Healing the Past, Creating a New Future:
Jews, Germans and the Legacy of World War II
June 15-21, 2012
The Compassionate Listening Project is proud to endorse and publicize this project, an evolution of TCLP’s Jewish-German Reconciliation work begun in 2002. This event will take place at the Wannsee Forum in Berlin. It is not restricted to Jewish and German participation, but is open to all who feel the call to participate. The group will explore how lives are affected by history, create a safe and compassionate space to share stories, and honor and celebrate the individuals and organizations that have been involved in the work of German/Jewish transformation. Our program is guided by Suzanne Schecker, Program Coordinator, Andrea Cohen, Senior Trainer for the Compassionate Listening Project, and Ginni Stern, coordinator of the Zen Peacemakers annual Bearing Witness Retreat at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
We have created a week of powerful and heart opening activities beginning with a two day compassionate listening training, a bearing witness retreat at the site of the former women’s concentration camp at Ravensbruck which is based on the tenets of the Zen Peacemaker community created by Roshi Bernie Glassman; Not-Knowing, Bearing Witness and Loving Action. There will be a day of Family Constellation work – a work that allows the soul to unfold what needs healing and transformation; a panel discussion to explore how we make meaning of our heritage and weave it into our lives and our work. There will be world class music and entertainment, an opportunity to share in the installation of “Stolperstine (stumble stones) for the relatives of one of our participants, and time for honoring and sharing the work of individuals and organizations that have brought Germans and Jews together for dialogue and transformation over the years. Additionally, there will an afternoon of Open Space for participants to offer workshops, lead discussions and share what wants to be shared. Please see the Itinerary and the list of presenters for a full description of our week.
Registration Details available by clicking here.
Statement from Suzanne Schecker, Project Coordinator:
The inspiration for this project was born at The Compassionate Listening Gathering in 2010. It began at the dinner table during a conversation with Howard, who shared a recording of his late father’s voice with us. I was touched by the pride and the longing to honor this man with the deep strong voice, who had escaped Berlin shortly before the Nazi’s sealed the city. There I was, as has happened so often in my life, about to encounter the other half of a painful shared legacy. Even with 25 years of healing and personal transformation, I still wonder, “Will he hate me if I speak about my family’s silence during the war when their Jewish neighbors disappeared? What do I do about the remnants of fear and guilt that I still carry, which somehow never quite go away? As I shared my experience of growing up in America and coming to terms with my German heritage, I looked up and saw we both had tears in our eyes; tears for the loss of humanity that led to a time of horrendous atrocities, cruelty and the genocide of the Jewish people and tears, also for the longing in our hearts to somehow repair this wound in ourselves and in our world……
To read the rest of Suzanne’s statement Click here.
“On the Road to the Promised Land: Compassionate Listening in Germany” by Andrea Cohen
“My father was charged with war crimes – of murdering Jews near Minsk,” revealed a German participant in this year’s Jewish-German Compassionate Listening Project as we sat in our opening circle. I looked at the man who, in hushed tones and with obvious difficulty, had told about his father and said, “my grandmother was from a small village near Minsk. I don’t know what happened to most of her family.” Thus our journey began.
To read Andrea’s full story click here.
“Journeys That Shape Our Lives” by Ginni Stern written in honor of her father, Victor N. Stern who died February 25, 2008.
“The past is never dead. It’s never even the past.”~ William Faulkner
MY JOURNEYS TO AUSCHWITZ
My first trip to Poland to visit Auschwitz was in November 1996 for an international, interfaith retreat conceived of by Roshi Bernie Glassman, the founder of the Zen Peacemakers. We have returned to Poland to Bear Witness at Auschwitz annually – and I have served as the retreat coordinator for the past 10 years.
Upon hearing I was, once again, returning to Auschwitz, a friend asked, “Ginni why do you feel the need to return to Auschwitz every year? Why don’t you take a vacation to the South of France or a beach on St. Croix?” Sometimes I wonder myself.
I began going to Auschwitz to remember my fathers’ family who were murdered there…. and to remember, by reading names from the Auschwitz Museum Archives, of people who died there, always adding the names of my fathers parents, brothers & sisters, their wives & husbands & their children – my father’s nieces & nephews –some just babies – about 40 in total.
To read Ginni’s full article, click here.
Itinerary for the 2012 Jewish-Germany trip click here.
For details about cost and registration for Germany 2012 click here.
To read more about the leaders and entertainers of this project click here.
History of TCLP’s Jewish-German Reconciliation Work
The Jewish-German Compassionate Listening Project was founded in 2002 by Beate Ronnefeld and Leah Green. The project brings together Jews, Germans, and those impacted by WWII to explore beliefs, humanize the “other,” and provide an opportunity to advance healing and reconciliation. You can read more about the history and experience of TCLP’s past Jewish-German projects by clicking here.
“Embracing Story” is a beautiful film that was made of the 2003 Jewish-German delegation by two of the German participants, Gabrielle Siels and Eve Rennebarth.
Compassionate Listening
Compassionate Listening offers a framework for reconciliation and healing in these deeply troubling times. We believe that peace comes through the hard work of meeting the human being behind the stereotype, and acknowledging one another’s suffering.
We learn to listen with our “spiritual ear,” to discern and acknowledge the partial truth in everyone – particularly those with whom we disagree. We learn to put aside our own positions while we listen, and to stretch our capacity to be present to another’s pain. We will also learn how to build bridges between people in conflict.
Our training curriculum includes theory, exercises, and practice sessions with one another. Our field experience helps participants to gain a deeper understanding of the history of the German-Jewish relationship and to rehumanize the “other”. Individuals learn how to work with their own internal conflicts and judgments to become instruments of reconciliation and healing.
