So German!

The Holocaust is the most painful part of German History and must never be forgotten, nor denied (Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Republic of Germany). 

The German Embassy in Ottawa is taking part in this year’s Holocaust Remembrance Month with virtual Jewish walking tours in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, and – in cooperation with the Embassy of Israel – Yad Vashem. The virtual tours are live and will take you through the different German cities and the Holocaust Memorial in Israel. The tours will take place on several dates in November and are free of charge. To register, please click on the registration link of the city you would like to visit, and you will be redirected to Eventbrite. The registration links for Yad Vashem and Cologne will be published soon.

Berlin

Our tour guide in Berlin is Alexander Green. Alexander is German and Jewish and grew up in Hamburg. After he studied German and Hebrew literature at the University of Hamburg, he went to Israel in 1993 to work with German-speaking holocaust survivors and decided to immigrate to Israel. In the following years, he studied History and Jewish History at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He returned to Germany in 2001 and since then has worked in the department of education at the Jewish Museum Berlin. His fascination with Berlin and its past and Jewish history led him to do excursions through the city since 2004.

During the tour, you will experience the former Jewish neighborhood in Berlin that nowadays has become an attraction because of its cultural heritage. You are invited to participate with questions and remarks during the live tour.

Please register here, for the tour through Berlin.

Hamburg

The walk through the former Jewish Quarter in Hamburg is with Sarah Janning-Picker. On this guided tour through Hamburg’s Rotherbaum district, we will remember past Jewish life in Hamburg. Starting at the Curio House where the trials of SS officers took place after World War II, we will walk across the campus of the University of Hamburg to the Grindel Quarter where Jewish life still exists today. Passing the Kammerspiele and many Stolpersteine, we will explore the Pöseldorf neighborhood with the Budge-Palais, nowadays University for Music and Theater, on the second half of the city tour in Hamburg.

As a qualified tour guide in Hamburg, Sarah will not only show you the obvious sights but will also take you to nooks and crannies that only become apparent at second or third glance. The tour will take about 1,5h. You are invited to participate with questions and remarks during the live tour.

Please register here, for the tour in Hamburg.

Cologne

In Cologne you will get the chance to experience a new form of a virtual walking tour. Two institutions – the NS Documentation Centre Cologne (NS-DOK) and the MiQua. LVR-Jewish Museum in the Archaeological Quarter of Cologne (MiQua) – collaborated and introduced a web application. This app takes you to different landmarks on the way between EL-DE-House and MiQua. Who lived and worked here? What happened in the city center in the 20th century? Historical sources, multimedia content and statements by contemporary witnesses provide insights into the history of Jews from Cologne.

About NS-DOK:

Known by the initials of its founder Leopold Dahmen as EL-DE-House (‘LD House’), the building of today’s NS DOK was the headquarters of the Cologne Gestapo from 1935 to 1945 and a byword for Nazi terror. Today, the NS-DOK is a place of remembrance and democracy with a permanent exhibition on ‘Cologne under National Socialism’ as well as a documentation centre and library. The institution is dedicated to the preservation of the memory of the victims of National Socialism through research and education. From the beginning, this has crucially involved research into the history of Cologne’s Jewish population and heritage – activities that have brought many contacts to survivors of the Holocaust and their families. As well as with historical issues, the information and education office is concerned with contemporary right-wing extremism and other forms of group-oriented discrimination. Among its activities, the [m²] miteinander mittendrin team suppports people threatened or affected by antisemitism. The antisemitism hotline aims to publicize and oppose antisemitism wherever it appears – everyone can become active here.

About MiQua:

The MiQua. LVR-Jewish Museum in the Archaeological Quarter of Cologne is being built on and below the Cologne City Hall Square. With the Roman praetorium, the medieval Jewish quarter and the goldsmiths’ quarter, it presents some of the most important archaeological architectural finds in the history of the city of Cologne and the Rhineland. The museum consists of an underground archaeological find level and the above-ground new building. An archaeological tour will be set up as a permanent exhibition on the approximately 6,000 square meter below the level of the square. This is continued in the exhibition area on the first floor with the exhibition section on the Jewish history and culture of Cologne from 1424, the year the Jews were expelled from Cologne, up to the present day.

Please register here, for the tour in Cologne.

Yad Vashem

In cooperation with the Embassy of Israel in Canada, we are presenting this live virtual guided tour to Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Israel.

Our tour guide in Yad Vashem is Alexander Green (please see bio above).

Established in 1953 by an act of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament), Yad Vashem is entrusted with the task of commemorating, documenting, researching, and educating about the Holocaust: remembering the six million Jews murdered by the German Nazis and their collaborators, the destroyed Jewish communities, and the ghetto and resistance fighters; and honoring the Righteous Among the Nations who risked their lives to rescue Jews during the Holocaust. Yad Vashem encompasses 45 acres on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem and is comprised of various museums, research and education centers, monuments, and memorials. Among these are the Museum Complex, the Hall of Remembrance, the Valley of the Communities, and the Children’s Memorial. (More information about Yad Vashem can be found here.)

Registration will be starting soon.