Students can visit Berlin Wall, Nuremburg and more in May to study 'remembrance'

The Berlin Wall, as seen from the East German side. German reunification occurred on Oct. 3, 1990.

When philosopher George Santayana wrote this famous quote in 1905 — “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” — little did he know that two world wars and a cold war were but a few years into the future.

Ohio University students have the opportunity in May to study how contemporary societies use remembrance as a cultural tool while visiting sites in Germany and the Czech Republic connected to the Holocaust and World War II.

This new study abroad experience, "Rhetorics of Remembrance," runs May 13-26, 2023, with faculty directors Talinn Phillips and Susan Fletcher.

Participants will tour four of Europe's most beautiful cities — Berlin, Munich, Nuremburg, and Prague — as they hone their writing abilities.

The Reichstag building was built in 1894 to house the German government. The inscription “Dem Deutschen Volke” (to the German people) was added in 1916, commissioned from the Jewish-owned Loevy foundry in the middle of World War I. The building was set on fire the year Hitler took power and and further damaged during World War II. Members of the Volke family either emigrated or were sent to concentration camps. Restoration of the building began after German reunification in 1990, and it has housed the lower house of Germany's parliament since 1999.

"This program's essential question is: How do cultures use public acts of remembering to construct their histories? To shape cultures? As we travel across Germany and the Czech Republic, we'll examine a wide variety of public acts of remembering including memoirs, museums, monuments, and historic sites. The majority of the sites we'll encounter are connected to the Holocaust and World War II — events that had and continue to have global ramifications," said Phillips, associate professor of English in the College of Arts and Sciences. Participants will:

Follow the path of the Berlin Wall and check out the view from the German Bundestag building.
Remember Holocaust victims at Sachsenhausen, Dachau and Theresienstadt camps.
Watch the astronomical clock in Old Town Prague and wander over the Charles Bridge.
See Nuremberg, site of the first war crimes trials, the Dokument Zentrum, and of the world-famous Christkindlesmarkt.

"By looking at these different types of texts within a variety of different cultures, we will learn to read these public texts closely, critically and rhetorically for the arguments they are making. In addition, stepping outside of the U.S. will help us to develop a more critical eye that we can then turn to our home cultures," added Fletcher, first-year curriculum coordinator in University College.

The Reichstag dome, with a 360-degree view of Berlin, was added to the Reichstag Building to commemorate reunification.

Students in the program can earn credit for Junior Composition or Advanced Writing (ENG 3060J) or English or Writing Certificate credit (ENG 3850).

This program is open to any Ohio University undergraduate, and all are encouraged to apply. The program is using rolling admissions with a priority application deadline of Dec. 15. The application and budget information are available with the OHIO Office of Global Opportunities. The application requires students to submit:

A personal statement
A copy of their DARs
Contact information for two references

Students are encouraged to reach out to the faculty directors to learn more about the program. Contact Phillips at tiller@ohio.edu or Fletcher at fletches@ohio.edu.