Holocaust Memorial

Our final full day in Berlin was, for some, a highly emotional one. Thursday we visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a huge site just a short distance from the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag. The memorial consists of hundreds of concrete blocks of differing heights, set into a foundation that is not level. This means that, as you make your way through the blocks, you never really have a stable footing. Under the blocks is a very moving exhibition of the Holocaust, and, despite the fact that we'd seen many memorials to the Holocaust on this trip, this one touched the students the most. It was an appropriate ending point for the trip.

Above: the "blocks" at the memorial site; Katie P. walks through the memorial.

Staush and Stacy T. wait to be allowed into the memorial exhibition.

We finished our day with a trip to the Pegasus Hostel, the place where we were originally supposed to stay for our trip. The hostel offered to provide a cook-out for our group. Since many of the students were, by this time, really tired of spending money eating out, this was a welcome opportunity. We ended up having a great time. And some of us even opted to dress alike. (!)

Staush, John, Dr. Scribner, Dr. Slagter at the Pegasus dinner.