturing Jewish memory and that a hundred thousand unique visitors were coming with us. By 2010 the word was out, and we took sixty teachers from ten countries to to our website annually (that number is now a quarter million). the three great capitals of Habsburg Europe: Prague, Vienna and Budapest; then we brought sixty-fi ve teachers from twelve countries to Krakow, Vienna and Sarajevo. In Teachers, like our general audience, were responding to the fact that these inter- 2012 we returned to Germany—to Frankfurt, Mannheim, Heidelberg and Berlin, where views, which did not use video but combined old family pictures with the stories seventy teachers from fourteen countries took part. This report details our summer that went with them—were about how Jews lived during the entire turbulent, tragic programs in Berlin in 2013, and Vienna and Sarajevo in 2014. twentieth century—not only about how their families perished during the Holocaust. They saw our database of Jewish memory as a very different sort of tool for human- Three hundred ninety teachers, education ministry offi cials, and museum educators izing the lessons they were teaching. have taken part in our summer programs (including 2013 and 2014), and when a teacher like MJ Limbo from Ashboro, NC wrote us to say, "this summer you broad- Since teachers were writing in and asking about adapting Centropa for classroom ened my mind, deepened my understanding, and changed my heart," then we use while offering ideas of their own, we assumed that they were the experts we understood that the fi eld we have been tilling has been bearing fruit. needed to turn to, and invited nine American educators to Vienna and Budapest. The quid pro quo: you spend part of every day working around a table to help us Other organizations do an exemplary job of commemorating the destruction of create programs you will use in your classroom—and then document students’ Jewish life during the Holocaust. Their video interviews concentrate on elderly Jews reactions to them—and we’ll spend part of every day introducing you to fi rst rate recounting the horrors they endured; their trips to Central and Eastern Europe historians, taking you to world class museums, and visiting the very sites where his- focus on concentration camps, ghettos, and death camps. tory happened. That isn’t us. We want teachers—accompanied by historians—to stroll down Vienna’s Our idea: to use the city as a classroom, and the entire eight days of that fi rst sum- grand Ring Boulevard, where Sigmund Freud walked each afternoon to Café mer program was built around adding to the teachers’ knowledge base, while at the Landtmann. They should traverse the narrow streets of Berlin Mitte while read- same time helping them develop a new set of skills based on that knowledge. ing Centropa interviews that took place there, and then arrive before the door of Regina Jonas, the fi rst woman rabbi in the world. And we invite Bosnian and Israeli The most surprising thing we learned that summer was when we introduced our historians to guide them through the old Turkish alleyways of Sarajevo, where in Americans to a few Hungarian and Austrian teachers who stopped by to sit in on our 1894 a boy by the name of Kohen carried under his arm an old family heirloom, sessions. They not only bonded with each other immediately, they stayed in touch which would someday be known as the most famous Jewish book in the world, the during the school year to share ideas, ask questions, and even share lesson plans legendary Sarajevo Haggadah.

6 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 90 2014 VIENNA 80 2013 SARAJEVO BERLIN 90 85 TEACHERS 70 TEACHERS 17 2012 COUNTRIES MANNHEIM 16 COUNTRIES 60 2011 HEIDELBERG KRAKOW FRANKFURT 2010 VIENNA BERLIN PRAGUE SARAJEVO 50 VIENNA 70 BUDAPEST 65 TEACHERS 60 TEACHERS 14 40 TEACHERS 12 COUNTRIES 10 COUNTRIES COUNTRIES 30

20 2009 FRANKFURT 24 10 2008 TEACHERS BERLIN 2007 16 TEACHERS 6 BUDAPEST COUNTRIES COUNTRIES

Just as important, we want teachers from different countries and disciplines to en- This report highlights our last two Summer Academies and we, the educational staff gage with top historians, share best practices with each other, and delve into digital at Centropa, hope you will enjoy reading through it. Naturally, if you have any ques- storytelling. In other words, Centropa Summer Academies help educators build tions, feel free to contact us. their knowledge base, turn that knowledge into skills, and then we track their prog- ress as they bring those skills to their students on three continents—while creating cross-border projects with each other. 7 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY 2013 BERLIN

8 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 9 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY 2013 BERLIN: GREATNESS AND TRAGEDY It is a city where history is written both large and small; you fi nd it when you look the Nobel Prize two decades later. In 1928, Kurt Weill performed The Threepenny up, it’s there at your feet. It’s in front of you as you stroll the avenues; it’s waiting Opera, and in that year, Elias Canetti, a Sephardic Jew living in Vienna and who around the corner. The Stolperstein, or stumbling block, pictured on the right says would win the Nobel Prize for literature in 1981, came to Berlin where he wrote it all. Gunter Demnig, a Cologne-based conceptual artist, created this project, about Weill and Brecht and their circle. Regina Jonas, after years of struggle, was which places a brass plaque naming the deported and murdered Jewish resident fi nally given her rabbinical certifi cate a few years later. just before his or her house or apartment. Thirty-eight thousand Stolpersteine have been created to date in Germany and other countries; fi ve thousand can be found It was all for naught; the Nazis put paid to their careers in Germany (along with in Berlin alone and more are added each year. hundreds of thousands of others), although they—like the Jewish fi lmmakers, com- posers, architects and philosophers who also fl ed the Nazis—helped turn postwar For anyone interested in Jewish history, social studies, Holocaust education, world America into the cultural powerhouse it very likely would not have become without literature, and the arts, Berlin draws like a magnet because no other city has so them. consistently stood in the vortex of modern history: fi rst as a great generator of twentieth century culture, then as the epicenter of pure evil, followed by four de- Of the four giants mentioned here, only Regina Jonas did not fl ee Berlin. In 1942 she cades of being stuck in Cold War quicksand, and now, in the twenty-fi rst century, as took charge of her last congregation, the Theresienstadt ghetto, where she minis- the capital of the new Europe. Even if one wanted to, one cannot separate Berlin’s tered the old, the young, the frightened, and the starving until they pushed her onto Jewish history from all that swirled around it during these epochs. a transport headed for the gas chambers of Auschwitz Birkenau in 1944. The fi rst woman rabbi in the world went on to be completely forgotten, until researchers It all began in 1743, when a Jewish teenager from Dessau stood at the gates of uncovered her story sixty years after she had been murdered. Berlin and was allowed to enter the city, because Prussia’s young monarch had recently eased residence restrictions for Jews. This teenager would go on to rewrite All of this history, the greatness and the tragedy, is on view in Berlin. In its museums, the way Europe’s Jews related to their religion and their societies, while the King, on its streets, in its parks, and in its cemeteries. And that is why we came here, so who had started out as a friend of Voltaire and the Enlightment became obsessed we could learn about history by walking through history. with military might. By the time Moses Mendelsohn and Frederick the Great died in 1786, they had changed Germany forever.

If Berlin’s cultural life ﬂ ourished in the ﬁ rst decades of the twentieth century, then Jews were among its most avid gardeners. Albert Einstein arrived in the city in 1914, ready to apply his theories at Humboldt University; Lise Meitner had arrived before him and was already working with Otto Hahn in their physics laboratory not far away. Kurt Weill showed up in 1918, just around the time teenage Regina Jonas made up her mind to become a rabbi, even though no woman in the world had ever been a rabbi before.

In 1926, Lise Meitner became the ﬁ rst woman to be given a professorship in Germany and some of her discoveries would help Otto Hahn (but not her) receive

10 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 11 BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE BASE WHEN THE CITY BECOMES THE CLASSROOM For this 2013 Summer Academy, there were several ways we helped our educators We did even more, spending half a day in Berlin's enormous Jewish Museum, which add to their knowledge base on twentieth century Central Europe, Berlin, and its combines Daniel Libeskind’s conceptual architecture with exhibitions that cover Jewish history. We asked them to read specifi c books during the school year; we nearly one thousand years of German Jewish history. We met with curators and brought in world class historians to meet with them once they arrived; and best of guides at the Oranienburgerstrasse synagogue, once the largest synagogue in the all, we explored the alleyways of Berlin Mitte where Jews once lived and worked, city and ultimate showplace of German Jewry. We also visited, among other places, the broad boulevards where Nazis marched and paraded, and the places where the Information Center of the Berlin Holocaust Memorial, which is, in our opinion, Berliners watched with tears in their eyes as the Berlin Wall went up in 1961, and the single-most impressive Holocaust museum anywhere. where they sobbed even harder in 1989 when it came down. It is by bringing teachers to visit such powerful places of history, tragedy, and mem- For this Summer Academy, we created the fi rst of what will be an ongoing series of ory, and discussing them on the spot, that their knowledge base grew exponentially. Centropa Source Books. This year's paperback fi lled with personal reminiscences of They did not just see history. They felt its pulse beating. Centropa interviewees, whose stories take us back to the pre-war world of Jewish Berlin; essays on the art and fi lm of the Weimar Republic; and lists and articles high- lighting Berlin’s most famous Jewish names and dates. This Berlin Source Book was written not only to be a guide to Berlin itself, but also as a great reference tool for teachers using this material in DBQ (Document Based Questions) projects, chal- lenging students to use critical thinking when studying history, social studies, and Holocaust.

To help build a knowledge base, we tied history in a chronological line: we visited the site where Josef Goebbels had Jewish books burned; then stood before the blown apart façade of the Anhalter Bahnhof and read each other passages by Jews looking back on the very moment their parents put them on Kindertransports to England; and we strolled through the manicured memorial park where tens of thousands of Soviet soldiers—those who fought the Germans house to house—are buried. In this sculpture garden to the dead, we read excerpts from interviews with Russian Jewish soldiers who spoke of what it was like to ﬁ ght their way into the "lair of the beast," as one of them called it.

But history did not stop then, and we drove by Tempelhof Flughafen, built by the Nazis, and the airport where American cargo planes landed every one hundred twenty seconds between 1948 and 1949 to keep the city alive when Stalin tried to cut it off.

12 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 VILNIUS EAST PRUSSIA Ranana Malkanova Herbert Lewin ZAMOSC SALONIKA BERLIN Mieczyslaw Weinryb The Molhos Rosa Rosenstein

KRAKOW BITOLA Teoﬁ la Silberring Beno and Roza THE MOSEL KRAKOW Centropa eBook Centropa slide show BELGRADE SARAJEVO The Kalefs Survival in Sarajevo

FRANKFURT SOFIA/BURGAS Erna Goldmann Matilda Albuhaire

BUDAPEST BRATISLAVA VIENNA KUTNA HORA BUDAPEST Imre Kinszki Katarina Loefﬂ erova Jewish Soldiers Dagmar Lieblova Piroska Hamos PRAGUE Jindrich Lion VIENNA Max and Frieda Uri TORDA VIDEO WORKSHOP Lazslo Nusszbaum for teachers VIENNA-SHANGHAI MUNKACS ISTANBUL The Brodmanns ODESSA VIENNA-LONDON Ernst Galpert Guler Orgun Arnold Fabrikant Kitty Suschny

ROVNO VIENNA-LONDON Haya Lea Detinko Lilli Tauber MY TOWN’S THE POETRY CHALLENGE JEWISH HISTORY JEWISH SOLDIERS’ RED STAR Video/English/Poetry videos Soviet Soldiers eBook

13 BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE BASE THE JEWISH MUSEUM, THE HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL During our Berlin Summer Academy, we spent part of every day visiting the sites where history took place, the museums that encapsulate that history, and met with historians, guides, and curators who would help bring that history to life. The two museums that spoke to our teachers in the loudest, clearest voices were the Berlin Jewish Museum, a museum of German Jewish history, and what is called the Information Center at the Holocaust Memorial.

There is a huge difference when you can see, touch, and experience a place and understand its historical value rather than simply read about it. Our visiting these places brought to life in such a meaningful way the history that Centropa is trying to impart. The guided tours by museum curators and guides were fantastic and the Jewish Museum was by far one of the best I've seen—it was very comprehensive and acces- sible. The Holocaust Memorial and Information Center impacted me in a very deep and real way... it is the Centropa way of telling a story, where the focus isn't simply the statistics, but rather the focus is on the families—the people that you can see before and after. It humanizes the experience and statistics. Amy Vargas-Tonsi, Durham, NC

14 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 The Berlin Jewish Museum—I wish I had this museum as my classroom, I will share my experience with my students. This museum is so different from everything I have seen before; it simply puts you in the history, I like the concept of the architecture, the empty voids... I think it is possible to use part of this concept in the classroom. The Holocaust Memorial and the Information Center downstairs is like going down into the grave. I like the letters there, personal stories that break my heart. I liked this because this was not a museum with abstract items or objects, but with LIVING and VERY POWERFUL STORIES TO TELL, directly from INDIVIDUALS.

Dragan Gorgievski, Bitola, Macedonia 15 BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE BASE WALKING JEWISH BERLIN Berlin is a city that rose to great heights in the late nineteeth century, turned monstrously large in the 1930s, and was pummeled to ruin in the 1940s. During the Cold War, much of the city was left as the Soviet Army found it in 1945—full of bullet holes and blown apart. Only slowly has the city been rebuilt. As we visited the sites and walked the streets, our Centropa Source Book came in especially handy, as every place came alive through the texts we read. I’m German, and having lived in Berlin, I knew all the places on our walking tour. What was new to me was seeing them with people who were not German. Their reactions, questions, and remarks gave me a whole new perspective. Experiencing history as a participant and coming face to face with history, as you exchange ideas with other teachers—it changes everything. Kirstin Lakeberg, Bonn, Germany I really liked the Jewish district walking tour. I was able to understand more of what Berlin was like then and how it has transformed into what it is now. To look at the buildings that people now use as shops or restaurants when they were originally homes for Jews just amazed me. I was especially touched by the stumbling stones on the streets. After noticing them for the ﬁ rst time I couldn't walk down the street without stopping and pausing to think about that person or the people who were taken in such a tragic way. This would hit home to my students by showing them the pictures I took and explaining to them what happened and asking them to think about what if something like that happened in their lifetimes. Kelli Gerhardt, Spartanburg, SC Aside from those Stolpersteine, I was moved at how ‘in your face’ the history of the Holocaust is—in a city which is so hip and buzzing. What a place of contrasts. Monuments and memorials The visit to the Anhalter Bahnhof was one of the most import- are everywhere. It’s hard to grasp, really. There’s certainly nothing like it anywhere else. ant parts of my trip. I had looked through the book on my own Marcia Wollner, San Diego, CA in the hotel but being with the group, there at the train station, and having individual participants reading the interview excerpts The walking tours made me 'feel' history, I was able to experience stories that until now I had aloud to us really left its mark. As I stood there and looked around, only read about. The Oranienburger Strasse synagogue, the streets of the Jewish quarter—this I saw tears streaming down peoples face and I thought to myself, brought German Jewish history alive for me and now I can do a much better job of telling this Centropa has truly made history come alive. story to my students. Erica Washburn, Charleston, SC Yonathan Bar-On, Haifa, Israel

16 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 17 BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE BASE OUR SPEAKERS IN BERLIN All during our Summer Academy, we brought in speakers—from Bosnia, Greece, the US, and Poland—to speak to our participants and challenge their accepted notions on historical narratives and on ethics and morality.

Konstanty Gebert is one of the most important public Dr George Kalantzis, an historian, is the general Nina Molho was born in Thessaloniki shortly after the intellectuals Poland has produced in the past thirty secretary in the Ministry of Education and Religious Second World War. The city, once known as Salonika, years. As an activist during the underground anti-Com- Affairs in Greece. Formerly the head of the Cabinet was home to the largest Sephardic Jewish community munist movement, as a columnist for one of the coun- for the Vice Preisdent of Greece, Dr Kalantzis fl ew to in the world. 56,000 Jews were sent to their deaths, try’s most prestigious newspapers, and as a Jewish Berlin to be with us when we screened our fi rst Greek and Nina worked with Centropa to create a fi lm about community activist, Gebert spoke to our teachers of fi l m , A Bookstore in Six Chapters, about the Molho her parents and their legendary bookstore. She nar- remembering there is always more than one narrative family in Thessaloniki. Dr Kalantzis spoke of the ris- rated three versions of the fi lm for us—English, Ladino, to every story, and only by accepting other versions of ing tide of antisemitism in Greece and about how his and Greek. The fi lm has now been shown in ten fi lm history can we see the positions of those we wish to ministry is doubling its efforts to address the subject. festivals. work with. The Education Ministry now cooperates closely with Centropa.

18 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 Jakob Finci ﬂ ew to Berlin from Sarajevo to speak to us Rabbi Michael Paley was our rabbi-in-residence Eyal Press In his book, Beautiful Souls, Eyal Press about civil courage in a time of war. Of this, he is an ex- during the Berlin Summer Academy. Rabbi Paley, who explores four people who stood up to authority and pert. Mr Finci, whose family traces its roots back hun- works for the New York Jewish Federation, spent 2013 followed their own consciences: a Swiss border guard dreds of years in Bosnia, was born during the Second living in Budapest and traveling to Jewish communities during the Holocaust; a Bosnian Serb who saved World War in an Italian internment camp. Returning throughout Central Europe. His goal: to meet with Croats in 1992; an Israeli soldier who refused to serve to the remnant community of Sarajevo in 1945, Mr commuinty activists and work with them as they help in the occupied territories; and a corporate whis- Finci went on to become a lawyer, then was one of rebuld their communities. Rabbi Paley’s contributions tleblower. In each case, they suffered mightily for their the leaders of the Jewish community in the 1990s who to our Summer Academy were immeasurable, as he bravery yet they insisted on doing what was right. created a non-sectarian aid agency that helped every- brought home universal messages of ethics and morals Press spoke with us by Skype about morality, ethics, one during the Bosnian war. Mr Finci and the Sarajevo that applied to all of us: Jews, Christians, and Muslims. and how some of us make difﬁ cult choices. Jewish community became one of the most respected insititutions in Bosnia during the war.

19 TURNING KNOWLEDGE INTO SKILLS WHEN TEACHERS LEARN FROM EACH OTHER Over the past eight years, we have learned a great deal from our Summer Academy Because we focus at every Summer Academy on building skills, we put teachers participants, primarily because we ask them to assess their eight-day-long experi- in small groups—sometimes gathering them from one particular discipline such as ence and tell us what we did right and what we need to improve. One of the most history teachers from Europe, North America, and Israel, and at other times we important things we learned is that when teachers give up eight days of summer va- had all the Polish teachers working among themselves, as well as the Serbs, Israelis, cation to travel with us through Central Europe—and invest countless hours before Americans, etc. in both cases, the idea was to give them time to brainstorm on how and after—then we have to provide them with the tools they can use the very ﬁ rst to use our ﬁ lms, digest the historical lectures they heard, and use the photos they day they walk back into their classrooms. Teachers are practical; they come to us to took on their walking tours. We even created small groups that made their own gain practical knowledge. videos.

We've already described how we build a knowledge base. But learning history is only Nearly every day, the smaller groups shared with all of the participants their lesson the beginning. The rest of the time, participants work in sessions ﬁ ne tuning their ideas, so they could inspire other teachers while at the same time inviting feedback. skills and turning them into classroom-ready lesson plans and projects. Step by step, they built solid projects.

We start by providing our teachers an easy-to-access website with biographies Finally, the single most important thing we do each year is ask our most innovative and photographs combined in a searchable database. Then we guide them to what teachers to present the Centropa lessons and projects they carried out during the we’re best known for: our online library of dozens of fi lms—both personal stories school year. This means all of our participants, no matter where they are from or as well as documentaries. Every fi lm page was designed to be one-stop-shopping, what they teach, learn new teaching ideas and pedagogies they can’t wait to use so teachers don’t have to scramble and students can fi nd online study guides for with their own students, and then share them with other teachers in our network. researching the historical context, culture, and relevant literature on each fi lm. This section of our report shares with you our participants' responses to all these We never make fi lms for students because we believe that a well-told story will reach skills-building sessions. all audiences, no matter their age. That is why our fi lms have been screened as offi cial selections in international fi lm festivals from China to Israel, from Poland to the United States. Films this good are sure fi re winners with teenagers, partly because this is the age when they fi rst start to love fi lms and appreciate them critically, and partly because teens have built-in radar and know when they are being talked down to. Intellectually, we challenge them to move up. They sense that and respond positively.

During our Berlin Summer Academy, we tried something new. We took the public transportation map of Berlin and turned it into a map from which our teachers could choose which routes to take—the Balkan Sephardic line, the Righteous Gentile line, or, for example, the Poland & the Shtetls line. All during the Summer Academy, teachers learned those subjects by watching ﬁ lms, hearing lectures, discussing what they learned and building lesson plans together.

20 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 21 TURNING KNOWLEDGE INTO SKILLS TEACHER PRESENTATIONS Of the half dozen presentations made by Centropa teachers, the one that electriﬁ ed everyone was the presentation made by Mike Irwin of Detroit and Branislava Stevanovic of Belgrade. Although we refer to this in our annual report, there is nothing like having teachers share their projects with each other, especially when those projects connect students across the Atlantic. The fact that a class of African American teenagers had a class of Serbian kids go to speak with a Centropa interviewee in Belgrade, and then report back on what she told them, meant the world to both groups. This is where real learning takes place—not just in the classroom, but in the way our Serbian students now have African American friends they stay in touch with, and how our students in Detroit now see a world much, much bigger than themselves.

Mike Irwin and Branislava Stevanovic—their experiences are very important, because they shared different technical prob- lems and its very help- ful for planning future projects. I like it so much how they solved the language barrier. Maybe I cannot exactly copy this project but it is important to explore and fi nd Mike & Branislava’s project really got me motivated! I am very interested in con- other possibilities of connecting students in different countries. I like their fi nal necting my students to other students in other countries for a few reasons. I want product, and they made relationships between kids that were just great, and I my students to learn about culture: their culture as well as other cultures. I think think the outcomes of this will be interesting many years after. These kids now this would benefi t my students because they are able to truly understand there see a bigger world. are REAL people who live in other countries other than the United States (which Dragan Gjorgievski, Bitola, Macedonia most of mine do not understand), and also, for students in other countries, allow- ing them to work on their English language is a big benefi t. I like the presentation of Belgrade-Detroit cooperation—that's what I'd like my Kelli Gerhardt, Spartanburg, SC children to realize, to communicate with other students from different countries. I'd like to use the idea of the cooking book in primary classes. They may I would like to use Mike's and Branislava's project—I believe in open borders. With not watch the whole fi lm but the teacher can show pictures and retell details, today's technologies it is not a problem to be in touch with students from all then focus on pupils' family histories—to collect recipes of mothers/grannies over the world. I think such projects enrich the students' knowledge and English and translate them into English and go on with cooking and a joint party with language skills more than any common lesson. parents. Daniela Feldman, Tel Aviv, Israel Svetlana Kutuzova, St Petersburg, Russia

22 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013

While students in many countries have smart phones with video capa- bilities, Horatiu teaches in a small town in western Romania, where very few of his students have such high tech toys. Thinking on his feet and not wanting to leave anyone out, Horatiu had his students sit in the school’s computer lab, fi nd a Centropa Romanian interview online, and then create their own graphic novel (a comic book) based on that interview. Several of the students created the artwork, others did the translations, still others researched the story. Every student in the class who wanted to participate could. And knowing their story is being used in school classes in other countries fi lled them with pride, and a commitment to create another graphic novel next year. I liked Horatiu's graphic novel the most, but it is really a lot of work, so I might try and seek help with the Arts teachers at my school. If my colleagues are willing to give it a try, that would be fantastic! We would make it shorter, though—meaning it should be fi nished within one school year. Branislava Stevanovic, Belgrade, Serbia

I liked Horatiu's idea of making a graphic novel. I will be incorporating this into my lesson this year. I have already set up a few ways my students will make graphic novels and am in the process of looking for history-based graphic novels for my students to read. Right now in the United States there is a big push on Common Core State Standards where everyone in every state will learn the same things in English Language Arts and Math. Using graphic novels aligns with the CCSS perfectly because it gives the students primary texts to read and students create story lines. Kelli Gerhardt, Spartanburg, SC 23 TURNING KNOWLEDGE INTO SKILLS

Michal Yousfan presented a very clear presentation where everything was logi- cal in the use of the Goldmann ﬁ lm, From Frankfurt to Tel Aviv, showing how she moved her students along. In addition, Michal was truly committed and very friendly and attentive to me when I came over to her to learn how I could do the same with my students. Lidia Rozacka, Jastrzebie-Zdrój, Poland

Most of all, I love to listen to teachers share how they use Centropa fi lms in different ways. I pick up great ideas every time. The best three for me were as follows: Michal Yousfan’s presentation was very meaningful, because she based a Once you start working across borders it’s really, really hard not to! I love Lisa lesson plan on something she as an Israeli and I as a German can use—the sto- Sterling’s idea of creating a beautiful recipe book between students in two differ- ry of a Jewish woman from Frankfurt who fl ed to Tel Aviv. Listening to an Israeli ent countries, and while I may not be able to use everything she did, it’s the way history teacher speak in detail about using a fi lm set in Germany impressed me Lisa thought outside the box that I hope to follow. I also LOVED Lilach's presen- greatly. Ettie Avraham’s presentation was fascinating. That Ettie would use a short tation! The idea that teenagers create their own exhibition to be set up next to Centropa fi lm and, just before the ending, stop it and have her students guess the a Centropa exhibition challenges students on any number of levels. Again, it may ending—while discussing it all in English—was brilliant. I loved Lisa Sterling's reci- be diffi cult to use the concept directly in an American public school, BUT the pe-book and her artwork in general, because for me it's useful to open not only concept of students making an exhibition they can pull from the Centropa site is a the intellectual skills of the students but also the practical and emotional skills. great authentic project that could be adapted by a lot of us. Frank Grellert, Berlin, Germany Mike Irwin, Detroit, MI

I think the best presentation was the one from Lilach Taichman. I found it partic- ularly interesting because it gave me inspiration, how I can cooperate with other teachers in my school. I think this is the theme that Centropa discussed: students reaching their goals when they are not taught in one single history lesson, but are part of a teaching unit with other subjects like literature, art-history, etc. This presentation showed me how to work together with others without forcing my conception onto them. Eszter Nemeth,Budapest, Hungary

Lilach’s presentation had a great effect on me. Why—because the students were so involved, active, and proud to do something signiﬁ cant that you could see it all over their faces. They were smiling proudly and I would like to try motivating my students to do something that will show them that they can stand up and make a difference. I already have the experience of putting together an exhibition with my colleagues, and now I would like to try to make exhibition or a short ﬁ lm together with my students Senka Jankov, Zrenjanin, Serbia

24 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 KNOWLEDGE + SKILLS = OUTCOMES USING CENTROPA IN THE CLASSROOM Centropa differs from other programs because it enables students to work on their own, to explore and expand knowledge and experience. It also enables teachers to have more productive, interesting, and active approaches with their students, putting to better use all their knowledge about computers and tablets and smart phones. And learning history through personal stories gives a much different perspective that could have a great impact on students’ hearts, not just on their minds. Senka Jankov, Zrenjanin, Serbia

Centropa does not only show the victims’ point of view but also how life can change by chance, although horrible things happened to people. Most of all: the stories are often told through kids’ eyes, so I’m sure that helps my younger students to identify themselves with other peoples’ fates. Andrea Brunner, Gumpoldskirchen, Austria

Tell us the one thing you are going to do differently this year in school— because you attended our seminar.

Centropa gave me frameworks to use, new ways of teaching that will help me break through the common (and very often ineffective) ways of teaching: I´ve got an idea and all other things I´m obligated to teach (like German grammar) I can subsume (a little hidden), I should say: I can hide boring things under new interesting subjects and so I hope to stimulate student interest on contemporary history and other peoples’ fates, fi nally to educate them about people with moral courage without using appeals. I like the fact that Centropa materials are not static. Teachers are encouraged to Andrea Brunner, Gumpoldskirchen, Austria share and "borrow," to expound on, or revise instructional ideas using primary documents. In regards to Holocaust education, how does Centropa differ—if at all— Cathy Troublefi eld, Norwood, NC from other programs you offer students? Centropa is so in tune with the common core, as well as with our standards. I I've attended trainings for "boxed curriculums" and none of them left me feeling will take time and relate as much as I can the materials in various ways. Centropa inspired to bring it back to my students. They were diffi cult to navigate, hundreds makes history more realistic for all of us. I am so glad to have this source to share of pages that I had to pick through to fi nd what I was looking for. Centropa pro- with my students this year. This summer has changed my life due to the exposure vides my students with visuals and stories that give them a better understanding. you have granted me. Erica Washburn, Charleston, SC Pat Mallet, Little River, SC 25 KNOWLEDGE + SKILLS = OUTCOMES

A far deeper impression is made upon students when they can make a personal connection to the material they are studying. For too long, Holocaust education was about numbers, bodies, victimhood, and heroism. The personal stories of real people resonate and stick with students, helping them understand what was lost and, perhaps, what their role may be in preserving this history. Lilach Taichman, Philadelphia, PA

From my perspective Centropa provides good teaching tools to use primarily while organizing additional classes. These materials are extremely useful in Poland for teaching Eastern European history and Holocaust in a far broader context [which is a very good approach] and teaching about civil society. I like the 'sets of materials'—photos + biographies + movies. The webpage is useful and fairly easy to navigate. I only wish I didn't have to translate almost everything into Polish, so please hurry! Honorata Michalak, Lodz, Poland

I really like that Centropa's materials are not a one size fi ts all. I am able to take what my students will get from Centropa and fi t it into my specifi c lesson. I like and to build future relationships. In that way, Centropa becomes a family of edu- that I can get a really great end result by just using one or two things in a lesson cators who take pride in their profession, feel passion for their subjects, and who because the materials are all powerful in different ways. I also like that Centropa love their students enough to want to bring out the best in them. I really believe uses stories to teach the Holocaust and Jewish History. Students need stories to that the philosophy behind Centropa and all its available resources gives kids the connect themselves with and Centropa gives that. They give a face to a name. My tools to do this and, as they look at what Centropa has to offer and explore the students also connect with Centropa’s stories because they can see themselves lives of people in other times and in other places, they also learn more about as that 14 or 15 year old boy and girl just enjoying their summer before the Nazis themselves and the world around them. And during this process, they tap into came and took over. For so long I think all we taught was the devastation of the their own ability to learn and discover, and to connect with the skills of how to Holocaust, but not the beauty of humanity, of how these people lived before, learn and think independently and critically. and then when war came, how when an entire society was doing one thing, there Lowell Blackman, Herzliya, Israel where those select few who chose not to follow suit. That they put another person's life before theirs because it was the right thing to do. The students I teach To what extent do you feel that Centropa’s materials can broaden your are still learning what the right thing to do is and they understand that sometimes students’ understanding of 20th century European and European Jewish doing the right thing is not always the popular thing. My students need to hear history, outside the strictures of the Holocaust itself? and learn this. Kelli Gerhardt, Spartanburg, SC When you start teaching the Holocaust you will often hear, "Oh, please not again!" As the Centropa approach is different from concentrating on the perpe- You created an atmosphere so conducive to bringing out the best professional trators there is a good chance to get more students (with different nationalities) talents of the people who attended Centropa, and you provided an environment interested. that was friendly and informal and that encouraged people to make connections Frank Grellert, Berlin, Germany

26 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 In the Hungarian curriculum we have very little time for the Holocaust and the history of Jews, but Centropa’s materials give us an opportunity to get out of the frame of regular history lessons, and to learn more about Jewish culture—for example, in art lessons. Eszter Nemeth, Budapest, Hungary

So much appreciation. Centropa was a very profound experience on so many levels. Of course, a program around this particular subject matter and in such a signiﬁ cant locale is bound to be impactful –but this was way beyond all of that. The educational bent to everything was very impressive. I do not know really of another program or conference that approaches teachers with so much respect. I appreciated the staff, (Lauren's) educational stance and eye in all of our conver- sations—I am still processing, as you can imagine, all of the material and trying to begin to chart our next steps. Rivy Kletenik, Seattle, WA

Centropa does a great job of empowering educators. It does not spoon-feed us but rather provides the resources to do great teaching, the motivation to do great learning, and the training to bring it together in a meaningful way to beneﬁ t our students, our schools, and our colleagues. Susan Cohn, San Diego, CA

You have brought a new focus to my teaching because I have learned that story- telling is the essence of good teaching. Centropa stories draw students in and act as a bridge to thoughtful learning and reﬂ ection. Lisa Sterling, Greensboro, NC

Centropa feels that bringing teachers together from different disciplines and countries allows you to cross-pollinate your ideas and best practices. Now that you've spent eight days with us, what do you think of this idea?

It is always so easy to think that our personal perspective on education, or, for I gained an invaluable global perspective—and a rich appreciation for other cul- that matter, any subject, is the one true and correct perspective. Collaborate tures and points-of-view. I made friends with teachers from many other coun- with teachers from other cultures and it soon becomes apparent that there are tries who are all open to continuing with long-distance cooperation. I am now other perspectives that diverge from our own – yet are no less a part of the true armed with communications and ideas, which will result in the greater interest of and correct understanding of the matter at hand. students in a given subject. Dennis Masur, San Diego, CA Liudmila Dubinsky, Rockville, MD 27 KNOWLEDGE + SKILLS = OUTCOMES THINGS TO IMPROVE It would be great if the unscheduled time was a little more varied, e.g. one morning off, one afternoon off, one evening off. This would allow for more time to explore Berlin on our own and to do and see things not part of the CSA. I would like more touring and/or discussions of a topic while we are on-site. Standing in the Soviet war memorial was very powerful. I wish we could have processed that more, just like at the Anhalter Bahnhof, where the Kindertransports left from. Rachel Bergstein, Washington, DC

It’s your website: please integrate suggested reading / viewing lists (like on the CSA2013 homepage) on various topics. There is so much information but we all know that your staff has some great suggestions of what we should read and watch. You should make that a core of your program. Lowell Blackman, Herzliya, Israel

1. More time to get to know people on the ﬁ rst day, maybe some sort of speed-dating exercise and more time to get to know each other, i.e. coffee breaks, where we would talk shop, anyway. 2. More time for group work, we sometimes had less than 30 minutes. 3. I would have loved to see the results of the group work in writing. That way it is easier to remember. Kirstin Lakeberg, Bonn, Germany

Having attended three summer academies, I can tell you that the impact is very different when everyone is in the same hotel. This year, I understood that there was no single big hotel to use in Berlin Mitte, and that’s a shame, because when we are all together, we collaborate more, and I know that’s important for you. Things seemed kind of rushed at times. We were quickly moving from one thing to Debbie Harris, Chicago, IL the next and because we were on such a tight schedule we would be really getting into a good conversation and then we would have to cut it short to move on. I Give us more time to explore such treasure-chests like the Jewish Museum. think elementary teachers absolutely need to be a part of the program. In my Yes, we spent ninety minutes there, but we could have spent double that time. I experience, the high school teachers have so much content knowledge and ele- understand that this comprehensive museum is a bit overwhelming, but we could mentary teachers are eager to learn more of that content and have such creative have beneﬁ ted by spending more time there. ideas for how to engage their students. Zsolt Martha, Budapest, Hungary Erica Washburn, Charleston, SC

28 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 29 NORTH AMERICAN JEWISH Olga Eidelman Dennis C. Masur Debbie Harris Ilana Volodarsky Liudmila Dubinsky Rachel Bergstein Institution: Hausner Jewish Institution: Mosad Shalom Institution: Sager-Solomon Institution: St. Paul Jewish Institution: Shalom Institution: Charles E. Smith SCHOOLS Day School; Club Z Teaches: Hebrew & Judaica Schechter Day School; Community Center Education Center Jewish Day School Teaches: Math & City: Poway, CA Teaches: Jewish Studies Position: Russian-Americans Teaches: Hebrew & Jewish Teaches: Jewish history Technology City: Chicago, IL Special Projects Director History City: Rockville, MD City: Santa Clara, CA City: St. Paul, MN City: Rockville, MD EU JEWISH SCHOOLS Robyn Miller Susan Cohn Daniel Maue Rita Sason Zsolt Mártha Georgina Pinter Svetlana Kutuzova Institution: Emery Weiner Institution: Mosad Shalom Institution: Jewish Institution: Jewish School Institution: Scheiber Institution: Lauder Javne Institution: School 550 School Religious School High School "Moses of Athens Sandor Jewish Community Jewish Community School World ORT Teaches: Judaic Studies Position: Director of Mendelssohn" Teaches: Hebrew & Jewish School Teaches: English & Spanish Teaches: History & social City: Houston, TX, USA Education Teaches: English Studies Teaches: English City: Budapest, Hungary sciences City: San Diego, CA, USA City: Berlin, Germnany City: Athens, Greece City: Budapest, Hungary City: St. Petersburg, Russia

Richard A. Gair Kelly Watson Cathy Troublefield Maureen B. Carter Julie Gates Tom W. Glaser Lisa Sterling Institution: Valencia College Institution: Fishers Jr. Institution: South Stanly Institution: School District Institution: Logger’s Run Institution: Mater Academy Institution: Southeast in Orlando High/US Holocaust High School of Palm Beach County Middle School Charter High School Guilford High School Position: Professor of Memorial Museum Position: library teacher; Position: K-12 Holocaust Position: History Teaches: Social Studies Position: Art Holocaust Studies Teaches: English media/tech coordinator Studies Administrator City: Boca Raton, FL City: Hialeah Gardens, FL City: Greensboro, NC City: Orlando, FL City: Noblesville, IN City: Norwood, NC City: West Palm Beach, FL

30 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 Melissa Cohavi Marcia Tatz Wollner Shmuel Afek Rivy Poupko Kletenik Lilach Taichman Svetlana Pinsky Zarina Aksmanov Institution: Temple Sinai Institution: Lawrence Family Institution: AJ Heschel High Institution: Seattle Hebrew Institution: Jack M. Barrack Institution: U.M.C.A. Rich Institution: U.M.C.A. Rich Position: Director of Jewish Community Center School Academy Hebrew Academy Tree Academy Tree Academy Education Position: Director of School Teaches: Social Studies, Teaches: Jewish Studies Teaches: History Position: School director Position: Teacher trainer City: Stamford, CT Services & Programs Jewish History City: Seattle, WA City: Philadelphia, PA City: Toronto City: Toronto City: La Jolla, CA City: New York, NY Country: Canada Country: Canada US PUBLIC SCHOOLS Tamás Domonkos Irina Georgieva Mike Irwin Patricia Mallett Erica Washburn Kelli Gerhardt Amy Vargas-Tonsi Institution: Sandor Institution: School 550 Institution: Henry Ford Institution: North Myrtle Institution: James Simons Institution: D.R. Hill Middle Institution: Duke University Scheiber High School World ORT Academy Beach High School Elementary School School Position: Associate Teaches: Literature & Teaches: English & Foreign Teaches: World Studies & Teaches: Global Studies II Teaches:History & Teaches: Social Studies Director, Center for English Literature American History City: Little River, SC Language Arts City: Spartanburg, SC European Studies City: Budapest, Hungary City: St. Petersburg, Russia City: Detroit, MI City: Charleston, SC City: Durham, NC EU PUBLIC SCHOOLS Raymond Knauer Anthony Ludwig Kelley Simpson Renate Mercsanits Andrea Brunner Jacek Jaros Honorata Michalak Institution: North Institution: North Institution: North Institution: Wasagymnasium Institution: Mittelschule Institution: VI High School Institution: High School Nr.9 Charleston High School Charleston High School Charleston High School Teaches: English, history & Gumpoldskirchen Teaches: History & Theory Teaches: History & social Teaches: U.S. History Teaches: US. History Teaches: Social Studies religion Teaches: German, Music of Knowledge science City: North Charleston, SC City: North Charleston, SC City: North Charleston, SC City: Vienna, Austria City: Gumpoldskirchen, City: Kielce, Poland City: Lodz, Poland Austria

31 Lidia Rozacka Aleksandra Bura Kamila Dobrzyn´ ska Beata Kardasinska´ ´ Miroslawa Banak Dr. Tímea Onderné Natália Baglyos Institution: Zespol Szkol Institution: Liceum Institution: Galicia Jewish Institution: III High School Institution: Zespol Szkol Szilágyi Institution: Sztehlo Gabor Teaches: Polish & French Ogolnoksztalcace im. M. Museum in Gdansk Ogolnoksztalcacych nr.14 Institution: Gyula Krudy Lutheran High School City: Jastrzebie Zdroj, Kopernika Position: Educational Teaches: History & English Teaches: Biology Secondary School Teaches: German & Math Poland Teaches: Polish Assistant City: Gdansk, Poland City: Kielce, Poland Teaches: Hungarian, history City: Budapest, Hungary City: Zywiec, Poland City: Krakow, Poland City: Nyiregyhaza, Hungary BALKAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS Andreas Breunig Kirstin Lakeberg Wolfgang Burth Stefan Fooß Sascha Wöllert Marko Dimitrijevic Institution: Lessing- Institution: Marie-Kahle- Institution: Hartmanni- Institution: Walther- Institution: Gymnasium Bad Institution: Bora Stankovic Gymnasium Gesamtschule Gymnasium Rathenau-Schule Nenndorf High School Teaches: Latin, Greek, Teaches: English & German Teaches: Religion & History Teaches: German & History Teaches: History & German Teaches: History Mathematics, Ethics City: Bonn, Germany City: Eppingen, Germany City: Berlin, Germany City: Hamburg, Germany City: Nis, Serbia City: Mannheim, Germany ISRAELI TEACHERS

Dusko Veskovski Biljana Shotarovska Chaya Nissim Natalia Shushin Michal Yousfan Barbara Calo Institution: Memorial Center Institution: Gorgija Puleski Institution: Mosinzon Institution: Shevach Mofet Institution: Tichon Institution: Hof HaCarmel for the Jews from Macedonia primary school high school/ Ministry of High School Katznelson Kfar Saba Regional High School Position: Head of department Teaches: Civic education, ethics Education Teaches: English Position: History, Jewish Teaches: English for research, archiving & & religion Teaches: History City: Bat Yam studies, Jewish history City: Menashe documentation City: Skopje, Macedonia City: Kochav Yair City: Kfar Saba City: Skopje, Macedonia

32 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 Dr. Gyongyi Magone Toth Nora Baracs Eszter Matusné Németh Vassiliki Keramida Vaya Papadopoulou Horatiu Suciu Frank Grellert Institution: St. Stephen Institution: Széchenyi Institution: Klebelsberg Institution: Ministry of Institution: 1st State Senior Institution: Colegiul Institution: Walther- Secondary School István School Kuno Secondary School Education High School of Xanthi National "Iulia Hasdeu" Rathenau-Schule Teaches: Hungarian, Teaches: History Teaches: History & German Position: Scientiﬁ c Position: History & Greek Lugoj Teaches: History & German City: Kalocsa, Hungary City: Pecs, Hungary City: Budapest, Hungary Consultant City: Xanthi, Greece Position: History City: Berlin, Germany City: Athens, Greece City: Lugoj, Romania

Danica Stefanovic´ Branislava Stevanovic´ Senka Jankov Silvia Nadj Asmir Hasicicˇ ´ Nikola Gjorgievski Dragan Gjorgievski Institution: Citizen’s fund Institution: The 13th Institution: Zrenjaninska Institution: Grammar Institution: Elementary Institution: OU Ilinden Institution: Stiv Naumov Panonija Belgrade Grammar School Gimnazija School Senta school "Malta" Sarajevo Teaches: Civil Society Primary school Position: Teacher trainer; Position: English Teaches: Constitution & Teaches: Computer Teaches: History City: Bitola, Macedonia Teaches: Religion Intercultural education City: Belgrade, Serbia Human Rights science City: Sarajevo, Bosnia City: Bitola, Macedonia City: Novi Sad, Serbia City: Zrenjanin, Serbia City: Senta, Serbia

Victor Gurevich Daniela Feldman Yair B. Farby Lowell Blackman Yonathan Bar-On Ettie Avraham Tal Terem Institution: Givat Brenner Institution: Shevach Mofet Institution: Har’el High Institution: Atid Lod High Institution: Leo Baeck Institution: Katzanelson Institution: Shvilim Regional High School High School School/ Ministry of School of Arts & Sciences Education Center High School Democratic school of Teaches: Hisotry & Civics Teaches: English Education Teaches: English literature Teaches: EAL teacher Teaches: English teacher Pardess Hanna City: Rehovot City: Tel Aviv Position: History teacher, & language arts 9th-12th grade City: Kfar Saba Position: Teacher, teacher trainer City: Herzliya City: Haifa Coordinator City: Beit Zait City: Pardess Hanna 33 FINANCIALS STAFF BUDGET 2013 THE TEAM 2013

HOTELS, TRANSPORTATION, MEALS Photo right Hotel € 33,492 $45,195 Sitting: Wolfi Els, our fi lmmaker Meals € 27,855 $37,588 Standing, from left: Marcell Kenesei, director for European Plane tickets € 36,114 $48,734 Jewish schools and director of our Hungarian public Train tickets € 782 $1,055 schools program Public Transport € 1,034 $1,396 Bus rentals € 2,866 $3,867 Josephine Evens interned for us in 2013 and assisted Subtotal € 102,143 $137,834 Birgit Haberpeutner, our logisitics director. Standing next to Birgit is Ouriel Morgensztern, our tech director, then SEMINAR PREPARATION, SPEAKERS, TECHNOLOGY Ellen van Benschoten, who helped coordinate our visit and Coordinator seminar preparation Birgit Haberpeuntner € 9,995 $13,487 researched our Berlin source book. Speakers € 3,514 $4,742 Sitting, from left, is Lauren Granite, our North America Tour guides & museum entrance € 1,639 $2,212 Education Director, and Fabian Rühle, our European public Photographer & Video € 5,361 $7,234 schools director. Printed material: DVDs burned, handouts, fi nal report € 17,236 $23,259 Fees for tech and seminar room rental € 6,846 $9,238 Standing (in the blue shirt) is Gideon Lifshitz, who coor- Subtotal € 44,591 $60,172 dinated our Israeli programs in 2013. On the right is our director, Edward Serotta EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS Multi-media fi lm, produced for Summer Academy € 27,901 $37,651 Website adaptation and blogspots for teachers to use € 2,025 $2,733 Subtotal € 29,926 $40,384

STAFF Centropa administration € 57,413 $77,193

TOTAL € 234,073 $315,583

34 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 STAFF THE TEAM 2013

CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 35 36 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 37 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY 2014 VIENNA & SARAJEVO

38 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 39 COMMEMORATING THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR JOURNEY THROUGH A RUINOUS CENTURY The extermination of Centropa’s eighth Summer Academy was our largest and most ambi- and shopkeepers, scientists and tram drivers. And every one of them the past—by design, by tious yet. We brought nearly ninety participants—classroom teach- would soon be marked for destruction. More than one hundred neglect, by good inten- ers, education ministry offi cials, diplomats, foundation directors, twenty thousand managed to fl ee; sixty-fi ve thousand were deported tion—is what character- and pedagogical experts from nineteen countries—to Vienna and to their deaths. izes the history of our Sarajevo, with a short stopover in Zagreb. Our objective: to explore time. That is why the a century that began with enormous optimism, when Vienna gave The Jewish community that gave the world Sigmund Freud, Theodor ahistorical memory of a birth to the modern—in art, philosophy, science, and literature—but Herzl, Gustav Mahler, Stefan Zweig and so many others was no more. marginal community that which descended into wars that saw tens of millions slaughtered and The brilliance that Jews brought to Vienna was turned off like a light. found itself in the whirl- Central Europe’s Jewish communities all but wiped out. The century wind may yet be the best ended with more bloodletting, yet in the carnage of the Bosnian war Five hundred miles to the south, some ten thousand Jews lived in guide to our era. in the 1990s, there is a Jewish story to tell, a story that is relevant for Sarajevo, and most of them were Sephardic Jews who traced their all of us: Christians, Muslims, and Jews, Europeans, North Americans, roots to the Spanish expulsion in 1492. They had lived in this com- Tony Judt, and Israelis. plex mulit-ethnic Balkan land among Muslims and Christians, both essay in The New Catholic and Orthodox. These Jews, too, were slated for destruction. Republic, 1996, "The A favorite parlor game of historians is describing when centuries be- Starting in 1941 and 1942, around eight thousand met their deaths at Jewish Europe of Manes gin and end. We at Centropa believe the clock for the twentieth cen- the hands of the Nazis and their local counterparts, the Ustashe of Sperber" tury began ticking just before noon on 28 June, 1914, when Austrian Croatia. But most Bosnian Jews who survived the Second World War Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were shot to death in their did so by joining Tito’s Communist Partizans. Some sought protection open limousine in Sarajevo. That clock ticked on through hot wars and shelter, but three thousand Yugoslav Jews joined the Partizans and cold until it ran out on 5 April, 1992, when Bosnian Serb snipers with a specifi c goal in mind: so they could fi ght back. Those few Jews in the Sarajevo Holiday Inn opened fi re on demonstrators who had who returned to Sarajevo at war’s end had survived by being tough. come to say different ethnic groups could indeed live together. And when the fi rst shells crashed into the city in April 1992, the few remaining Holocaust survivors opened the doors to their synagogue In between those two events, Europe’s great multi-ethnic empires all and let the city in. went down in fl ames, and were replaced by smaller, angry states that turned cruelly on the ethnic minorities that found themselves inside We visited Vienna and Sarajevo one hundred years after the western these newly drawn borders. Those hatreds made it easy for Adolf world went down in fl ames so we could study the cultural accom- Hitler to turn one irredentist state against one another while blaming plishments of Central Europe’s Jews, commemorate their destruc- all the world’s ills on his one abiding obsession: the Jews. tion during the Holocaust, and pay tribute to a band of Sephardic Jews, who in the darkest night before the century’s end taught their There were more than one hundred seventy fi ve thousand Jews Muslim, Serbian, and Croatian friends and neighbors the lesson they in Vienna that day in 1938 when the Germans streamed over the had been learning for centuries: how to survive. Austrian border, unhindered and unopposed. Until that day, those Jews had been working as industrials and street sweepers, bankers

40 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 41 BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE BASE VIENNA AND THE MODERN AGE

Earlier in this publication, we described how Berlin reached its creative peak during that brief thirteen-year window of the Weimar Republic, before the Nazis took power in 1933 and sent so many creative giants scurrying for safety.

Vienna’s day in the sun came before that and lasted longer: her golden age burned brightly from the late 1880s until the First World War doused it. Even afterwards, it ﬂ ickered for a while, although today’s Vienna is but a museum to her greatness. To the city’s credit, it is a very good museum indeed.

We spent part of every day in Vienna meeting with world-class historians such as Paul Miller, an expert on the origins of the First World War, and Philipp Blom, an award-winning historian who described Europe before the deluge. We also walked the streets to see where history took place, and met with experts specializing in Gustav Klimt and art restitution. Best of all, we spent several hours with Vienna’s elderly interviewees. All this was meant to help build a knowledge base for our participants; we wanted them to see, feel, and hear about this golden time, and come face to face with it.

That is why we spent an afternoon in the elegantly re-designed Jewish Museum; it was why we were welcomed in the Belvedere Museum to see the Schieles and Klimts and meet with its curators and guides, and it was why, on our last morning, we stood in front of the car that Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie sat in that fateful morning in Sarajevo, one hundred years ago.

42 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 43 BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE BASE WHEN HISTORY HAS A NAME, A FACE, A STORY We love the elderly Jews we spent a decade interviewing. That is why we meet with them every month, and whenever we hold a Summer Academy in Vienna, we bring our teachers to meet with them.

One of the most rewarding programs during the Summer Academy was the meeting in Vienna with Holocaust survivors. We were organized into small groups and had the opportunity to talk to two elderly people. I was especially fortu- nate because by sheer luck I not only met someone with whom I share the same surname, Goldmann, but she happened to be a survivor from the Hungarian town of Szombathely, where I teach Jewish history! The lady, Gabriela Goldmann, was genuinely moved to learn how much I knew (including the names and stories of other Jewish families she knew). I learned that she belonged to the only surviv- ing Jewish family in Szombathely, where all the members (her sister, mother, and herself who had been sent to Auschwitz, as well as her father who had been on forced labor) all returned. We spoke non-stop in Hungarian over lunch, discussing many other things that happened to her after the Holocaust. At the end of the beautiful time we spent together, I invited her to visit Szombathely and offered to show her the town, the school she went to, and the leaders of the local Jewish community. I would be very happy if we could record the event in the form of a d o c u m e n t a r y ﬁ l m . Marta Goldmann, Szombathely, Hungary

For me, one of the most profound experiences during CSA was meeting Dr. Robert Rosner. The thoughtful way Centropa organized that event to provide one-on-one time is really something you can't get in other situations. This experience was markedly different from my other meetings with Holocaust survivors because Centropa staff ensured that each participant was paired with a survivor for two special times—a conversation that provided the survivor time to tell his/her story, and then a lovely lunch to continue getting to know each other in a casual, welcoming environment. Providing personal stories is one of the most powerful resources educators can use when teaching about the Holocaust. Dr. Rosner's story is a moving testament to the impact one person willing to help another can make. This is a story my students will not forget. Brittany Moreﬁ eld, Jamestown, NC

44 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 Meeting the seniors was one of the most enriching experiences of the Centropa Summer Academy. Talking with them, listening to their stories, and sensing their sadness about the bad times, then laughing with them when talking about their good moments will have an impact in my memory that will last forever, not only as a teacher but as a human being. I connected with the seniors I met emotion- ally and that connection will impact my teaching since I will relate history with two beautiful souls I met and who suffered during the war. It was very interesting speaking with them in Spanish and seeing in their faces the happiness when talking about their lives in Bolivia and Venezuela and also their tears when explaining their sufferings during the war. One of them gave us a present, Jewish Fairytales and Legends, that I plan to share with my students. Katiusca Cirino, Houston, TX

In Budapest, the Centropa offi ce holds meetings with the elderly Holocaust survivors they interviewed, and I have treasured my meetings with them there. I know of no oral history institute that does such a thing—hosting the people they interviewed! I was therefore not surprised to fi nd myself at the Summer Academy sitting with several elderly Viennese survivors. To meet these Austrian Jews, with their own stories of growing up here, fl eeing in time, and then returning to start again was deeply moving to me Ferenc Peragovics, Esztergom, Hungary

45 BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE BASE KLIMT, SCHIELE AND VIENNA 1900 There is no point in traveling to these cities and sitting in conference rooms all day. Centropa maximizes each participant's opportunity to learn on these trips by exposing them to not only the history we read up on and discussed, but also the culture and the 'feel' of the cities. That we were able to walk through imperial Vienna with a historian like Paul Miller, listen to Philipp Blom on pre World War One Vienna and then visit the National Library, the Jewish Museum, the Belvedere, and the Applied Arts Museum was a history teacher’s dream. Anthony Ludwig Charleston, NC

The Belvedere Museum is an impressive place to view its world-famous paintings. So many Klimts, Kokoschkas, and Schieles, and that we had both guides and curators tell us about them made it even better. I very much enjoyed the Friday night service in the City Temple. Having never been to an Orthodox synagogue before, it was a very new experience – it was something that the chief rabbi addressed our group as welcome guests. Kirstin Lakeberg Bonn, Germany

46 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 At fi rst I was skeptical about reading our assigned book, The Hare with the Amber Eyes, by Edmund de Waal. And the fi rst chapters only confi rmed my doubt. But then the author brings us to Vienna and the years before and during the Second World War. Now I understand why people are greatly moved by this remarkable book. But it was even more brilliant to complement our reading of the book with our visit to the Museum of Applied Arts to see all the creative output of Wiener Werkstätte. The furniture, the silverware, the artwork all told of time of great ferment. Then we got to view the Gustav Klimt paintings in the Belvedere Museum. These were mutually reinforcing activities, and they shed light on the role of Jewish communities in the process. Reading de Waal’s book was a great experience. Ferenc Peragovics Esztergom, Hungary 47 BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE BASE THE NATIONAL LIBRARY AND THE MILITARY MUSEUM

Two things about Vienna haunt me, and in very different ways. First, the visit to the Military Museum. Aside from that famous car of Franz Ferdinand, I could not believe the size of the great cannons and artillery. They must have felt safe behind them, and then all those colorful uniforms of the Bosnians, Hungarians, the Croatians—all soldiers to an Empire that was about to die. How absurd and comical they look now. But then there were the lectures by Phillip Blom and Paul Miller, which drew a picture of Europe pre-1914. Their lectures—which they gave with such style and hu- mor—made me want to order all their books and dig into this story. Being in Vienna and coming face to face with all this was simply inspiring. Victor Gurevich Rehovot, Israel

48 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 We had great tour guides in the Vienna Jewish Museum and Belvedere and I loved everything they showed us. It was very powerful to be with seniors and see them attend the Friday night services. I loved learning about the life of Jews in Vienna before the war, not only from our materials but also from people I met with. It will help me "paint a picture" of Jewish life before the World Wars, Jewish contributions to Viennese culture and glimpses of who they were before the 1930's. We often teach the World Wars and then talk about the Holocaust and leave out the world that was destroyed. That's why I liked the book, The Hare with Amber Eyes. It depicts life for Jews in Europe before the wars. I am going to teach what life was like for Jews in Europe before the Holocaust as well as how they rebuilt their lives after. Lisa Cain Charleston, SC

"I will simplify it as follows: the power of a once-grand empire, the magniﬁ cence of a society that had no idea it was about to collapse, the denial of wrong actions during the Holocaust, the restitution, culture in every corner, the art and the music and the cafés—this is what I took away from our time in Vienna." Katiusca Cirino Houston, TX 49 BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE BASE SPEAKERS IN VIENNA

Sonja Wehsely, a long time friend Centropa’s club for our Holocaust survi- It seems unlikely that the President of We asked Philipp Blom, a native of of Centropa, is the city of Vienna's vors is funded by three Austrian insti- a National Bank would gladly agree to Hamburg, to speak to our group be- Executive Councillor for Public Health tutions and one of them is the Ministry meet with a group of teachers during cause of his highly acclaimed book, The and Social Affairs. Her department is of Labor, Social Affairs and Consumer his summer vacation but Claus Raidl has Vertigo Years, a study of pre-World War one of Café Centropa’s main support- Protection, where Rudolf Hundstorfer is done this for us three times. Indeed, the One Europe. After university studies in ers. Sonja’s own father, who is Jewish, the Minister. A member of the Socialist National Bank even sponsored our lunch Vienna and Oxford, he obtained a D.Phil. survived the Holocaust by fl eeing party, Rudolf Hundstorfer has been that day. Claus Raidl is a great believer in Modern History. He has worked as an Nazi-occupied Austria just in time, then active in Austrian unions since the early in Centropa because in the 1950s Claus editor, translator, writer, and freelance returned to build a political career. Like 1970s and became the president of was accepted as an exchange stu- journalist, contributing to newspapers, father, like daughter: Sonja studied law the Austrian Trade Union Federation in dent in the US. "It changed everything magazines, and radio programs in Great at the University of Vienna and graduat- 2007. He has held several positions in about how I see the world," he told Britain, the US, Germany, Switzerland, ed in 1995. Always involved with Social the Socialist party, and in 2008 he was us. Claus studied Economics in Vienna Austria, the Netherlands, and France. Democratic politics, in 1996, Sonja appointed Minister of Social Affairs and and obtained his doctorate in 1971. He Philipp’s current project is "At Breaking Wehsely became a member of Vienna's Consumer Protection for the fi rst time. held leading positions in some of the Point," a historical overview of culture municipal council. Sonja was appointed country’s largest fi rms, such as such as and life during the interwar period in City Councillor for Integration, Women's VOEST Alpine and Böhler-Uddeholm. Dr. Europe and the United States. Issues, Consumer Protection and Raidl is married and has three sons. He Personnel, and in 2007, she assumed is a member of the ÖVP, the Austrian her current position. People’s Party.

50 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 In 1995, Hannah Lessing gave up a Silvia Friedrich is a long-time sup- Ingo Zechner is a philosopher and his- If there is anyone who can speak of successful career in banking to be- porter and friend of Centropa. Silvia is torian by training. From 2000 to 2008 Franz Ferdinand’s assassination with come the fi rst General Secretary of the the Deputy Director of Vienna’s Chief he was an academic staff member at more knowledge than Paul Miller we National Fund of the Republic of Austria Executive Offi ce for European and the Jewish Community Vienna, serving haven’t met them. Paul received his for Victims of National Socialism and, International Affairs, as well as the club as Head of the Community’s Holocaust Ph.D. in modern European history later, the General Settlement Fund. chairman for the Christian Democratic Victims’ Information and Support from Yale, then worked at the United Hannah heads an offi ce of hundreds of and Conservative Austrian People’s Center from 2003 to 2008. In 2009 he States Holocaust Memorial Museum researchers and attorneys who have Party in Vienna’s 19th district. Silvia has was the Business Manager of the Vienna as an editor of the journal Holocaust distributed half a billion dollars to vic- been working for the city of Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Since 1998, tims and families. The National Fund also in various positions for more than 30 Studies. Currently he is the Associate he has taught at various universities, supports Holocaust education programs years. Director of the IFK, International e.g., McDaniel College in Westminster, and in this capacity is Centropa’s largest Research Center for Cultural Studies the University of Sarajevo in Bosnia- Austrian donor. Hannah serves on nu- in Vienna. Since 2010 he has also been Herzegovina, and the International merous international boards, all involved a participant and Project Manager of University of Sarajevo. From 2011-13, with Holocaust education, to which she several independent research projects, Miller was a Marie Curie Fellow at the is greatly committed. Hannah comes to including the project, "Ephemeral Films: University of Birmingham, where he this subject through a personal connec- National Socialism in Austria," which has worked on a book about the memory of tion. Her own grandmother and great been ongoing since 2011. the Sarajevo assassination (28 June 1914: grandmother were sent to their deaths A Day in History and Memory). He is also during the Holocaust. writing a general history of the assassination for Oxford University Press. 51 BALKAN ROAD TRIP INTERLUDE IN ZAGREB

On the fourth day of our Summer Academy, we drove from Vienna to Zagreb, where we found ourselves in what had been one of the regional capitals of the Habsburg Empire. A lovely manicured park, complete with a trellised bandstand built for the Austro-Hungarian army band to play in, dominates Zagreb. Crowning the city is the hilltop Gorni Grad, a warren of cobbled alleys and baroque houses, looking like a quieter, less touristy version of Prague.

To spend an evening with Slavko Goldstein is a rare honor. One of Croatia’s leading public intellectuals, in his eight decades Slavko Goldstein has worked as a journalist, an editor, a publisher, a historian, and a political activist. But at the age of thirteen, he joined Tito’s communist Partizans, as he, his mother and brother ﬂ ed to safety while his father Ivo, a bookstore owner, was arrested and was never seen again.

Slavko’s highly acclaimed memoir, 1941: The Year that Keeps Returning, explores the horrors of Croatia during the Second World War, and ends ﬁ fty years later with neighboring Serb and Croatian villages once again turning on each other.

Slavko was accompanied by the´ Zagreb Jewish school's directors and several of their teachers, as well as Natali Lulic Grozdanoski of the cultural department of the Croatian Foreign Ministry.

The following day, we drove another 230 miles, leaving Croatia, traversing Republika Srbska, and arrived in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. En route, the frumpy Habsburg Catholic churches gave way to Serbian Orthodox churches. Where mosques had once stood in Republika Srbska, few were to be seen as dozens had been razed. What we did see were scores of burned-out houses raked with bullet holes; mementos of ethnic cleansing, the signature of those who felt it was impos- sible to live with people of other religions. And then we entered the city that one of our teachers described as a place of "so much pain and beauty at the same time."

52 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 BALKAN ROAD TRIP INTERLUDE IN ZAGREB

Slavko was accompanied by the´ Zagreb Jewish school's directors and several of their teachers, as well as Natali Lulic Grozdanoski of the cultural department of the Croatian Foreign Ministry.

52 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 53 WHERE THE TWENTIETH CENTURY BEGAN—AND ENDED SARAJEVO

We spent four intensive days in this city where East meets West, where elegant mosques and an Ottoman-built synagogue served worshippers cheek by jowl forty years before the pilgrims ever found religious freedom in America.

Visiting Sarajevo is like going through a time warp—on foot. Our hotel, the Europe, sat on the fault line where the Austrian section of the city was built after the Habsburgs wrested Bosnia Herzegovina from the Ottomans in 1878. Here the buildings are frumpy Viennese neo-Baroque, most of them painted a cheerful pink, ochre, and cream, all of them human-scaled—two and three stories. But then cross that invisible line and you are walking across paving stones laid down in the 1500s; you follow them past splashing fountains in tree-shaded courtyards, loom- ing mosques, and Ottoman-era bazaars and water pipe cafes. Turn a corner and there’s a seventeenth century Serbian church, turn another corner and a soaring nineteenth century Catholic cathedral dominates a square. Open a gate and you’re standing in the courtyard of a seventeeth century synagogue.

But there are also reminders of carnage and murder here, and not only of the de- portation of the city’s Jewish population during the Holocaust. More Sarajevans—of every religion—were shot down or blown up during the Bosnian Serb siege of the city in the 1990s.

Our scholar-in-residence was Ben Gurion University’s Sephardic scholar Eliezer Papo. Jewish community leader Jakob Finci told us how the Jewish community helped an entire city during the 1990s war, and US Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues Douglas Davidson ﬂ ew in from Washington for a panel discussion about rebuilding Bosnia with Austrian Foreign Ministry Balkan expert Martin Pammer.

54 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 WHERE THE TWENTIETH CENTURY BEGAN—AND ENDED SARAJEVO

54 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 55 BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE BASE WALKING THROUGH HISTORY IN A CITY WITH OPEN SCARS Two cemeteries in Sarajevo bookended our Summer Academy in this Balkan city. On a high hill overlooking the city, oblong Sephardic Jewish tombstones climb the hillside, some of them dating back to the sixteenth century. It is a hauntingly beautiful place. Not far away, thousands upon thousands of graves dating from 1992 until 1995 sweep across a well-maintained public cemetery—victims of lives cut short in a senseless, hideous ethnic war.

The "City as Classroom" was the best part of the seminar and all the tours we had were really interesting and broadened our horizons as teachers. The Tunnel Museum and that public cemetery left a mark on me because it's the history of today. These were the sites that showed us there is an open trauma for both Bosnians & Serbians and also Europeans and world citizens. Kostas Korres Rhodes, Greece

56 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE BASE WALKING THROUGH HISTORY IN A CITY WITH OPEN SCARS Two cemeteries in Sarajevo bookended our Summer Academy in this Balkan city. On a high hill overlooking the city, oblong Sephardic Jewish tombstones climb the hillside, some of them dating back to the sixteenth century. It is a hauntingly beautiful place. Not far away, thousands upon thousands of graves dating from 1992 until 1995 sweep across a well-maintained public cemetery—victims of lives cut short in a senseless, hideous ethnic war.

I am very glad we weren´t restricted "only" to the Holocaust, but Centropa enabled us—as history teachers—to look into the former Yugoslavia….My family used to travel to Croatia with our children, so I remember the destroyed homes and enormous new cemeteries, but seeing them as a teacher accompanied by other teachers was somehow a surprise and I felt so uncomfortable. Driving from Zagreb to Sarajevo through Srbska, we passed burned out homes. Then To go to the Tunnel Museum in Sarajevo and see how the city was kept alive was I really enjoyed our tour of Sarajevo and the visit to the Tunnel Museum, the Jewish we walked through Sarajevo and went to the ceme- deeply moving. But then we saw the public cemetery with so very many graves from cemetery and the public cemetery with its graves from the recent war. I know the teries and the Tunnel Museum. In those few days we the war and read that story of Romeo and Juliet, and then the Jewish cemetery, Tunnel Museum stirred up some passion but I thought that was a great insight into were in Bosnia, it felt as if the war had ended just which had been the front line between the Bosnian Serbs and the Bosnian govern- the reality of the situation. You saw the emotion, the suffering, the pain, the loss, yesterday. ment. The Jewish cemetery defi nitely left a mark on me. Simply seeing the bullet and the NEED for such a program like Centropa. It helps one refl ect on their own Martina Kalcikova holes in buildings was powerful, but to see the Jewish cemetery ravaged by mines communities, their own teaching, and how much we must understand that the sto- Brno, Czech Republic and bullet holes was shocking. ries we shape have such a profound impact. The "City as Classroom" was the best part of the sem- Shira Androphy Aaron Markham inar and all the tours we had were really interesting Boston, MS Houston, TX and broadened our horizons as teachers. The Tunnel Sarajevo was a place like no other. East meeting West is such an easy concept to Being in Sarajevo changed me, as a person and as a professional. Having that experi- Museum and that public cemetery left a mark on me read about and to just talk about, but it’s a much harder concept to understand ence, and actually seeing fi rst hand what the people survived, brought a whole new because it's the history of today. These were the when you are facing it. Seeing such a special place in person will and has changed world of understanding to me that I will never forget. The teachers from Serbia were sites that showed us there is an open trauma for both my view on the world, and has challenged what I know about it. I now must go out magnifi cent in their comments about facing the past of their country and related on Bosnians & Serbians and also Europeans and world and learn more about the area to try and help understand what I really saw. a human level to the teachers from other affected countries. citizens. Kostas Korres Paul Puccinelli Barbara Hairfi eld Rhodes, Greece Marion County, SC Charleston, SC

56 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 57 BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE BASE

I thoroughly enjoyed the breadth and depth that was provided regarding WWI I learned so much about World War I as well as the Bosnian War and the and Bosnia in the 1990s. I was initially expecting a deep focus on the Holocaust, breakup of Communism. As a literature and fine arts teacher, I had not which is absolutely ﬁ ne, but one that I have covered in other programs. This pro- spent as much time on these aspects of European history as I had on the gram offered something uniquely informative that I can bring back to my students Holocaust. Now I have an intense desire to learn more about World War I as through ﬁ lm and projects. I came back with a lot of great resources about two well as the fall of Communism. Ed is an amazing wealth of information—I truly topics that are frankly overlooked in our World History curriculum, but with a de- loved how he gave the information in an easy "story like" way so that you as a sire to not just incorporate them more seriously and make them a vital and vibrant learner do not get lost in statistics—but he gave stories of the lives affected part of my classroom experience. by the wars. Aaron Markham, Houston. TX Denise Deveaux, Charleston, SC

58 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE BASE

What really keeps me busy thinking are the experiences I had in Sarajevo. I've never been closer The Balkan part of the seminar really broadened my under- to the aftermath of a war and seen and heard what it does to people. I am deeply affected in standing of the 20th century, especially its last two decades. Not I thoroughly enjoyed the breadth and depth that was provided regarding WWI I learned so much about World War I as well as the Bosnian War and the the truest sense. It has changed my understanding of the Balkans, its history and today's situa- only have I learned historic facts I did not know, but the journey and Bosnia in the 1990s. I was initially expecting a deep focus on the Holocaust, breakup of Communism. As a literature and fine arts teacher, I had not tion fundamentally. helped me acquire a different perspective on the Balkans: on which is absolutely fi ne, but one that I have covered in other programs. This pro- spent as much time on these aspects of European history as I had on the Kirstin Lakeberg, Bonn, Germany the road trip from Vienna to Sarajevo we watched as Croats and gram offered something uniquely informative that I can bring back to my students Holocaust. Now I have an intense desire to learn more about World War I as Bosnians on their bicycles now had to go through borders that through fi lm and projects. I came back with a lot of great resources about two well as the fall of Communism. Ed is an amazing wealth of information—I truly I am convinced that it's true about most of the Centropa resources: they are universal—they didn’t even exist twenty years ago. Then there was the problemat- topics that are frankly overlooked in our World History curriculum, but with a de- loved how he gave the information in an easy "story like" way so that you as a can be used in teaching various subjects, at different levels, they may be connected to a whole ic relationship between the Bosnians and the Serbs. These are all sire to not just incorporate them more seriously and make them a vital and vibrant learner do not get lost in statistics—but he gave stories of the lives affected range of topics. If you want your teaching to be up to the requirements of the XXI century, if you topics that made me seriously refl ect on the post war years and part of my classroom experience. by the wars. want your students to remember most of what you teach them—you MUST use Centropa. nationalism. Aaron Markham, Houston. TX Denise Deveaux, Charleston, SC Natalia Shushin, Bat Yam, Israel Konstantina Andrianopoulou, Athens, Greece

58 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 59 THE MEANING OF NEVER AGAIN THE SIEGE OF SARAJEVO AND LA BENEVOLENCIJA

Words matter; defi nitions count. And since genocide is still very much with us, the Bosniak Muslims, Catholic Croats and Serbian Orthodox. Who were they going to term "never again" has lost its currency. At Centropa, we believe that studying the help? Anyone who walked in. Holocaust will not prevent another one. But we can and should study what good Over the three plus years of the siege, La Benevolencija ladled out tens of thou- people do in times of extreme stress. During our Summer Academy 2013 in Berlin, sands of hot meals, distributed hundreds of thousands of medical prescriptions, we skyped with Eyal Press, whose thought-provoking book, Beautiful Souls, de- delivered more than ninety-thousand letters, ran a two-way radio connected to the scribed people who knew that helping others would very likely hurt them. Yet they Jewish communities in Zagreb and Belgrade, and ran eleven rescue convoys out of could not stop themselves: they had to reach inside and call on their moral inner the city, bringing well more than nine hundred souls to safety. strength. That all this was initiated by Holocaust survivors and their families made La On 5 April, 1992, when the fi rst Bosnian Serb shells began crashing into Sarajevo, Benevolencija’s efforts all the more meaningful. And this is why we came to most of its citizens were shocked; they thought war would never come. Yet the Sarajevo: to pay tribute to one of the most remarkable Jewish stories that took Jewish community had been busy stocking their community center with food, place since the Second World War—when Jews and Muslims, Serbs and Croats, fi nding overseas suppliers for medicine, and stashing away clothing for months. joined in to stand up to hate, and dole out food, medicine, and hope in equal mea- Sarajevo’s Jews remembered what happened in 1941 when they had not been sure. It is a story that every teenager, in every land, needs to understand. prepared. Now they were. They even plastered a sign on their synagogue door. It read, "La Benevolencija," Ladino for "good will." Who was working there? Jews and

60 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 THE MEANING OF NEVER AGAIN THE SIEGE OF SARAJEVO AND LA BENEVOLENCIJA

60 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 61 PAIN, HISTORY, AND THE BALKANS FINDING COMMON GROUND IN A WAR-RAVAGED LAND

Stella Matosovic Vera Isailovic Tatjana Juric Ana Sesar Biljana Stojanovic Marko Dimitrijevic So you’re interested in working with partner schools in the Balkans? It’s easy. Just Each successor state of Yugoslavia is now re-writing the last thousand years of its keep in mind these simple ground rules. Macedonians cannot abide the fact that own history, though several international NGOs are making a valiant effort to create a Bulgaria has neither admitted to nor apologized for deporting eleven thousand common narrative that schools throughout the region can use. We at Centropa see Macedonian and Greek Jews during the Holocaust. Greece does not recognize our role as trying to connect teachers, and their students, to the fact that no matter Macedonia’s name. Tension between the Macedonian Muslims and the great- who and what they are, they all had Jews living among them for hundreds of years. By er population is high, but their enmity does not rival the friction between Serbs bringing these Balkan teachers to our Summer Academy in Sarajevo to explore how and Kosovar Albanians. When street signs written in Cyrillic were put up in the a tiny band of Holocaust survivors—ethnic cleansing victims of an earlier war—had Croatian city of Vukovar, crowds tore them down. When an EU-funded school in the turned their synagogue into a free and open house for all, we provided them with a Herzegovinian city of Mostar was told it would have to serve both Bosniak Muslim bridge on which they could meet and try to ﬁ nd ways to reconnect. and Catholic Croat children, the directors complied—but only to a point. Today, Bosniak children attend in the morning. After they leave the Croat children arrive. The results were not seamless. There were disagreements, misunderstandings, As for Gavrilo Princip, whose pistol shots started the First World War, is he a villain deeply hurt feelings—especially when we visited the Tunnel Museum, the site where or a hero? In this part of the world, that depends on who you ask. a secret tunnel had been built by Sarajevans during the war to help keep the city supplied. The photographs and videos shown there were exceptionally brutal (but With so much salt being poured into the soup, who would want to sip from this then, so was the siege). Worse, however, was the guide who painted all Serbs with broth? The answer is surprising because, by and large, a huge percentage of class- broad brushstrokes, no matter where they lived, no matter, it seems, how old or room teachers in these countries want to ﬁ nd common ground. That is why we young they were. We feel it is important to share some of these disagreements with brought to our Summer Academy fourteen teachers from the Bosnian Federation, our readers, yet we also share with you the point all our Balkan teachers made: how Republika Srbska, Slovenia, Serbia, and Macedonia. We drew them from the one much they want to work together. hundred twenty teachers we work with in these countries.

62 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 PAIN, HISTORY, AND THE BALKANS A very important thing for the Balkan teachers is to speak about 20th century stand why we went to the Tunnel Museum. It is not an offi cial museum, and there in the former Yugoslavia. When we speak and work together we can create a is no professional staff working there. All of us knew there was a horrible siege common platform for learning about the war in ex-Yugoslavia and also we can of Sarajevo and that citizens of Sarajevo suffered a lot. And, yes, we all know that FINDING COMMON GROUND IN A WAR-RAVAGED LAND better understand Jewish history, too. This was the very fi rst seminar where I Bosnian Serbs did it. could speak and work with my Bosnian, Croatian, and Slovene colleagues. As for the places we visited in Sarajevo, all of them left a mark on me, but especially But, if there is no collective guilt, as Ed pointed out several times by referring to the Tunnel museum because it was such a sad experience for me. I concluded what Vaclav Havel once said about the Germans* (and I appreciate it) what was that we (Balkan teachers) need to sit and work together. Facing our common the point of this visit? If the individuals, who were responsible for the war crimes history, USING THE RIGHT TERMS and teaching for a better future in this area is in the Bosnian war are on trial in The Hague, and many offi cers of the Serbian CRUCIAL!!! army and politicians are already proclaimed guilty, or even came home after Marko Dimitrijevic, Nis, Serbia spending long years in prison (Biljana Plavsic and Momcilo Krajisnik), what is the point of the hate speech by that man in the Tunnel Museum? The Tunnel Museum left a mark on me—because in this place I had a meeting with the past, more than at any other place. What do Serbs anywhere in the world need to do in order to receive some un- Biljana Stojanovic, Belgrade, Serbia derstanding and to stop being hated so much? I don't understand what Bosnians want to achieve. The visit of the Tunnel Museum was eye-opening for me because I didn't like when teachers from Serbia made that speech after visiting the Tunnel. I realized how much Bosnian Muslims still, twenty years after the end of the war, I think that all that was unnecessary. This topic is still fresh and we (Croats, hate Serbs and blame them for dozens of bad things. What is even more import- Stella Matosovic Vera Isailovic Tatjana Juric Ana Sesar Biljana Stojanovic Marko Dimitrijevic Bosnians, and Serbs) could talk about it all day. ant, they spread that (propaganda) message to delegations from abroad. I am not So you’re interested in working with partner schools in the Balkans? It’s easy. Just Each successor state of Yugoslavia is now re-writing the last thousand years of its Ana Sesar, Zagreb, Croatia sure how that helps reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It didn't upset me, keep in mind these simple ground rules. Macedonians cannot abide the fact that own history, though several international NGOs are making a valiant effort to create a it didn't offend me, it just made me feel very sad. Bulgaria has neither admitted to nor apologized for deporting eleven thousand common narrative that schools throughout the region can use. We at Centropa see I am not only a historian from Sarajevo, I lived through the war. I survived (some- Tatjana Juric, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina Macedonian and Greek Jews during the Holocaust. Greece does not recognize our role as trying to connect teachers, and their students, to the fact that no matter how) but I lost my husband, my father-in-law, many friends and had a miscarriage Macedonia’s name. Tension between the Macedonian Muslims and the great- who and what they are, they all had Jews living among them for hundreds of years. By which means I lost a child. I don’t really go to the Tunnel Museum, and when I go *Tatjana is referring to this speech, delivered by Vaclav Havel, 15 March 1990, during er population is high, but their enmity does not rival the friction between Serbs bringing these Balkan teachers to our Summer Academy in Sarajevo to explore how to the public cemetery, which we could now call the War Cemetery, I always go the offi cial visit of West German President Richard von Weizsacker. On this date in and Kosovar Albanians. When street signs written in Cyrillic were put up in the a tiny band of Holocaust survivors—ethnic cleansing victims of an earlier war—had alone. Going with a big group was very stressful for me but I felt I should go. But 1938, Nazi Germany invaded Czechoslovakia and dismembered it. Croatian city of Vukovar, crowds tore them down. When an EU-funded school in the turned their synagogue into a free and open house for all, we provided them with a it returned me to the past and it woke up awful memories...... That day, for me, Herzegovinian city of Mostar was told it would have to serve both Bosniak Muslim bridge on which they could meet and try to fi nd ways to reconnect. I was with a great effort trying to concentrate on other activities. I thank all who "We have to understand that it was not the German nation that caused our agony, and Catholic Croat children, the directors complied—but only to a point. Today, gave me support. but particular human individuals. Spite, blind obedience, indifference to our fellow Bosniak children attend in the morning. After they leave the Croat children arrive. The results were not seamless. There were disagreements, misunderstandings, Stella Matosovic, Sarajevo, Bosnia man all these are characteristics of people, not of nations…It was, in fact, the As for Gavrilo Princip, whose pistol shots started the First World War, is he a villain deeply hurt feelings—especially when we visited the Tunnel Museum, the site where Nazis who treacherously identifi ed their affairs with the affairs of Germany. We or a hero? In this part of the world, that depends on who you ask. a secret tunnel had been built by Sarajevans during the war to help keep the city As you know, my group was the most shaken at the Tunnel Museum. We have a cannot follow in their footsteps! If we accepted their lie as our own, we would supplied. The photographs and videos shown there were exceptionally brutal (but completely different perspective on the siege of Sarajevo. Most of us were hurt at only be passing the torch of their destructive errors on to others…To judge some- With so much salt being poured into the soup, who would want to sip from this then, so was the siege). Worse, however, was the guide who painted all Serbs with the equalization of ordinary people with criminals who belong to my people. one on the basis of his language, the color of his skin, his origin, or the shape of broth? The answer is surprising because, by and large, a huge percentage of class- broad brushstrokes, no matter where they lived, no matter, it seems, how old or Vera Isailovic, Novi Sad, Serbia his nose is to be, consciously or unconsciously, a racist. To speak abusively about room teachers in these countries want to fi nd common ground. That is why we young they were. We feel it is important to share some of these disagreements with Germans in general, about Vietnamese, or about members of any other nation, is brought to our Summer Academy fourteen teachers from the Bosnian Federation, our readers, yet we also share with you the point all our Balkan teachers made: how I totally support Centropa’s concept of using the city as a classroom — learning to condemn them merely for their nationality. To fear them only for that reason is Republika Srbska, Slovenia, Serbia, and Macedonia. We drew them from the one much they want to work together. through the journey. Through travel I myself have learned almost the same the same as being antisemitic." hundred twenty teachers we work with in these countries. amount of useful information in my life as I did in my studies. But I didn't under-

62 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 63 BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE BASE OUR SPEAKERS IN SARAJEVO

No one can bring the Balkan Sephardim Asmir Hasicicˇ ´ is not only one of the best Jakob Finci is a lawyer, diplomat and Douglas Davidson became Special to life like Dr Eliezer Papo, who teach- and most committed teachers we’ve human rights activist. He is among the Envoy for Holocaust Issues in 2010. es Jewish folklore, oral Jewish litera- worked with, Asmir is also the presi- founders of the Jewish cultural, ed- He is responsible for developing and tures, and Judeo-Spanish culture at dent of the Teachers Association of the ucational and humanitarian society implementing U.S. policy pertaining Ben Gurion University in Israel. And Canton of Sarajevo. Asmir was born in La Benevolencija. In that role, Jakob to the return of Holocaust-era assets Eliezer can do it in English, Hebrew, Doboj, in 1980, and went to elementary helped the Jewish community be- to their rightful owners, compensa- Bosnian and Ladino. Born in Sarajevo, school in Bosnia, Germany, and Croatia. come one of the most effective aid tion for wrongs committed during the Eliezer ﬁ rst received a B.A. in law from He graduated from the Philosophical agencies working in the Bosnian war Holocaust. From 2004 to 2008 Douglas the University of Sarajevo, a degree in Faculty in Sarajevo in 2004 and has zone. In 2000, he was elected chair- was Head of the OSCE’s Mission to rabbinics from the Midrash Sepharadi in been teaching history in Sarajevo since man of the Truth and Reconciliation Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he Jerusalem, an M.A. in Jewish languages 2005. Asmir has been vital to Centropa Commission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, oversaw a six-hundred person mission in literature from The Hebrew University, in Bosnia, helping translate materials then the Constitutional Commission working to strengthen human rights and and a Ph.D. from BGU in Hebrew liter- and organizing teachers’ meetings. of Federal Parliament. He is the only rule of law, to return displaced persons ature. In January 2014 he received the Asmir gave a rich, history-soaked tour of Bosnian representative to the Advisory and refugees to their pre-war homes, prestigious Ben-Tzvi award for his latest Sarajevo during the Summer Academy. Council of the Ofﬁ ce for Democratic and to help rebuild democracy. From book, And Thou Shall Jest with Thy Son: As we move forward in Bosnia, we will Institutions and Human Rights. In 2008, 2001 to 2004, Douglas was Deputy U.S. Judeo-Spanish Parodies on the Passover continue to work with this brilliant young Jakob was named Ambassador of Representative to the OSCE in Vienna Haggadah. historian. Bosnia and Herzegovina to Switzerland, and held other posts in Kosovo, Zagreb, and non-resident Ambassador to Belgrade, and Peshawar. From late 1989 Liechtenstein. until early 1993 he was an Assistant Press Secretary for Foreign Affairs at the White House. 64 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE BASE OUR SPEAKERS IN SARAJEVO

No one can bring the Balkan Sephardim Asmir Hasicicˇ ´ is not only one of the best Jakob Finci is a lawyer, diplomat and Douglas Davidson became Special The Austrian Foreign Offi ce maintains a María Aurora Mejía Errasquín has been Jens Wagner has been the Press Tim Butcher is an English journalist and to life like Dr Eliezer Papo, who teach- and most committed teachers we’ve human rights activist. He is among the Envoy for Holocaust Issues in 2010. deep commitment to the countries of the Spanish Ambassador to Bosnia and Cultural Attaché at the German author and covered the Bosnian war in es Jewish folklore, oral Jewish litera- worked with, Asmir is also the presi- founders of the Jewish cultural, ed- He is responsible for developing and the western Balkans. Martin Pammer is since March 2012. Born in Madrid, María Embassy in Sarajevo since 2012 and it the 1990s for the Daily Telegraph. Tim’s tures, and Judeo-Spanish culture at dent of the Teachers Association of the ucational and humanitarian society implementing U.S. policy pertaining one of his ministry’s leading lights and entered the Diplomatic Service in 1987. is in this capacity that we at Centropa fi rst book, Blood River: A Journey to Ben Gurion University in Israel. And Canton of Sarajevo. Asmir was born in La Benevolencija. In that role, Jakob to the return of Holocaust-era assets has served as Austria’s Ambassador to She held previous positions for the worked closely with Jens on this year’s Africa's Broken Heart, an account of his Eliezer can do it in English, Hebrew, Doboj, in 1980, and went to elementary helped the Jewish community be- to their rightful owners, compensa- Bosnia since 2013, after having served as Spanish Foreign Ministry in Romania, Summer Academy. Jens, who was born 2004 journey through DR Congo was Bosnian and Ladino. Born in Sarajevo, school in Bosnia, Germany, and Croatia. come one of the most effective aid tion for wrongs committed during the Ambassador to Montenegro from 2009- Denmark, and Brazil, where she held the in Göppingen near Stuttgart, re- published in 2007. It became a number Eliezer fi rst received a B.A. in law from He graduated from the Philosophical agencies working in the Bosnian war Holocaust. From 2004 to 2008 Douglas 2013. Martin entered the Diplomatic post of Deputy Head of the Embassy ceived his law degree at the University one bestseller and was shortlisted for the University of Sarajevo, a degree in Faculty in Sarajevo in 2004 and has zone. In 2000, he was elected chair- was Head of the OSCE’s Mission to Service in 1994 and since then has of Spain between 2002 and 2005. of Frankfurt. Before his posting to the Samuel Johnson Prize. A journalist rabbinics from the Midrash Sepharadi in been teaching history in Sarajevo since man of the Truth and Reconciliation Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he served his ministry in Budapest, in María also held several positions at the Sarajevo, he served for the German with the Daily Telegraph from 1990 to Jerusalem, an M.A. in Jewish languages 2005. Asmir has been vital to Centropa Commission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, oversaw a six-hundred person mission Ljubljana, and in Zagreb. Martin joined Permanent Representation of Spain Foreign Offi ce at the Embassies in 2009, in 2010 he received an honor- in literature from The Hebrew University, in Bosnia, helping translate materials then the Constitutional Commission working to strengthen human rights and Douglas Davidson in a spirited conver- to NATO and the Offi ce of the Prime Abuja, Nigeria, and Brasilia, Brazil, and ary doctorate from the University of and a Ph.D. from BGU in Hebrew liter- and organizing teachers’ meetings. of Federal Parliament. He is the only rule of law, to return displaced persons sation on the complexities of rebuilding Minister. María’s posting in Sarajevo has in the Ministry's headquaters, dealing Northampton for services to writing. His ature. In January 2014 he received the Asmir gave a rich, history-soaked tour of Bosnian representative to the Advisory and refugees to their pre-war homes, post-confl ict Bosnia. seen her become deeply involved in this mostly with Human Rights, trade issues, most recent book, The Trigger: Hunting prestigious Ben-Tzvi award for his latest Sarajevo during the Summer Academy. Council of the Offi ce for Democratic and to help rebuild democracy. From Sephardic community, many of whose bilateral relations and public diplomacy. the Assassin who Brought the World to book, And Thou Shall Jest with Thy Son: As we move forward in Bosnia, we will Institutions and Human Rights. In 2008, 2001 to 2004, Douglas was Deputy U.S. members still trace their roots back to War was published in 2014 and tells the Judeo-Spanish Parodies on the Passover continue to work with this brilliant young Jakob was named Ambassador of Representative to the OSCE in Vienna Spain fi ve hundred years ago. story of Gavrilo Princip, the teenage Haggadah. historian. Bosnia and Herzegovina to Switzerland, and held other posts in Kosovo, Zagreb, assassin who triggered the First World and non-resident Ambassador to Belgrade, and Peshawar. From late 1989 War by assassinating Archduke Franz Liechtenstein. until early 1993 he was an Assistant Press Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo. Secretary for Foreign Affairs at the White House. 64 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 65 TURNING KNOWLEDGE INTO SKILLS TEACHER PRESENTATIONS Of the ten presentations our teachers shared with each other during the Summer Academy, the projects that drew the strongest praise and keenest interest were those that showed students in different countries working with each other. Through Centropa fi lms and databases, students in Detroit, Belgrade, Vilnius, Greensboro, Kielce, Bonn and Sarajevo are already carrying out joint projects. Because we fi lter education through social media, we reach students where they live every day. Among the other presentations teachers made, Anthony Ludwig’s talk on "Why Teach History," had more than thirty-nine teachers from six countries signing up to adopt his lesson plan and lecture. I really liked Anthony Ludwig's "Why teach history" lesson and will start my school Anthony Ludwig's "Why Study History," Yonathan Bar-On's Kindertransport les- year with it. I get this question asked of me almost on a daily basis in my class- son, Kelli Gerhardt's "Pay It Forward"—these I can use almost totally as written. room, "why do we need to know history?" I thought I had a pretty good explana- Anthony has given every one of us a great way of answering that question we tion, but Anthony put it perfectly. never stop hearing—teacher, why must we learn about the past? Kelli Gerhardt, Spartanburg, SC Jean Miller, Gastonia, NC

I was drawn to all the cross border projects because they make perfect sense for today’s teens. Jacek from Kielce showed what he and Lisa in Greensboro are doing. Asmir from Sarajevo and Kirstin from Bonn described connecting younger students. I will use the Serbia/Florida project as my template. In Macedonia, we have a great Centropa ﬁ lm about Jewish Partizans. I will work on it with Tal from Israel. Students will love this because it lets them show off their English, gets them to see how other kids live, learn something exciting, and even enter competitions on who makes the best video. Daniela Shterjova, Skopje, Macedonia

I really want to comment on a project I took part in, which was the Border Jumping project we did with Maureen Holtzer, Marko Dimitrijevic and Senka Jankov. As an educator, I can honestly state that my students learned a great deal, because they were actively engaged in doing something, and not just mindless memorizing by heart. By researching by themselves and connecting with peers overseas their learning curve went straight up. Saša Radoševic, Zrenjanin, Serbia

66 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 TURNING KNOWLEDGE INTO SKILLS TEACHER PRESENTATIONS Of the ten presentations our teachers shared with each other during the Summer Academy, the projects that drew the strongest praise and keenest interest were those that showed students in different countries working with each other. Through Centropa ﬁ lms and databases, students in Detroit, Belgrade, Vilnius, Greensboro, Kielce, Bonn and Sarajevo are already carrying out joint projects. Because we ﬁ lter education through social media, we reach students where they live every day. Among the other presentations teachers made, Anthony Ludwig’s talk on "Why Teach History," had more than thirty-nine teachers from six countries signing up to adopt his lesson plan and lecture. I really liked Anthony Ludwig's "Why teach history" lesson and will start my school Anthony Ludwig's "Why Study History," Yonathan Bar-On's Kindertransport les- year with it. I get this question asked of me almost on a daily basis in my class- son, Kelli Gerhardt's "Pay It Forward"—these I can use almost totally as written. room, "why do we need to know history?" I thought I had a pretty good explana- Anthony has given every one of us a great way of answering that question we tion, but Anthony put it perfectly. never stop hearing—teacher, why must we learn about the past? Kelli Gerhardt, Spartanburg, SC Jean Miller, Gastonia, NC

Maureen Holtzer, Marko Dimitrijevic, and Senko Jankov's cross-cultural tolerance project seems simple, but is very useful. I have already created a partnership with one of the US teachers to start a similar project. Connecting teenagers to tell each others’ stories is a powerful tool. Tatjana Juric, Banyaluka, Bosnia and Herzegovina First, it was wonderful to spend part of nearly ever day watching presentations Maureen Holtzer/Marko Dimitrijevic/Senko Jankov's lesson on cross-cultural I really want to comment on a project I took part in, which was the Border made by other teachers. I was truly inspired by Anthony Ludwig 's project about tolerance—I would like to introduce this into my classroom this year. We have a Jumping project we did with Maureen Holtzer, Marko Dimitrijevic and Senka "Why Teach History"—he was so effi cient in presenting it in such a concrete and large diversity of students, but there are several ethnic groups that my students Jankov. As an educator, I can honestly state that my students learned a great essential way. Since I am committed to teaching Jewish holiday cooking I defi nitely do not come into contact with or do not know about. It is important to introduce deal, because they were actively engaged in doing something, and not just will use Lowell Blackman's "Roots" project, which will fi t in so perfectly because students from other countries so my students can learn about them, then break mindless memorizing by heart. By researching by themselves and connecting we will make a Jewish quarter walking tour. Our Jewish quarter is the former down stereotypes that they hear about locally. I want them to connect with stu- with peers overseas their learning curve went straight up. Ghetto, so Lowell’s project helps me get this moving. dents from another country so they realize they are just like them. Saša Radoševic, Zrenjanin, Serbia Rina Lund Mieli, Rome, Italy Kelli Gerhardt, Spartanburg, SC

66 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 67 KNOWLEDGE + SKILLS = OUTCOMES BRINGING WHAT WE LEARNED BACK TO THE CLASSROOM

Centropa's goal to connect teachers from different disciplines is a highlight for me. By The summer program sparked an interest to develop curriculum and ideas that watching good examples of what actually works, I am now going to tie into my lessons develop a deeper understanding of the 20th century beyond WWII and the Shoah. history, literature, philosophy, civil education, human rights, and foreign languages. I I think it is a much more useful, holistic approach and one that students should be have heard of cross-competency learning. Now my students will do it. able to see the numerous connections and parallels to their own story, and that Saša Radoševic of their community, as well. My hope is for them to understand a topic (say 1990s Zrenjanin, Serbia Bosnia) that they have almost zero exposure to normally in class, but can understand and embrace, and hopefully commit to developing meaningful work around, Teaching at a Jewish school in Chicago, I made a great match with Raimonda and Gintare through, and outside the curriculum. from the Jewish school in Vilna. We will begin our project with icebreakers in the form of Aaron Markham exchanged photos about myself, my family, my community, and Jewish life. We will then Houston, TX turn to the Centropa online interviews set in Lithuania. Students will then be asked to interview survivors about their lives after the Holocaust—both in Chicago and in Vilna. We Meeting with other teachers from different disciplines and countries is simply the will then determine an action to help those Holocaust survivors who are in need. right thing to do. Helps one think out of the box. Jeff Ellison Dimitar Petkov Chicago, IL Soﬁ a, Bulgaria

68 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 KNOWLEDGE + SKILLS = OUTCOMES We as teachers need to be guides to our students’ moral compasses and we must show them what is right and what is wrong. This reminds me of Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, and how the main character remembers his teacher pushing BRINGING WHAT WE LEARNED BACK TO THE CLASSROOM all his friends and himself to war. We must not be this teacher, we must push our students to compassion and the right moral choices. I am going to use the entire Balkan experience with my students, how these are not just events to push away, how people are involved in history and how much these events can/still mean to the people involved. We must ﬁ nd an emotional connection for our students and seeing people cry over what they saw as a misrepresen- tation of history really did move me, and If I can ﬁ nd something to connect my kids this way then I am in for my best school year yet. Paul Puccinelli Marion County, SC

We now have what we need to take our students’ noses out of their books and out of the conﬁ nement of the classroom, because by working with other classrooms in other countries, we take a subject they don’t connect with (like how global issues impact their world) and bring it totally alive for them. This is truly a gift. Katiusca Cirino Houston, TX

I will use Centropa's open-source, interactive database and multi-media fi lms, etc. in my high school class as an interesting example in order to do our historical research for the Jewish Community of Rhodes. Also, maybe we will cooperate with Centropa's goal to connect teachers from different disciplines is a highlight for me. By The summer program sparked an interest to develop curriculum and ideas that another class from another country from the Balkans area. watching good examples of what actually works, I am now going to tie into my lessons develop a deeper understanding of the 20th century beyond WWII and the Shoah. I am going to work together with David from North Carolina. Our students will do a Kostas Korres history, literature, philosophy, civil education, human rights, and foreign languages. I I think it is a much more useful, holistic approach and one that students should be project of everyday life during the Bosnian war with help of Centropa's movies and Rhodes, Greece have heard of cross-competency learning. Now my students will do it. able to see the numerous connections and parallels to their own story, and that the photographs on the Centropa site and elsewhere. We will do our own research, Saša Radoševic of their community, as well. My hope is for them to understand a topic (say 1990s as well, and have the students make presentations to each other. My classes will benefi t from my increased knowledge of the origins of the First Zrenjanin, Serbia Bosnia) that they have almost zero exposure to normally in class, but can under- Damjan Snoj World War and the Balkan countries. Walking through the bazaar/souk in Sarajevo stand and embrace, and hopefully commit to developing meaningful work around, Ljubljana, Slovenia Teaching at a Jewish school in Chicago, I made a great match with Raimonda and Gintare during Ramadan in such an amazing mixed culture was quite revelatory and that through, and outside the curriculum. from the Jewish school in Vilna. We will begin our project with icebreakers in the form of will come back with me and into my classroom. Nothing substitutes boots on the Aaron Markham A lot of times I have focused my classes on Holocaust Studies and I have just not really exchanged photos about myself, my family, my community, and Jewish life. We will then ground. And imparting our actual experience to students instead of recounting Houston, TX thought that much about teaching the culture and the history that existed before and turn to the Centropa online interviews set in Lithuania. Students will then be asked to books we’ve read or movies we've seen is far more effective. You see things and after. The Summer Academy certainly changed all that. Now I have a better under- interview survivors about their lives after the Holocaust—both in Chicago and in Vilna. We Meeting with other teachers from different disciplines and countries is simply the notice the environment in ways we could never do in a lecture hall. standing of the this world, so I can create a deeper understanding for my students. will then determine an action to help those Holocaust survivors who are in need. right thing to do. Helps one think out of the box. Tom Glaser Jeff Ellison Dimitar Petkov Hialeah Gardens, FL Douglas Greene Chicago, IL Sofi a, Bulgaria Greensboro, NC

68 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 69 KNOWLEDGE + SKILLS = OUTCOMES BRINGING WHAT WE LEARNED BACK TO THE CLASSROOM The opportunity to have visited sites such as the Belvedere Palace, the MAK, the Jewish Museum and especially the Military museum, the very site of the assassination, and the grave stones in the public cemetery in Sarajevo will enable me to bring more nuanced lessons to my students. When a teacher participates in travel-based professional development, it is my sense that the teacher's standing with the students is greatly elevated. Frank Kemkes Billings, MT

I can honestly say that this was the most powerful professional development that I have attended in recent memory because I learned so much (and realized how much world history we in America are beginning to ignore). Because of this, one of my ideas is to create a high school pilot course on understanding the 20th Century in European History to help increase the knowledge of our teaching force. Barbara Hairﬁ eld Charleston, NC

The diversity of the teachers working together was one of the most life-chang- ing aspects of the program. Although I have worked in international education for years, I have never participated in a workshop with teachers from so many different backgrounds in a face-to-face setting. This was exciting and inspiring! Therefore, this year, my students will be engaged in an oral history and digital story-telling project. Your resources will provide an excellent model and inspiration for them as they engage in this work. David Brooks Raleigh, NC

I am going to introduce a new culture and a new language into my class work because after being in Sarajevo, and seeing what this tiny Jewish community did with its non-Jewish friends, has given me the conﬁ dence to focus on civil society as a intentional goal, and broaden my students' horizons. Nance Adler Seattle, WA

70 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 KNOWLEDGE + SKILLS = OUTCOMES KNOWLEDGE + SKILLS = OUTCOMES BRINGING WHAT WE LEARNED BACK TO THE CLASSROOM THINGS TO IMPROVE The opportunity to have visited sites such as the Belvedere Palace, the MAK, the I would have liked to see an introductory session where each national group could Jewish Museum and especially the Military museum, the very site of the assassina- briefl y and diagrammatically present not only the misconceptions about their coun- tion, and the grave stones in the public cemetery in Sarajevo will enable me to bring try, etc. (as we did this year), but their country’s secondary education system. In more nuanced lessons to my students. When a teacher participates in travel-based order to understand where the projects that we talked about could fi t we should, I professional development, it is my sense that the teacher's standing with the stu- think, have an idea of the various national curricula. Just an example: history cur- dents is greatly elevated. riculum in Greek schools don’t provide for a separate holocaust section. It is really Frank Kemkes important to see how different educational systems/curricula work in different coun- Billings, MT tries. This kind of information exchange during dinners, walks, coffee breaks, etc., with other teachers was really important and useful for me. I can honestly say that this was the most powerful professional development that I Konstantina Andrianopoulou have attended in recent memory because I learned so much (and realized how much Athens, Greece world history we in America are beginning to ignore). Because of this, one of my ideas is to create a high school pilot course on understanding the 20th Century in European Scheduling! It is better to do fewer things in a great fashion than to cover multiple things History to help increase the knowledge of our teaching force. in a less effective way. Provide more time for educators to collaborate on their own. You Barbara Hairfi eld do not have to account for every minute of the day in the classroom. Education extends Charleston, NC beyond the classroom. However, participants must have time to experience the culture and spend time in the regions they are visiting. Include more hands-on learning experiences beyond the lecture style that was overused. The diversity of the teachers working together was one of the most life-chang- Katrina Massey ing aspects of the program. Although I have worked in international education for Mebane, NC years, I have never participated in a workshop with teachers from so many different backgrounds in a face-to-face setting. This was exciting and inspiring! Therefore, I thought it might have been benefi cial if sometimes we were grouped by discipline this year, my students will be engaged in an oral history and digital story-telling proj- so that just history or literature teachers would meet together. More time to speak ect. Your resources will provide an excellent model and inspiration for them as they with the teachers with whom we are going to work. I needed more time to fi gure engage in this work. out the details of scheduling. David Brooks Jeff Ellison Raleigh, NC Chicago, IL

I am going to introduce a new culture and a new language into my class work be- Mixed groups for group work. More time for presenting results. Create an android appli- cause after being in Sarajevo, and seeing what this tiny Jewish community did with cation for mobile phones. It will be easier for work in the classroom. its non-Jewish friends, has given me the conﬁ dence to focus on civil society as a Marko Dimitrijevic intentional goal, and broaden my students' horizons. Nis, Serbia Nance Adler Seattle, WA

70 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 71 WE DONT BELIEVE IN BORDERS CENTROPA’S EDUCATIONAL NETWORKS

EUROPEAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS Standing, left to right: Beata Gendek‐Barhoumi, Czestochowa, Poland; Tatiana Adamska, Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia; Erwin Dorn, Traun, Austria; Gabriela Berbesz‐Kupiec, Lubliniec, Poland; Viera Nižníková, Prešov, Slovakia; Waltraud Neuhauser, Steyr, Austria; Kirstin Lakeberg, Bonn, Germany; Martina Kalcikova, Brno, Czech Republic; Damjan Snoj, Preserje, Slovenia; Sitting, left to right: Daniela Vitaskova, Trebíc, Czech Republic; Marianna Beregszászi, Pécs, Hungary; Jacek Jaros, Kielce, Poland; Marta Goldmann, Budapest, Hungary; Ferenc Peragovics, Esztergom, Hungary; Jolita Staciokaite, Jieznas, Lithuania; Michael Heitz, Sinsheim, Germany; Ulrike Lackner, Lassnitzhöhe, Austria; Mária Erdélyiné Gál, Besenyotelek,˝ Hungary

72 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 WE DONT BELIEVE IN BORDERS CENTROPA’S EDUCATIONAL NETWORKS

BALKAN SCHOOLS EUROPEAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS Back row, left to right: Maria Fragkoulaki, Ilion, Greece; Marija Ivanova, Shtip, Macedonia; Daniela Shterjova, Skopje, Macedonia; Ilijan Kuzmanovic, Novi Grad, Bosnia and Standing, left to right: Beata Gendek‐Barhoumi, Czestochowa, Poland; Tatiana Adamska, Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia; Erwin Dorn, Traun, Austria; Gabriela Berbesz‐Kupiec, Herzegovina; Tatijana Juric, Banjaluka, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Lubliniec, Poland; Viera Nižníková, Prešov, Slovakia; Waltraud Neuhauser, Steyr, Austria; Kirstin Lakeberg, Bonn, Germany; Martina Kalcikova, Brno, Czech Republic; Damjan Snoj, Preserje, Slovenia; Middle, left to right: Bilijana Stojanovic, Belgrade, Serbia; Naila Uzunovic-Hasicic, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Asmir Hasicic, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Biljana Shotarovska, Skopje, Macedonia; Vera Isailovic, Arilje, Serbia; Maja Susha, Skopje, Macedonia; Saša Radoševic, Zrenjanin, Serbia; Senka Jankov, Zrenjanin, Serbia; Sitting, left to right: Daniela Vitaskova, Trebíc, Czech Republic; Marianna Beregszászi, Pécs, Hungary; Jacek Jaros, Kielce, Poland; Marta Goldmann, Budapest, Hungary; Konstantina Andrianopoulou, Psihiko, Greece; Admir Ibricic, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Konstantinos Korres, Rhodes, Greece Ferenc Peragovics, Esztergom, Hungary; Jolita Staciokaite, Jieznas, Lithuania; Michael Heitz, Sinsheim, Germany; Ulrike Lackner, Lassnitzhöhe, Austria; Mária Erdélyiné Gál, Besenyotelek,˝ Hungary Front: Vassiliki Keramida, Athens, Greece; Marko Dimitrijevic, Nis, Serbia

72 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 73 NORTH AMERICAN PUBLIC AND CHARTER SCHOOLS Last row: Frank Kemkes, Billings, MT; David Brooks, Raleigh, NC; Brittany Moreﬁ eld, Jamestown, NC; Jean Miller, Gastonia, NC; Barbara Hairﬁ eld, Charleston, SC; Danielle Bagonis, Baltimore, MD; Jeff Renihan, Graceville, FL; Katrina Massey, Mebane, NC; Katiusca Cirino, Houston, TX; Middle row: Tom Glaser, Hialeah Gardens, FL; Paul Puccinelli, Marion County, NC; Lisa Cain, Mount Pleasant, SC; Denise Deveaux, Charleston, SC; Kelli Gerhardt, Spartanburg, SC; Jonathan Wade, Cullowhee, NC; Anthony Ludwig, Charleston, SC; Maureen Holtzer, Wellington, FL; Maureen Carter, West Palm Beach, FL; Gina Lavine, Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada; Amy Vargas-Tonsi, Durham, NC; Wendy Warren, Houston, TX; Lauren Granite, Washington, DC, (Centropa) Front: Douglas Greene, Greensboro, NC

74 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 US JEWISH SCHOOLS Shmuel Afek, New York, NY; Jeffrey Ellison, Chicago, IL; Aaron Markham, Houston, TX; Shira Androphy, Boston, MA; Nance Adler, Seattle, WA

NORTH AMERICAN PUBLIC AND CHARTER SCHOOLS Last row: Frank Kemkes, Billings, MT; David Brooks, Raleigh, NC; Brittany Morefi eld, Jamestown, NC; Jean Miller, Gastonia, NC; Barbara Hairfi eld, Charleston, SC; Danielle ISRAELI SCHOOLS Bagonis, Baltimore, MD; Jeff Renihan, Graceville, FL; Katrina Massey, Mebane, NC; Katiusca Cirino, Houston, TX; Standing, left to right: Yela Kartaginer, Rakefet; Maya Neumann, Kfar-Shmaryahu; EUROPEAN JEWISH SCHOOLS Natalia Shushin, Bat Yam; Middle row: Tom Glaser, Hialeah Gardens, FL; Paul Puccinelli, Marion County, NC; Lisa Cain, Mount Pleasant, SC; Denise Deveaux, Charleston, SC; Kelli Gerhardt, Back row: Dimitar Petkov Dimitrov, Sofi a, Bulgaria; Ricky David, Stockholm, Sweden; Spartanburg, SC; Jonathan Wade, Cullowhee, NC; Anthony Ludwig, Charleston, SC; Maureen Holtzer, Wellington, FL; Maureen Carter, West Palm Beach, FL; Gina Lavine, Middle row: Victor Gurevich, Be'er Yakov; Yonathan Bar-On, Haifa; Lowell Blackman, Ana Sesar, Zagreb, Croatia; Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada; Amy Vargas-Tonsi, Durham, NC; Wendy Warren, Houston, TX; Lauren Granite, Washington, DC, (Centropa) Herzliya; Front: Rina Lund Mieli, Rome, Italy; Judig Magos, Budapest, Hungary; Katerina Front: Douglas Greene, Greensboro, NC Weberova, Prague, Czech Republic Front: Ettie Avraham, Kfar Saba; Tal Terem, Pardes Hanna-Karkur

74 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 75 FINANCIALS CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY 2014 STAFF BUDGET 2014 THE TEAM 2014

HOTELS, TRANSPORTATION, MEALS Standing are are members of our permanent staff: From Hotel € 35,293 $47,808 left: Lauren Granite is our North American education direc- Meals € 24,649 $33,390 tor; Marcell Kenesei runs our programs for European Jewish Plane tickets € 41,777 $56,593 schools and our public schools in Hungary. Wolfi Els is our Public transport € 481 $652 fi lmmaker and Birgit Haberpeutner is the logistics coordina- Bus rentals € 6,424 $8,703 tor for our summer programs. Fabian Rühle is the director Subtotal € 108,624 $147,145 for European public schools and Esther Cotoarba, is the newest addition to our team. Esther assists both Fabian and SEMINAR PREPARATION, SPEAKERS, TECHNOLOGY Birgit. Our director, Edward Serotta is next to Esther and on Coordinator seminar preparation € 9,037 $12,242 the right is Ouriel Morgensztern is our technical director. Speakers € 2,769 $3,751 Sitting are those teachers who coordinate our programs Tour guides & museum entrance € 2,758 $3,736 in each of their countries. From the left is Raimonda Photographer & Video € 2,857 $3,870 Sadauskiene from Lithuania; Marko Dimitrijevic from Serbia; Printed material: DVDs burned, handouts, fi nal report € 22,790 $30,871 Daniela Shterjova from Macedonia; Ana Sesar from Croatia; Fees for tech and seminar room rental € 4,846 $6,565 Damjan Snoj from Slovenia; Gintare Kukliene from Lithuania. Subtotal € 45,057 $61,035 CREDITS EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS This publication was designed by Marie-Christine Gollner- Multi-media fi lms, produced for Summer Academy € 25,455 $34,482 Schmid and printed by Donau Forum Printers. Website adaptation and blogspots for teachers € 2,698 $3,654 Subtotal € 28,153 $38,136 Special thanks to the Federal Ministry of Education and Women’s Affairs, and the Austrian Federal Ministry of STAFF Integration, Integration & Foreign Affairs for supporting the Centropa administration costs € 58,703 $79,520 printing of this publication. We are deeply grateful to the photographers who helped TOTAL € 240,537 $325,836 bring our story to life and we thank: Christopher Mavric in Graz, Róbert Bácsi and Bence Kovács in Budapest, Daniel Grünfeld in Frankfurt and Berlin, Gianmaria Gava, Ouriel Morgensztern and Edward Serotta in Vienna, Torben Geeck in Berlin, Wojciech Wojtkielewicz in Bialystok, Ryan Brandenberg in Philadelphia Addditional photos: Stella Matosovic, Judit Magos

76 CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY REPORT 2013 FINANCIALS CENTROPA SUMMER ACADEMY 2014 STAFF BUDGET 2014 THE TEAM 2014

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