Name: Jeremy Cronig
Type of Project: Education Abroad – World War II Study Tour
1. I chose to use my STEP funds towards education abroad. I participated in the Ohio State WWII Study Tour. This program included taking two OSU history courses during the spring semester. During the month of May, our group traveled to London, Normandy, Paris, Krakow and Berlin. While abroad, we visited historical sites that pertained to World War II history.
2. Because of my study abroad trip, I view history, and the study of it, in a completely new way. I learned about the large importance of examining bias when studying history. This was possible because we actually traveled to the countries we studied and looked at the way they dealt with the history of World War II. This was especially evident in France. It was both fascinating and jarring to observe the French narrative of World War II. While visiting museums and historic sites there, I saw a distinct disconnect between the French view of themselves in war time and what American and British history generally portrays. The French narrative, surprisingly, was one of victory and national triumph.
I was only able to do this because we visited France in person. This experience pushed me to examine my own biases regarding World War II that I carry as both an American and a Jew. I continued to do this throughout the entire trip. In doing so, the program allowed me to look at World War II in a new way and go deeper into the history.
3. As I stated above, this change happened largely in France, through visiting museums and historical sites. This began at our very first site in France, the D-day Museum in Caen, which had a large exhibit displaying walking through the timeline of WWII. Like many of the French museums, the exhibit focused greatly on the French resistance. The resistance was a small operation mostly concentrated in Paris and representative of neither the larger French government nor people during the war. The museum even went as far as to claim that “because of the success of French resistance, France should be considered a victor in World War II.” It also stated that because of the resistance, “with or without the help of the allies, France would have been liberated.” These outrageous claims were shocking to see because this narrative was completely different than my own. The museum also discussed the Holocaust without mentioning the mass deportations of Jews that occurred at the hands of the Vichy French government.
Normandy Beach
It was also interesting to see how Germany grappled with their past regarding World War II. Despite being the main perpetrators of the atrocities of World War II, I was left with a feeling of appreciation for how Germany has dealt with the war. This was evident all throughout our travels in Berlin. We were lucky enough to get a tour of the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament building. During this tour, our group saw how even the architecture of their parliament and governmental buildings reflects their attempt to deal with WWII and Nazism. Mainly, these features represent their distaste for strong federal power and leadership and their efforts to engage citizens in democracy. I was struck with the openness and accessibility of the Bundestag, which was done as an effort to create more participation in government by German citizens.
The architecture of the city, which was almost completely rebuilt after World War II, also has deep metaphorical meaning relating to the war. The Holocaust memorial, a sprawling concrete structure, is placed basically in the center of the city, just down the street from the famous Brandenburg Gate and the United States embassy. Russian memorials can also be found in very central locations in Berlin as well, such as the Russian war memorial in the Tiergarten. This memorial still contains two large Russian tanks overlooking Berlin’s most famous park. Almost 75 years after the conflict ended, Germany still has enemy tanks within its capital city of Berlin. These experiences gave me a much deeper understanding of both World War II and the countries we visited.
4. This trip fundamentally changed the way I view the world and study of history. This will have an extremely large impact on my studies. I hope to devote time in the future to studying history, especially to examining the biases that are associated with telling it. This will also affect my professional goals, as I hope to work in public policy. I feel that the study of history is vital to any student hoping to work in the field of public policy. World War Two was a conflict that clearly has had a long lasting impact on the Western world. Studying it in such a deep and immersive environment will help me to have a deeper understanding of the world that I can apply to my future work in public policy. This will allow me to make a greater positive impact in whatever policy field I will be working in after attaining my undergraduate degree. This change will allow me to place a greater importance on listening and understanding the story and perspective of others, another vital skill for working in public policy.