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Berlin Part I
1. The Lest We Forget Study Seminar viewing the outdoor exhibit of the Topography
of Terror
2. Photographic display of badges worn by inmates in the ghettos and concentration
camps of the Third Reich.
3. Photography display of early persecutions against Jews by the Nazi regime
between 1933 and 1939.
4. German scholar, Annegret Ehmann, addressing members of the study seminar
at the Topography of Terror.
5. The Martin Gropius Building, which housed the Gestapo compound and the Main
Security Office(RSHA) of Heydrich, located adjacent to the outdoor exhibit and
incorporated as part of the Topography of Terror.
6. Remnant of the Berlin Wall which has been incorporated into the Topography
of Terror.
7. View of the front entrance of the Wannsee Conference Villa.
8. View of the rear facade of the Wannsee Conference Villa.
9. View of the Wannsee Lake from the back porch of the Wannsee Conference Villa.
10. Dr. Marcia Sachs Littell speaks with Israeli Ambassador to Germany, Mr.
Shimon Stein, in front of the Wannsee Conference Villa. Also pictured are Annegret
Ehmann( rear) and Dr. Nechama Tec.
11. All members of the study seminar with the Israeli Ambassador to Germany
.
12. A sculpture by John Haertfield in memory of the women and children deported
to the ghettos and camps at the site of the former Jewish Cemetery of Berlin.
13. The Rosenstrasse Memorial, a sculpture by Ingeborg Hunzinger, stands at
the site of the successful 1943 demonstration by Aryan wives demanding the release
of their Jewish husbands rounded up by the Nazis.
14. Women who participated in the MAHG Women in the Holocaust seminar, pose
in front of the Rosenstrasse Memorial. (left to right) Marion Brakeman, Gail
Herring Stinger, Ann Marie Osaki, Evelyn Heron(back ) Kathleen Allison, Dr.
Marcia Sachs Littell, Sherri Liepe, Chris Aibel.
15. Study seminar approaching the Museum of Otto Weidt, a Righteous Gentile.
The museum was created by East German students after the reunification of Germany.
16a. Stove used to heat the broom factory of Otto Weidt. 16b. Study seminar
member, Revered Ed Carll behind the hidden doorway which served as entrance
to the secret room where Jews were hidden by Weidt. 17 Picture of the Jews hidden
by Weidt.
18. Scholars accompanying the study seminar in Berlin. Left to right: Dr. Ulie
Geldbach, Annegret Ehmann, Dr. Nechama Tec, Dr. Franklin Littell, Dr. Erich
Geldbach.
19. Scholars pictured at the head table as members of the study seminar share
dinner in Berlin.
20. Window of Grunewald Train Station in Berlin. It was from here the Jews of
Berlin were deported to ghettos ad camps.
21. Sculptured wall on the path followed by the deportee on the approach to
the Grunewald Station platform, which is a memorial monument today. The images
of the shadows of men women and children as they passed along the cobblestone
hill to their fate, are hollowed out and appear frozen in time.
22. Members of the study seminar walking on the platform at the Grunewald Train
Station deportation site.
23. Inscription in platform at the Grunewald deportation site indicating the
deportation of Jews from Berlin to Bergen Belsen as late as April 1945.
24. Dr. Marcia Sachs Littell addressing the study seminar members at the hotel
in Berlin.
25. Annegret Ehmann giving a lecture to the seminar participants at the hotel
in Berlin.
26. Entrance to the Court of Honor , part of a building complex which was once
housed the high command of the Whermacht, the army of HitlerÕs Third Reich.
27. Annegret Ehmann explaining to the members of the seminar the events surrounding
the execution of the some participants in the failed attempt to assassinate
Hitler on July 20, 1944. The plaque marks the site of those executions.
28. Picture of the front entrance of the former Institute of Anthropology, Human
Heredity and Eugenics of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute(1927-1945). The second
director of this division was the father of Dr. Joseph Mengele, the Angel of
Death of Auschwitz. The elder Mengele served as an assistant for his sonÕs
infamous twin research.
29. Annegret Ehmann on the steps of the building which once house the Heredity
and Eugenics Institute discussing its history with members of the study seminar.
Today the building is part of the Free UniversityÕs with classes in political
science. Picture here are Doug Stinger( against the wall) and Dr. Marcia Sachs
Littell listening intently.
30. Built in 1866, the Moorish style Oranienburgerstrasse Synagogue which was
once the heart of Jewish life in Berlin was attacked and burned on Kristallnacht,
November 9-10, 1938. Its distinctive Ò Golden DomeÓ was saved form
total destruction in the fire by a Berlin policeman. By warÕs end, the
synagogue was destroyed. Restoration began in 1988 and today it is no longer
used as a house of worship but contains a permanent exhibit dealing with its
history and aspects of Jewish life in Berlin before the Nazi era.
Berlin Part II/ Sachsenhausen
31. Annegret Ehmann the art project at Bayrischer Platz, site of the Bavarian
Quarter which once had a considerable Jewish population. In the project signs
are attached to street poles, one side displaying a graphic symbol and the opposite
side identifying the specific edit restricting the lives of Berlin's Jews with
the date of enactment. 32a. A graphic of musical notes. 32b. Edict enacted August
16, 1933, stating that Jews can no longer participate in organized choral groups.
33a. Graphic of a printerÕs block. 33b. Edict stating that by December
of 1938 all Jewish printers and booksellers must close their doors and cease
to operate. 34a. Graphic of a park bench. 34b. After 1939, Jews were no longer
allowed to use parks or sit on park benches. 35a. Graphic of a loaf of bread.
35b. Edict enacted July 4, 1940, stating that Jews are only allowed to shop
for groceries between 4 and 5 P.M.
36. Study seminar entering Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, located north of
Berlin and established in 1936.
37. Arbeit Macht Frei, Ò Work will make you free,Ó carved into the
entrance gate of Sachsenhausen. This was a mendacious phrase popular with the
Nazis and written on the gates many of their most infamous camps.
38. Study seminar listening to English speaking guide, a law student from Austria
completing his compulsory service as a member of the staff at Sachsenhausen
Memorial. The exhibit on the table is a model of the camp which was carefully
designed by the Nazis to ensure maximum and efficient control over the inmates.
Members of the seminar pictured are from left to right: Dr. Nechama Tec, Chris
Aibel, Linda Mulvihill, Rich Sless, Terumi Osaki, Rae Cutler.
39. Cell were Reverend Martin Niemoeller was held in solitary confinement while
imprisoned at Sachsenhausen as an enemy of the state for his outspoken resistance
to the Nazi regime.
40. Towering monument to the prisoners of Sachsenhausen erected by the Communist
government of East Germany after the war. Note that the only triangles displayed
on this monument are red. In the Nazi system of identification and classification,
a red triangle identified a political prisoner. Hence, the Communist government
of East Germany effectively rewrote history by implying only the political prisoners/anti-fascists/socialists
were victims of Nazi oppression.
41. Statue depicting the Sonderkommandos also erected by the Communists in the
ruins of the crematoria at Sachsenhausen.
42. Dr. Marcia Sachs Littell being interviewed by a CNN crew from Korea at the
site of the crematoria ruins.
Warsaw Treblinka and Ciechanou
43. Monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Fighters.
44. Replica of sewer cover at the Warsaw Ghetto memorial.
45. Rabbi Murray Kohn in front of a remnant of the wall that enclosed the Warsaw
Ghetto.
46. Wall at the Jewish cemetery in present day Warsaw which was built after
the war using remnants of Jewish headstones found throughout Poland. 47a. Plaque
with the poem dedicated to "The Little Smuggler." 47b. Memorial to
the children who were murdered by the Nazis.
48. Janus Korczak Memorial Statue in the present day Jewish Warsaw cemetery.
The Memorial to the Children 49a. Memorial wall in Warsaw surrounding the site
of the Umschlagplatz. 49b. Plaque memorializing the deportation site of over
300,000 Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto.
50. Wall marking the entrance to the memorial site of the Treblinka Death Camp
51. Stone Monument , center piece of the 17,00 stone memorial in Treblinka.
It was erected over the site of the crematoria.
52. Close up of carved figures on the stone monument over the site of the Treblinka
crematoria.
53. Janus Korczak Memorial Stone, the only one of the 17,000 stones dedicated
to to an individual.
54. The site of open pits, known as ÒRoasting Pits,Ó where bodies
were burned in before the installation of the crematoria at Treblinka.
55. Rabbi Kohn approaches the Castle of Ciechanow, in his hometown, where, in
1943, he, his family, and the Jews of Ciechanow were incarcerated before deportation
to Auschwitz.
56. Picture from 1943 of the Jews taken into the Castle at Ciechanow before
their deportation to Auschwitz.
57. Members of the seminar, who accompanied Dr. Kohn to Ciechanow, pictured
with him in front of the castle.
Lublin and Majdanek
58. Dr. Nechama Tec and her friend, a Polish historian, explaining to the members
of seminar the history of Lublin at the old Yeshiva which still stands and operates
in that city .
59. Roll call area at Majdanek.
60. Barracks at Majdanek.
61. Guard House overseeing prisoner barracks in Majdanek. 62a. The tortoise
sculpture created by Majdanek inmates as a "decorative piece," was
really a symbol of resistance conveying the message, work for the Nazis, but
Ò go slow.Ó 62b. Lizard sculpture created by Majdanek inmates as a
"decorative piece "which was really a symbol of resistance because
the lizard was the sign of the Polish Underground. 62c. Another Òdecorative
pieceÓ created by inmates, the Eagle sculpture symbolizes imprisoned men,
women and children and the hope for freedom. Ashes of some murdered prisoners
were secretly hidden in the base by the fellow inmates. 63a. ÒShowers headsÓ
in the experimental gas chamber of Majdanek. 63b. Small room adjacent to the
gas chamber, equipped with carbon monoxide gas tanks and a viewing window so
that a technician could monitor the gassing process. 64a. Rows of cages containing
the shoes worn by the prisoners murdered at Majdanek. 64b. Rae Cutler walking
through the rows of cages containing shoes of murdered prisoners. 64c. A member
of the study seminar photographed here, appears to be emerging from the depths
of despair represented by the cages of shoes of thousands of inmates collected
during the Nazi era.
65. Monument to those who perished during the "Harvest Festival" at
Majdanek.
66. The row of ovens used to cremate bodies of those who were murdered at Majdanek.
67. View of the crematorium, with the prominent chimney, as seen from the steps
of the Memorial Mausoleum.
68. Memorial Mausoleum to those who perished at Majdanek erected by the Soviets
after liberation in 1944 which contains human ashes found in the camp
69. Sun shines through the roof of Memorial Mausoleum on the human ashes which
were gathered from Majdanek.
70. Reverend Ed Carll kneeling in prayer in front of the mound of human ashes
contained in the Mausoleum.
Krakow and Auschwitz/Birkenau
71. Entrance to the Remuah Synagogue in Krakow.
72. Centuries old Jewish Cemetery behind the Remuah Synagogue.
73. Remnants of the walls erected by the Nazis to encircled the Krakow Ghetto,
the top of the wall was shaped like a headstone.
74. The gate in front of Oskar Schindler's factory.
75. Monument at the site of the former Plaszow labor camp just outside of the
city of Krakow.
76. Arbeit Macht Frei sign on the gate at the entrance of Auschwitz.
77. Rabbi Murray Kohn, child survivor of Auschwitz, leading the study seminar
on a tour of the camp.
78. Rabbi Murray Kohn and Dr. Nechama Tec, both survivors of the Holocaust standing
in front of Block 6, where Rabbi Kohn had been imprisoned as a twelve year old.
79. Participants of the study seminar on steps of Block 11.
80. Execution site adjacent to the infamous Block 11, which contained torture
cells.
81. Standing Box/Dark Cell used to torture inmates in Block 11.
82. Train tracks leading from the entrance of Birkenau (Auschwitz II) with platform
where deportees disembarked from the cattle cars on the right. 83a. Forest of
chimneys at Birkenau where barracks housing thousands of inmates once stood.
83b. Reconstructed barracks in Birkenau rebuild using material from barracks
throughout Birkenau.
84. Rabbi Kohn standing in front of the remnants of the gas chambers and crematoria
blown up by the SS before they abandoned Birkenau in the face of the advancing
Soviet Army in 1945.
85. Remains of stairs and entrance into the undressing room where men women
and children disrobed before entering the gas chamber disguised as showers in
Birkenau.
86. Rabbi Kohn and members of the study seminar saying the Kaddish at the remnants
of the gas chamber and crematoria. 87a. Warning plaque in front of a monument
erected after the war to remind all to remember the past. 87b. Survivor, Joseph
Komito, kneels before the plaque as he remembers family members who perished
in the Holocaust. 87c. Joseph Komito exiting the memorial at Birkenau.
88. A young Polish boy peers at the infamous train tracks leading to the platform
where millions first stepped foot in Birkenau .
89. Rabbi Kohn embraces members of an Israeli youth group on their pilgrimage
in Auschwitz/Birkenau. 90a. Study seminar experiencing Klezmer music that was
once the mainstay of Jewish life in Poland.
91. Sunset as the Study Seminar leaves Poland and heads towards Prague.
Prague and Terezin
92. Study Tour making its way through Golden Lane in Prague.
93. Members of the study seminar on the balcony of Prague Castle. Front row
left to right: Kathleen Allison, Marion Brakeman, Barbara Pordy, Ellen Wetzel,
Dr. Marcia Sachs Littell, Gail Herring Stinger, Ann Marie Osaki, Linda Mulvihill.
Second row left to right: April Borisowitz, Neil Rosenberg, Lou Ann Gable, Sheri
Liepe, Rich Sless 94a. Prague's centuries old Jewish Cemetery 94b. Neil Rosenberg
giving his book review about Rabbi Yehudah Loevy ben Bezalel (the Maharal),
buried in Prague's Jewish Cemetery. Rabbi Loevy was a 16th century Rabbi of
Prague who created the concept of the Golem to protect Jews from persecution
95. Dr. Jan Munk, Director of Terezin greets the study seminar participants.
Left to right: Dr. Marcia Sachs Littell, Dr. Jan Munk, Director of Terezin,
Rabbi Kohn and Dean Kenneth Dollarhide 96a. Cemetery site outside walls of Terezin.
This section is dedicated to the Christians who perished in Terezin. 96b. Jewish
Star, which was made of railroad tracks marks the cemetery section dedicated
to the Jews who perished in Terezin. 97a +b. The bulwarks of the 18th century
walled town of Terezin transformed by Nazis into a ghetto, concentration camp
and transit camp for European Jews. A "model ghettoÓ visited by the
Red Cross.
98. Glass sculptures of heads embedded in the ground with face masks anchored
by barbed wire erected after the war at the entrance of Terezin.
99. Arbeit Macht Frei sign on the entrance to the fortress ghetto of Terezin.
100. Plaque at the Terezin Memorial, which lists concentration and death camps.
Rabbi Murray Kohn is pointing to Auschwitz and Buchenwald two camps in which
he had been a prisoner.
101. The enclosed area where bodies of those who perished at Terezin were kept
before cremation.
102. View of the buildings of Terezin, which now functions as a garrison town
serving the army of the Czech Republic.
103. Charlotte Opfermann, survivor of Terezin, explaining to members the study
seminar about her experience in the ghetto during the Holocaust. She stands
in the courtyard of the Hamburger Barrack, where she and her mother were imprisoned
for two years.
104. Charlotte Opfermann and Rabbi Kohn reminiscing in front of Charlotte's
barracks. 105 a. Charlotte Opfermann leads the study seminar through the airless
attic where she and her mother lived with thousands of other women during their
time in Terezin. Dr. Cyla Trocki Videll stands on the support beam. 106 a+b.
Ventilation system of the attic for the thousands of women forced to live there.
107. Beams where inmates drove pilfered nails or pieces of metal to serve as
hooks for clothing to keep it away from the rats and pigeons who shared their
space.
108. Memorial to those who perished when the Czech Christian town of Lidice
was razed in retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich.
109. Statute created by sculptors Marie Uchytilova and Jiri Hampl to memorialize
the 82 children of Lidice who were gassed by the Nazis.
110. Memorial statue of a mother weeping as a child holds onto her at the site
of the school that was destroyed during the Nazi destruction of Lidice.
111. Study seminar members pictured with Tomas Jelnik, former assistant to Czech
President, Vaclav Havel. Mr. Jelnik presently serves as head of the Jewish Community
in Prague. Setting is the centuries old Jewish Court of Prague. Pictured left
to right: Marion Brakeman, Barbara Pordy, AnnLin Glasser, Dr. Franklin Littell,
Dr. Marcia Sachs Littell, Tomas Jelnik, Gail Herring Stinger, Dean Kenneth Dollarhide,
Haviv Trocki Videll, Rabbi Murray Kohn, Doug Cervi, Matt Carr.
112. At he final seminar session of the trip, Dr. Marcia Sachs Littell talks
with survivor Joseph Komito as he shares his feelings with the members of the
study seminar about returning to his home town and the camps where he had been
incarcerated.