Study Abroad Reflection 1

Week 1: Berlin Representation of History in Juxtaposition to current events

Our first week in Berlin was exciting, exhausting and engaging all at once, as the first few days of a trip should be. I was lucky enough to have been in Europe for about a week before the program started and therefore did not have to battle jetlag as much as the rest of the group, but this week still brought challenges of adjusting to a new city and a new way of life as a student in Berlin. It also created many questions of my identity while in Berlin, and how that new identity works as part of a greater social conversation with individuals who already call Berlin their home. Most of this week focused on the differences we immediately examined between Seattle culture and Berlin culture, and the expressions of identity that are immediately apparent when arriving in a new country and how our understandings of these expressions help us gain greater understanding our own individual culture and identity.

This week focused on the history of Berlin, specifically the segregated past and the role of East and West Germany in the formation of an urban identity within the city. Our tour of previous East Berlin in and around Humboldt University and the Palace of Tears, as well as our tour of the Kruzberg Neighborhood, introduced many realties of life in a separated city in which contrasting ideological structures prevailed. One of the most profound and thought-provoking things I noticed after this week on our tours is the importance of the naming of areas and museums around Berlin. For example, the Tranenpalast, or “Palace of Tears”, a preserved East-West border crossing that now exists as a memorial and museum on life in Communist Germany has important implications in only just its name. The name evokes the emotion felt in the building and the sheer strength held by both political parties in tearing apart families and affecting every aspect of peoples’ lives in Berlin.

On the same strain, the Berlin Palace that is currently under construction within the city center is intended to house artifacts and art from all over the world. According to an article published on No Humboldt 21, “ Stop the Planned construction of the Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace” the Berlin Palace will house over 50,000 valuable items from around the world that were collected throughout Germany’s colonial past. Although these items and exhibits represent cultures and communities around the world – the area will be named “Berlin Palace”, a name that refers to the western state of Berlin and the power of a “palace” or “ruler”, as opposed to the artifacts that will be displayed in the exhibition.

Another interesting site visited in Berlin whose name and purpose was probably the most shocking was the Soviet Memorial. The history of communism and the split of Berlin is not ignored throughout the city, however there is a difference between remembering the past and positively displaying the communist occupation of the Former East. Although many street names in the Former East have been changed away from names that valorize Soviet occupation, such as Stalin Strasse (now Karl Marx Strasse) and other, Berlin maintains the Soviet Memorial and burial ground under the same name, and including quotes from Stalin himself. It is interesting to see the memorialization of such a controversial topic in Berlin and how a memorial that valorizes the strength and power of the former USSR still stands today under the same role and representation. The name of the "Soviet Memorial" still stands with the memorial today, while other places in Berlin have dropped their valorizing Soviet past and were renamed to represent the new era in Berlin history.

I believe that names are an important part of identity, and express certain attributes and characteristics of a person, place or thing. My first week in Berlin has also led me to consider the importance of what I name myself or what I chose to identify as while I meet new international people. In class on Thursday, we discussed the limitations we have found when identifying ourselves as American when in conversations with other international students and the connotations the name “American” brings along with it. Many times, I did not identity with the descriptions these students gave of “Americans” or the stereotypes they afforded to me, which proves that even names do not reflect the identity of a person or place. For example, while attending the International Students Mixer planned by Humboldt University, I realized there are many places and cultures throughout the United States (such as those found along the Bible Belt and other areas of the South) that I identify less with than even Berlin identity and culture, and that by identifying as “American” and evoking that name might express a connection towards.

Finally, we concluded the week by visiting a German public school, Heinrich-von-Stephan Oberschule. Unlike earlier in the week, we took a step away from our discussions of identity to focus on the German public school structure. Although identity plays a large part of this structure and the curriculum in schools, our focus was on the actual three tier structure of the system which includes students that are tracked into: Gymnasium (“most academically able”), Realscheule (“middle ability”) and Hauptschedule (“least capable”). Unlike these three tier schools, Hinrich-von-Stephan Oberschule works to destabilize the traditional school system by providing students a learning experience outside of the tiers. Students at the new-progressively structured Gemeinschaftsschule have the ability to gain an education that prepares them for taking the A-Levels and pursuing a University degree without attending Gymansium in the tier system. We were invited to sit in on a class within the school, in which Anna, Roujia and I went to a history class that focused on a general historical overview. On that day, the topic was the French Revolution, and students were asked to engage with the material and learn from each other in a more informal and communal way than my schooling experience in the United States. It was a very eye opening experience to sit in on an education system unlike the system I attended in the United States. Especially with the move towards more reformed education systems in Berlin within the creation of the Gemeinschaftsschule, I have been able to see the value and benefits of other international education systems, although they may originally be critiqued from a United States viewpoint.