Old Cold War Symbol
Beckons Undergraduates

It once stood as the prime symbol of the Cold War. This summer, it will serve as the destination for a UC study abroad course that focuses on its past and its new role as a symbol of European unity.

"The New Berlin" will take 15 UC undergraduate students to Germany's new capital from Sept. 5 to 16. The three credit-hour tour follows up on a prerequisite course taken on campus to introduce students to 20th-century German culture.

Richard Schade, professor of Germanic languages and literatures and honorary consul of the Federal Republic of Germany in the United States, and Klaus Mladek, assistant professor of German and a former resident of Berlin, will lead the study trip.

"Berlin is the city to watch in the upcoming century. It's the biggest construction site in the world," said Schade.

"It also stands as the easternmost metropolis of the European Community, a symbol of the rift between Western and Eastern Europe and is considered by many as the door to Eastern Europe," said Mladek. As a reminder of former Nazi power and the Holocaust, the city also holds importance.

The booming capital offers an array of avant-garde architecture and city planning concepts, as well as historical architecture.

"The saying goes 'Berlin bleibt Berlin!'" said Schade. "What it really means is that Berlin is constantly changing, from age to age. It is a city on the go."

Unlike the well-established Munich program offered by the German department, the Berlin field trip is not a language program. "All tours and workshops are in English to encourage students from across the disciplines to participate," said Schade.

The itinerary will reflect the chronology from Frederick the Great's Berlin and Potsdam to present-day renovation and building projects. Among the major sites on the tour will be:

• The Museum for German History and Brandenburg Gate, the major gate between the former East and West Germany.
• * Checkpoint Charlie Museum, where the old American sector of West Berlin now houses a museum telling the stories of people who fled from the East to the West during the Cold War.
• Soviet era memorials in the former East Berlin.
• The area called Treptow, where the Berlin Wall, with barbed wire, still stands.
• 18th century Charlottenburg castle.
• Under den Linden, a street of museums, palaces and embassies in the former East Berlin.
• Potsdam, including the castle where Frederick the Great lived and other sites significant in the Prussian Empire.
• The Reichstag, the legislative body.
• Potsdamer Platz, a major area of new development and architecture.

Students are also required to take a follow-up course on German culture when they return.