a few notes...

photo by danielle sharkan

We spent a lot of this trip in lectures and discussions. It was refreshing to think beyond the boundaries I am used to with a group of people that, often times, offered a very different perspective from my own. I left feeling more intelligent and articulate, and much more academically powerful. It's amazing how that can be lost in the everyday routine of NYC... I need to remember to exercise my brain in that manner more often.

Unfortunately, because our days (and nights) were so busy, sometimes it was tough to stay alert in lectures. This particular one was in Heidelberg and everyone had been out late the night before. One of the three mayors of the city was speaking on local politics and things got a little drowsy. Near the end of the lecture, he announced that he was gay and went into detail on the city legislature he is/has working/worked on relating to gay rights. Everyone perked right up, wide awake and very interested. Good stuff.

During the trip, we talked a lot on politics, especially on the relationship between Germany and the rest of the world, Germany and Israel, and Germany and Iran. We talked about the issue of immigration in Germany, specifically the Turkish population in Berlin, and what the government is doing to support diversity with-in the country. I found that many Germans are eager to declare their love for other races/cultures, perhaps overcompensating for their painful past.

A lot of people in the group came to Germany with negativity toward the country and it's people, due to their own Jewish family histories. I felt that it was understandable, but unfair, to project those feelings onto modern Germany as a whole. There were times I could see the frustration and negativity emanating from someone as they talked to a new German acquaintance; it was almost accusatory, like that person personally was responsible for the Shoa, because they were German. This mindset upset me and I had a few productive (and some not so) discussions with people about it. It was beautiful, at the end of the trip, when some of these people found that over the course of the time there, they had let go of this negativity and were able to see Germans as individuals, separate from the terror of World War II.

Many people were confused by my skin colour... apparently being black means you can't come from Jewish heritage. And it was funny, they would say to me, 'you don't know what discrimination feels like...' as I am not visibly Jewish. And I would be like, 'um, hello, I am black.' I mean... do I really have to explain that one? People get so hung up on their personal causes that they loose sight of the bigger picture.

One of the ideas I thought about most while there, and am still thinking about now that I am home, is that of memorializing. How do we remember what is no longer there? I think the Memorial and the Jewish Museum did this very effectively and appropriately. I have a lot of thoughts on the concentration camp as a memorial, but it is hard to eloquently summarize them right now, in this particular blog post.

And actually, I am going to cut this one off, as it feels much like a ramble... just wanted to add a few notes on the trip...