Last days in Schwedt

Our last two days to work in Schwedt were crammed with various meetings but unfortunately no more dancing. We managed to visit the town of Angermunde and see the little old church where my Mom's family belonged. It's dogma was apparently the forerunner of the Missouri Synod Lutheran persuasion. The town was not bombed during the 2nd World War and retains a lot of the old style buildings. Very interesting to compare with Schwedt where very little remains from pre-war.... In the evening we visited a project in the village of Oderberg where a dance artist (originally from the States) and her partner are re-purposing a huge structure built by the Nazis as a retreat center and later expanded by the German army to repair artillery tanks. This couple is now hosting a dozen or so Ukrainian refugees. The dancer (Liz Erber) is also working with immigrant youth to create a theater piece with them. Check them out at www.KuNaKu.org . . .Tuesday morning in Schwedt we met with two wonderful women who operate the Karthaus - a facility devoted to youth programming. A number of really cool ideas for involving youth in the project were generated and we even have nailed down some dates! There is a two week Fall break from school and during the break there will be some activities to help bring young people into the process of creating this work. AND they have wi-fi most of the time in their building! . . . This was followed by a last minute meeting with Waltraud Bartsch from the City Theater complex. She will also be helping by hosting one of the events on Nov. 12th where we will invite people to come and share their experiences of migration.....Lastly, I sat with Herr Rall to hear his family's story of displacement and to talk with him about the Oppenheimer family. I forgot to mention that from noon until 5 I was able to spend some time with my German cousin (once removed). No wonder I came back to Berlin on the train, exhausted! . . . I have now finally posted more pictures on facebook too. Tomorrow I fly back to Minnesota so this is the end of the blog for now. Thanks to everyone who took time to follow it.

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