9 th April: the 2 groups meet!!

The first encounter between the groups took place in front of the Jewish center of Munich.

The kids were quite excited to encouter their Germans friends, an encounter which they anticipated and prepared for over the last two months.

We ''brok the ice'' inside the museum, just to have a first exchange of voices and a  ''eyelooks''...then we dove straight into learning about the Jewish roots of Munich.

At first there was a bit of ebarassed silence as we heard about the complex development of the Jewish life in Munich, its highlits and its dark periods, but the silence quickly vanished with the joy of  celebrating Maya´s birthday. It´s amazing is to watch the ability of the kids to change their state of mood so quickly. The celebrations continued around the tables of a restaurant whsere we enjoyed of a typical Bavarian meal and athmosphere.

10th  April: Dachau & Tübingen

Both groups were in the bus by 09:00 am and we went to Dachau, the first German concentration camp which is located just outside of Munich. We had a guided tour of the camp and learned of its terrible history. At the end of the tour the group condutcted a memorial ceremony for the many thousands of Jews which perished in Dachau. The German students actively participated in the ceremony, which was moving for several reasons. It was an opportunity for the Germans to experience Israeli commemoration of the Shoah, and equally an opportunity for our students to share their strong emotions with German students. We all understood the emotional complexity of the moment, Israelis and Germans conducting a memorial ceremony for the Shoah, but were united in our happiness and pride that we have all made this important step toward building links where there were none.

We then took a picturesque ride through the Bavarian countryide and had an very enjoyable lunch in the lovely Andechs Cloister. Just watching the students sitting together at lunch tols us how much they had bonded in 1 short day.

This brief report is being written as we ride west toward Tübingen, Karl von Frisch Gymnasium and our host families, and the beginning of our joint learning project!

Friday 12th April

After sleeping at the houses of their German hosts, today the Israeli & German participants met at the Karl von Frisch HS, split up into the joint workgroups and started to prepare themselves for the work ahead of them. They thought of questions which would be good to ask the various people who are to be interviewed, and even practiced using the video equipment to film the interview. Most groups will have their first interviews tomorrow.

After lunch and a short rest, the participants met at an old Jewish cemetary outside of Tübingen, where the earliest grave dates from 1774! Part  of the cemetary had been cleared of weeds and overgrowing plants, but part was still sadly covered. Israeli & German participants cleared away the undergrowth and it was very moving that Israeli and <german students worked together to restore respect to the cemetary

Interestingly. one of the gravestones that was uncovered was of the father of Maya, an 86 year old woman who was interviewed by one of the subgroups at the same time the rest of the group cleared away the undergrowth in the cemetary,

Leyl Shabbat was greeted by a beautiful ceremony prepared by Israeli students. which included ritual, explanation and joint singing. The atmosphere was euphoric and the meal delicious. Special thanks to Yoram who prepared the chicken soup (giz’ee) and the fresh-baked challah.