Why Berlin for Teachers?
Few major cities in Europe have a more complicated history than Berlin. While the modern German capital is known as a hub of innovation, art, and business, the signs of 20th century war and division still show throughout the city, especially in its architecture and monuments. On this program we will treat Berlin as our home base to explore how cultural memory, public history, design, and storytelling tie together. We will visit the monuments and memorials of WWII and the Holocaust and pass by the open plazas and remaining sections of the Berlin Wall. We will seek out the narratives of communism and consider how current politics are still impacted by the history we are taught to remember.
How does Berlin commemorate its past while also looking toward the future? How might we encourage students to think critically and creatively about the historical narratives all around them?
Program Goals:
- Visit key sites and learn from historians, designers, artists, and other local experts in Berlin as we unpack the narratives of the Second World War and the Cold War.
- Critically examine the way we understand and teach history and humanities, and how we engage students in conversations about issues of justice, peace and conflict, and societal division.
- Have collaborative conversations with locals on what defines their identity and culture, and how those definitions are influenced by historic and cultural narratives as well as current events.
- Critically examine the way we understand and teach ancient history, and develop new tools and strategies for curriculum both in and outside the classroom.
July 2025 Itinerary
July 27: Berlin
We’ll begin with an orientation on the evening of July 27. We’ll get to know Berlin and our travel cohort with an opening dinner of local favorites. We’ll also have an introduction to the city and the ways it blends commemoration of the past with innovative ideas about the future.
July 28-29: Berlin
We’ll focus our first few days together diving deeper into the ways that Berlin, and Germany, think about the difficult history of Hitler’s War, the Holocaust, and the divided country during the Cold War. We’ll visit key sites in the city to think about how we memorialize the past, and we’ll also spend some time at the site of the former concentration camp, Sachsenhausen. As we go, we’ll consider questions about how our collective memory is shaped by the way history is represented in public spaces and forums, in both physical and less tangible ways.
July 30-August 1: Berlin
As we continue exploring Berlin, we’ll begin to shift our investigation toward the present and future of the city. We’ll consider how public spaces like Templehof and the East Side Gallery, relics of Germany’s divided past, have been repurposed to foster creativity and community. We’ll talk with locals about how this history influences current issues and modern culture. And we’ll begin to look ahead to how the lessons and inspiration we’ve found in Berlin might be applied in our own context at home, or around the world.
We’ll have a closing reflection the evening of July 31, with an opportunity to workshop how to integrate new ideas into our work in the classroom, or future programs in the field. We will plan for participants to depart (or embark on their own further travels) on August 1st.
Who Should Join?
This program is geared toward K-12 educators with an interest in global education, history, and humanities and the connections between field experiences and classroom learning. While we think it will be especially applicable for middle and high school educators, the themes covered are relevant to all age levels and disciplines. We are excited to gather a diverse group of educators eager to collaborate on this work and conversation.
