Eleven students went to Vienna, Austria over spring break from March 15 to March 22 to learn about Austrian Jewish history and Viennese culture. The annual trip was organized and subsidized by Hopkins Hillel, which worked in conjunction with the Jewish Welcome Service, an organization in Vienna.
Haley Hochstein, a junior who went on the trip, said it was a unique educational opportunity.
“I found out about the trip to Vienna through Jonathan Falk, the assistant director of Hopkins Hillel. I decided to go on this trip because I really enjoy traveling and immersing myself in new cultures that I have never explored before. I am a natural science major, but aside from science, I particularly enjoy learning about Jewish and Holocaust history. Vienna was the perfect opportunity for me to speak with both historians and educators on these topics,” Hochstein wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
According to Hochstein, students had to apply to go on the trip.
“I filled out an interest form in October, and was informed in late November/early December that I had a spot. Most of the itinerary was set by January, with a few last-minute items arranged in late February and early March,” Hochstein wrote.
According to Falk, the trip leader, Hillel advertised the trip through Facebook and in its own Hopkins Hillel newsletter. Hillel originally designed the trip for 10 students, but expanded it to accommodate an additional student.
According to Hochstein, attendees toured Vienna with a specific focus on its Jewish history.
“The major activities that the group took part in were meeting with Holocaust survivors, meeting with historians who research Austrian Jewry, meeting with politicians, parliament members, and journalists who discussed both the current political scene in Austria and recent anti-Semitic events across Europe, attending authentic Austrian Shabbat services and meals, meeting with high school student of a Jewish day school in Vienna, and visiting Mauthausen concentration camp,” Hochstein wrote. “Other activities included free time exploring the old city of Vienna, going on tours of the Jewish Museum and Parliament building, meeting with a representative from the Austrian National Fund, meeting with the president of Centropa [a Jewish historical institute based in Vienna], exploring famous museums, celebrating Shabbat with students from a Hillel-like group at the University of Vienna, and experiencing the coffee and cake culture.”
Hochstein thought the visit to the Mauthausen concentration camp stood out.
“Although this visit was hard, I really loved learning about the ins and outs of this camp from our tour educator, information that you can’t find in any history book. This visit posed so many questions in my mind, and I think it’s so important that these questions are discussed with regards to Holocaust education,” Hochstein wrote.
She also thought the Shabbat dinner a powerful experience.
“I was most surprised by how much I loved my experience celebrating Shabbat in Vienna. Our group had a traditional, Eastern European Modern Orthodox Shabbat services in Stadttempel, which is the only synagogue in Austria that was not destroyed on November 10, 1938 (Kristallnacht),” Hochstein wrote. “It was really moving to stand in the temple and think about the historical significance of the building, and celebrate Shabbat with the small Austrian Jewish community who considers this temple a safe place.”
Freshman Jared Mayer was surprised by the vibrant Jewish community.
“Despite there being cultural anti-Semitism, the Jews of Austria felt very Austrian and were extremely proud to be Austrian,” Mayer wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “I always assumed that Jews in Austria or any other relatively small Jewish community in Europe, would want to go elsewhere — say, America or Israel — but they were in fact very happy there. It continues to surprise me.”
Falk, who led the trip, was impressed by the students’ interest in Austrian Jewish culture.
“I love to have students who choose to learn about European Jewry through the lens of past, present and future over going nuts on a spring break trip to Cancún,” Falk said.
Mayer said that he bonded with the other students on the trip.
“I believe that the time spent there allowed me to really get to know the other participants very well. I am very friendly, if not good friends, with all of the fellow participants on the program,” Mayer wrote.
Hochstein would suggest the trip to other students.
“I would definitely recommend this trip to any of my friends that are interested. Vienna is a wonderful city full of history, and although everyone in my group had different interests, the Vienna trip provided so many different experiences that appealed to almost all of our widespread interests,” Hochstein wrote. “There is so much to be learned by traveling and exploring new cultures. All of our tour educators were phenomenal and so well-versed in their historical studies. They really made our experience excellent.”
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