Our program looks to answer the below essential questions throughout the itinerary. 

Berlin, Germany

• How is Berlin, a huge modern city, haunted by its traumatic past?
• Why and how did Nazism rise in such a civilized place? Was this an outcome of German history or an accident?
• How did the rise of Nazism come about in Germany ? Who was involved? How was the anatomy of terror constructed?
• Why did Jews become victims of Nazism? Who were German Jews? How did they respond to Nazism?
• Is Germany today a “new Germany ”? Did Germany learn from the past?

Prague, Czech Republic

• How does a thousand year old Jewish community live in a Christian society? How are Jews perceived in this situation?
• What did Jews offer Christian society in Prague?
• Why did Jews live in a Jewish ghetto in Prague? What was life like in the Jewish quarter?
• How were the Jews perceived in more modern times when they wanted to assimilate? What does this give rise to prior to the Holocaust?
• Terezin is located one hour from Prague. Terezin becomes known as a “model” concentration ghetto/concentration camp. Why did Terezin become known as a “model” camp?
• How did Jews survive in Terezin? What reality wasn’t understood by the Jews in Terezin?

Krakow, Poland

• How were the Jews of Eastern Europe different from those who lived in Berlin and Prague?
• What was the status of Jewish-Christian relations prior to the Holocaust?
• How do the Jews react to the Nazis when they take over Poland? How do the Poles react?
• Auschwitz – How was it humanly possible?
• Who lived in Oswiecim before the Holocaust? What is life like today in Oswiecim, the town of Auschwitz?