After arriving in Munich and eating breakfast in our hotel, we set out with our guide, Michael, on a four-hour walking tour of Munich.
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| Our class with flags of the European Union, Munich, and Bavaria |
Michael provided about 1200 years of history for us on Bavaria generally and Munich specifically. We covered the migration of tribes such as the Franks and Saxons and settlement of the Holy Roman Empire before Germany. Michael's depth of knowledge was matched by the charming ways he encouraged participation and role playing to make history come alive.
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| Hearing about Munich's Palace of Justice |
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| Role-playing to learn about the first King of Bavaria, Max Joseph I of the House of Wittelsbach and his son Ludwig I. |
The Bavarian Royal Family ended in 1918 with the death of King Ludwig III. After this, Kurt Eisner became Bavaria's first Prime Minister head of state. He was assassinated February 21, 1919 which led to the eventual establishment and growth of the national socialists which eventually resulted in the Nazi party.
We visited several sights significant to the eventual Holocaust. The Nazi party destroyed a Jewish synagogue as a test for the level of reaction to that provocation. When reactions were fairly moderate, the Nazis were emboldened to continue provocations. A memorial stone marks the place of the synagogue's destruction. Also, we saw the room where the Nazis, with a pretext of a Jewish 17-year-old who killed a German diplomat in Paris, decided to retaliate with the November pogrom of 1938, also known as Kristallnacht.
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| Memorial of Kristallnacht, the start of the Holocaust. |
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| memorial of first synagogue destroyed by Nazis in June 1938 |
While we were studying our history, we also brought culture-of-place into our day with a visit to Marienplatz and the Hofbrauhaus.
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Hofbrauhaus
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Marienplatz
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