"The courage to help. In hiding in Berlin and Amsterdam"

Ages: 14+, duration: 2,5 hours

In the back yard of No 39, Rosenthaler Strasse, two exhibitions tell the life stories of persecuted Jews between 1941 and 1945: The museum "Otto Weidt's Workshop for the Blind" shows the preserved rooms of a former brush manufacturer who employed mainly blind and deaf Jews. The workshop was often the last refuge for persecuted Jews. As well as documents and photographs there is a room in which Otto Weidt hid a family of four.
In the same building the Anne Frank Zentrum shows the exhibition "Anne Frank. here & now". It tells the story of Anne Frank and her family who had to hide from the Gestapo in Amsterdam from 1942. The commitment of four helpers ensured that the Frank family was able to survive in hiding for two years - until they were betrayed to the Gestapo.

A special educational presentation

For groups of teenagers from the age of 14 with previous knowledge about the persecution of Jews during the Nazi period there is a special educational programme that makes a connection between the two exhibitions. The programme "The courage to help. In hiding in Berlin and Amsterdam" aims at a comparison of the stories. The biographies of the workers of the Workshop for the Blind show similarities with those of the Frank family, but there are also differences. The same can be said of the personalities and motives of the helpers. In the examination of these life stories the focus is constantly on the question of what choices to make, what actions to take.

Comparison of lifestories?

During the programme the teenagers are divided into two groups. Under educational guidance each group explores one of the two exhibitions: in the Museum "Workshop for the Blind" and the Anne Frank Zentrum. In the process they make use of various teaching aids. Then after a quick look in the other exhibition rooms the two groups come together again to exchange views on the stories. With moderation from the tutors of both institutions the teenagers discuss important aspects, parallels and differences of the life stories from Berlin and Amsterdam. Often this leads to an intense group discussion of strategies to escape deportation, about reasons to help or not to help and about the treatment of the persecuted and their helpers after the end of the war.

"The courage to help. In hiding in Berlin and Amsterdam" is a combined presentation by the Anne Frank Zentrum and the Museum "Otto Weidt's Workshop for the Blind".