The German Studies Department and the Jewish Studies Program offer a joint Fall Term+ program in Berlin, Germany, led by two Dartmouth faculty members, Veronika Fuechtner and Susannah Heschel, who will jointly teach one three-week course between fall term and winter term. 

This innovative course will be an intensive immersion in the history of Jews in Berlin's vibrant intellectual, cultural and political life from the late eighteenth century to the present. The program will meet daily, with tours of major relevant sites in Berlin and the surrounding areas, including museums, concentration camps, neighborhoods, memorials, and houses of worship. The course also includes seminar discussions, evenings at the theater, concerts, lectures, and meetings with political leaders, scholars, writers, musicians, artists, and clergy.  We will also spend five days traveling together in Poland.  

This program is fast paced and academically rigorous, and it will include a pre-departure reading list as well as readings throughout the program.  Students will take a final exam at the end of their stay in Berlin.  As we are discussing topics such as war, racism, antisemitism, and genocide on a daily basis, the course might be an emotionally taxing and difficult experience.  It may also feel physically strenuous as the days are long.  It furthermore requires the ability and openness to intensely engage with students and guest speakers in Germany and Poland, and with the Berlin host families.  Not all your interlocutors might share your opinions or might be sensitive to your experiences.  We will create space on the program for you to reflect upon these conversations and assess what you are learning about yourself and others from these experiences.

Students will be required to have completed at least one course in JWST or GERM prior to the trip. They will also be required to participate in four preparatory meetings over the course of the fall quarter prior to their departure in December.