Berlin City!
After a fascinating quick three and a half days in Istanbul, we boarded our flight for Berlin.
From Istanbul to Berlin (Image from Kultur Projekte Berlin)
During the flight, I couldn’t sleep due to my excitement about the next few days. Would everything work out the way we planned? Would the participants have a good experience? As I fidgeted with my iPod, I looked over next to me on the plane to find Erica, JSC Fellow in Minsk, Belarus ’06-’07, reading the JDC briefing packet on Germany. She gave me a newspaper to read, which calmed my nerves.
Erica reads the briefing on Germany on our way to Berlin
We arrived late Wednesday night. We checked in at Hotel Amano, a wonderful hotel that only after booking, did I discover it was Jewish-owned. The next morning we drove to Bambinim Familyclub, a JDC project, where we heard from Marcelo, the Operations Director of The JDC International Centre for Community Development, Tanya, who works with JDC in West Germany and Flora, the Director of Bambinim. It was interesting and also surreal to bring the group into our world, since I met them all in a different country only earlier that week. I showed them the video I made a year ago of Bambinim, which was a little embarrassing, to have the attention on me for a minute. But it also made me proud of myself and my colleagues, that we could share our work with a large, engaged group. During a break, Sarah surprised the group with her homemade Hamantaschen, a delicious reminder that Purim was just around the corner.
Tanya speaks with the group about the Jewish community in West Germany, and about her own experience emigrating from Moscow to Germany
After leaving Bambinim, we headed over to the Jewish Community building down the street for lunch at Gabriels, a kosher restaurant. Sandra and Mirjam, two community leaders joined us to answer questions about the issues facing to the Jewish community in Berlin. After lunch, we visited the Jewish Museum, and heard from Lev Libeskind, who represents The Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research and is also the son of the famous architect Daniel Libeskind, who designed the museum. He also gave us a unique perspective on The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which we visited the following day.
Exploring the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
In between our stimulating meetings with leaders of various prominent Jewish organizations operating in Berlin, the group got the opportunity to explore Berlin. One afternoon we spent in Mitte, and I led the group to the Brandenburg Gate, Unter den Linden, Checkpoint Charlie and to pieces of the Berlin Wall.
Several of us at Checkpoint Charlie *Photo from Perry Teicher
On Saturday, Thorsten gave us a tour of the old Jewish quarter. It was my third time doing the 2-hour tour, but it’s such a fascinating tour, I’m surprised by the same facts every time. Most of the tour is made up of not-so-visible parts, so it’s almost like a treasure hunt through a bustling part of Berlin.
Tour of the Old Jewish Quarter with our great guide Thorsten *Photo by Perry Teicher
The trip came to an end with the celebration of Purim, which I posted about earlier. I was so relieved that everything had worked out great, but I was more grateful for having the opportunity to showcase JDC’s work in Berlin and also to get to know such a genuinely nice and engaged group of active young adults. When I think back to last summer when I was asked to co-chair a trip with Perry and Naomi, it’s amazing to see how it came together in the end. Through the process, I learned a great deal about JDC’s work in the world, the Berlin and Istanbul Jewish communities and also made some wonderful, new friends.
No Istanbul-Berlin trip is complete without Döner! *Photo from Jonathan Goldstone
