Explore modern-day Germany with fellow alumni and the OU on a 10-day trip.
This program for college students and young professionals is highly subsidized and runs from August 11th – 21st, 2014. (It starts in the U.S. on August 10th.)
You only pay the first $870 of your plane ticket, the rest is reimbused, up to a certain flight cost. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and are due by May 4th [extended due date].
The trip will focus on the following topics:
- -Berlin and united Germany
- -The Holocaust and the Nazi Era (including a visit to a former -Concentration Camp and the Holocaust Memorial)
- -Transatlantic/German-American relations (including a meeting with officials of the German Federal Foreign Office)
- -Jewish Berlin, present and past (including the integration of new members of the Jewish community)
- -German-Israeli relations
- -Meeting with German opinion makers
- -Jewish Community and Jewish life in Munich
- -Documentation Center Reichsparteitagsgelände in Nuremberg
Last year's participants say:
"I've had a lot of people ask me why I would ever go to Germany and after I explained my experience to them some of them understood while others still had the same reaction of "I would never go to Germany." When I shared an interesting fact I learned on the trip, that German children are taught about the Holocaust in school, many people were just as surprised as I was when I learned that piece of information. … The best way to experience something is first hand, and I believe that this trip gives that opportunity. I explain to those people that this trip is educational and not one sided, it tries to paint the whole picture and gives its participants a lot to think about."
"Because I went on the trip with my sister, we have had an opportunity to talk about our experiences together and with others. Our friends’ reactions typically revealed an interesting lack of understanding of and perspective on the modern Jewish experience in Europe, and made us grateful to have gained a better appreciation of our Jewish heritage and historical experience."
Please begin your application online and attach the documents listed below as a single pdf file (please no ZIP files). Please also send a copy of the documents to OU_2014@germanycloseup.de and klicksteina@ou.org.The documents we require to complete your application are:
• An online application form • A cover letter • A resume
• A 500 word essay about your interest in the program • One letter of recommendation (unrelated to The Orthodox Union)
Applications are due by April 8th, 2014. Please email klicksteina@ou.org if you have any questions or concerns.
Established in October 2007, Germany Close Up – American Jews Meet Modern Germany is an initiative created to enrich transatlantic dialogue and provide Jewish-American students and young professionals in their twenties and early thirties with an opportunity to experience modern Germany up close and personally.