The 2005 Berlin tour was a smashing success, and professor Oren plans to lead another tour during Spring Break, 2006 (March 11-18, 2006). Information about the 2006 tour will posted here in late August, 2005. In the meantime, the 2005 information below should give you a pretty good idea about the 2006 tour -- we'll be staying in the same hotel and visit more-or-less the same sites.
 
 

Professor Ido Oren will lead a study tour of Berlin during Spring Break, 2005 (from Sunday, February 27, to Saturday, March 5, 2005). The tour constitutes an optional capstone experience unit added-on to INR 4083: War and Peace in World Politics. Participation in the tour is open to (but not mandatory for) all students enrolled in INR 4083 in Spring 2005. Participating students will register (in addition to INR 4083) for POS 4956 and earn two credits for that course (on top of the three credits for 4083).

The objective of INR 4083 is to familiarize students with various perspectives on the origins of war. The course is oriented around the historical case of World War I, but we cover World War II and the Cold War at some length as well. Berlin has been a focal point in the events covered by the course. Prior to World War I, it was Germany’s leading industrial and commercial center, and it thus epitomized the rapid rise of Germany to a world power status. In July 1914, it was at the center of the diplomatic machinations of the crisis that resulted in the war’s outbreak. Two decades later, Berlin became the seat of the Nazi dictatorship; the “final solution” of the Jewish problem was planned in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee. Large parts of the city were destroyed by allied aerial bombing during World War II, and in 1945 the Red Army suffered heavy casualties fighting its way into central Berlin. A few years later, Berlin became the epicenter of yet another conflict, which involved two “Berlin crises,” the famous Berlin airlift, and the infamous Berlin Wall.

Participation in the study trip to Berlin would greatly enhance the educational experience of students taking INR 4083. It would help vivify the events, names, and historical processes discussed in the course readings and in class. For example, Lenin’s book Imperialism, one of the course’s required texts, brims with statistics and information describing the rise of Germany’s leading financial institutions and industrial combines such as Deutsche Bank and AEG—seeing branches of Deutsche Bank on every other street corner in contemporary Berlin and visiting a former AEG Turbine factory would breathe life into Lenin’s otherwise dry analysis. Similarly, staying in the Transit Loft (see "accommodations" below) -- a hotel that was originally built as a working class tenement in the late nineteenth century -- would bring to life historian Eckart Kehr’s discussion of the rise of the German proletariat (the elites’ fear of which, Kehr argued, was the main motivating factor behind Germany’s aggressive foreign policy in the early twentieth century).

The tour program will include the following sites and activities :

• A "Discover Berlin" walking tour (highlights include the Brandenburg Gate, site of the former Royal Palace, East Germany's Palast der Republik, the Holocaust Memorial, site of Hitler's bunker, the Nazi Air Ministry building, a remnant of the Wall, and Checkpoint Charlie)
• An informal meeting with political science students from the Free University of Berlin, one of Germany's largest universities
• The Reichstag (German Parliament)
• The German Historical Museum
• House of the Wannsee Conference (where, in January 1942, the  Head of the Reich Security Main Office, Reinhard Heydrich, his "Jewish expert," Adolf Eichman, and other high ranking Nazis drew up the plan for the "final solution" of the Jewish problem)
• The Topography of Terror (an outdoor exhibit located on the site of former Gestapo Headquarters)
• A memorial to the Jews of Berlin in the Grunewald train station (from which thousands of jews were deported to concentration and death camps)
• The German Resistance (to Nazism) Memorial Center (located in the "Bendlerblock" -- a massive building built in 1913 to house Admiral Tirpitz's Navy Ministry, later turned into the headquarters of the Wehrmacht's general staff. On the night of July 20, 1944, Col. Claus Von Stauffenberg was executed in the building's courtyard shortly after the failure of his attempt to assassinate Hitler)
• The Red Army Memorial in Treptower Park (a massive Stalinist-style memorial to the victory of the Red Army over Nazism; five thousand Soviet soldiers are buried at the site)
• The House on Checkpoint Charlie (a popular museum documenting the history of the Berlin Wall)
• The Allied Museum (An exhibition describing the presence of the Western powers in Berlin from 1945 to 1994 and their confrontations with the Soviets)
• The Stasi Museum (former headquarters of the East German secret police)
• The Anti-War Museum
• An evening at the symphony or a jazz club

Although the focus of the tour is on history, we will not entirely overlook the very rich cutural, commercial, and street life of contemporary Berlin. We will inevitably experience street life on a daily basis as we walk around the city, use its excellent public transportation system, or take kaffee breaks. To sample Berlin Kultur, the tour will include an evening at the symphony or a jazz club, as noted above. Of course, you are more than welcome to use your free day (yes, there will be one) and free evenings to go shopping, strolling, clubbing, or exploring some of Berlin's many outstanding museums.
 
 

Tour participants will register (in addition to INR 4083) for POS 4956 -- a two credit, study abroad course. To get credit for the course, participants will be required to:

• Participate in 1-2 pre-trip get-togethers.
• Participate in all trip excursions and activities.
• Read, prior to the trip, one book on a theme related to Berlin's history (for a list of suggested books, click here. Feel free to negotiate other books with me if you wish).
• Make an informal oral presentation about the book you read at an apporpriate moment during the tour.

Jodi and Ido Inside the Dome of the Reichstag                            The Reichstag at night

The Reichstag                                                                                                                                           The Bundestag in session
 
 

                                                                                        Brandenburg Gate

        Bendlerblock Coutryard (site of Staufenberg's execution)               Topography of Terro Exhibit (site of former Gestapo Headquaters)

                                                                    Soviet Victory Memorial, Treptower Park
 

Allied Museum                                                                                                                                    The Siegessäule (Prussian victory monument), surrounded by ravers
 

A Mietskaserne (rental barracks) --  Pre-World War I Vintage Working Class Tenements
 

Philharmonic Hall
 

Museum of German History                                                                                                              Museum of German History -- new wing designed by I.M. Pei

        Unter den Linden -- Palast der (East German) Republik in the background                       The Palace Bridge, Unter den Linden (near the site of the royal palace, blown
                                                                                                                                                                 up by the East German government in 1950)
 

    Checkpoint Charlie

    A remnant of the Berlin Wall on Niederkirschnerstrasse                                                        The Berliner Dom -- the Kaisers' cathedral
 

    The site of Hitler's bunker in the late 1940s (L) and in 2003 (R)
 

    Wannsee Conference House                                                                                          Wannsee Conference House -- the room in which the meeting was held
 

      Grunewald Train Station -- site of the deportation of Berlin jews

        Grunewald Train Station Memorial -- thousands of Berlin Jews were shipped to death camps from this platform
 
 

The fee for the program is $668.00.

The program fee includes: two credit tuition, all hotel accommodations with breakfast, a 7-day public transportation pass (valid for all of Berlin's underground trains, suburban trains, buses, and trams), all museum entrance fees and excursions, a cultural event (a concert at Philharmonic Hall, if possible), and the UFIC administrative fee.

Not included in the cost are: Roundtrip airfare to Berlin, meals other than breakfast, transportation from the airport to the hotel (you will probably be able to use your public transportation pass to travel from the hotel back to the airport at the end of the tour), and major medical health insurance while outside the United States (verification by UF International Center of major medical health insurance that meets UF standards is required).

So, what will the trip to Berlin actually cost me, including everything? Because the trip takes place during the low season, you should be able to purchase a roundtrip airline ticket to Berlin for under $700 and even under $650. In fact, on August 24, orbitz.com was offering round trip fares to Berlin's Tegel airport (TXL) for as low as $612 from Gainesville, $593 from Jacksonville, and $587 from Orlando. As for food, Berlin features thousands of culinary establishments at all price levels, from pricey temples of food, through cafés that offer affordable basic meals, to cheap snack bars (ibmiss, in German) and very cheap food stands. If you are on a tight budget, you can count on eating perfectly filling meals for well under 10 euros at an imbiss (many of them specialize in Turkish food such as donner kebob) or buying a big fat frankfurter from a street vendor for 1-2 euros (and don't forget the rich, buffet-style breakfast that IS included in the price of the tour). If you budget $20 a day for food, you will surely not go hungry. Overall, you should be able to take part in the tour on a total budget of $1,600.

To check the current exchange rate of the dollar/euro, click on "currency converter" below (under "useful links").
 
 

The Berlin Study Tour is an "off-book" program, meaning that the University of Florida will waive the tuition for the course. Program participants who are eligible for Bright Futures' scholarships may be able to apply two credit hours' worth of their scholarship toward the program's cost. Pre-paid tuition funds may also be used to pay for the program. Additionally, partial scholarships for UF students studying abroad may be available on a competitive basis through the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Honors Program.

UF's Student Financial Affairs office (located in Criser Hall) provides an advisor -- Ms. Erica Beard -- who specializes in financial aid for overseas studies programs. To inquire about, or apply for, financial aid please contact Ms. Beard at 392-1275, ext. 3375, or at erica_beard@sfa.ufl.edu.