It is the last week of my school year, and I am reminded that we teachers live in a world where our year begins in August, not January. In 4 short days I will be free of bells that mark when to move, when to speak, when to eat, and when to use the bathroom. I imagine I will relish this freedom at first, but as always happens, I will inevitably long for the structure and schedule that my personality needs. I look forward to meeting as a group of educators to learn, question, and share different views in a way that Sondra reflects on in her memoir.
I am moved by Sondra’s recollection of the snowy, cold tour of Innsbruck led by Horst. Everything about Sondra’s reflection of this tour is poignant to me. I can feel the cold in my bones and my feet ache with sympathy pains. Horst spoke of Kristallnacht being premeditated, well planned and the documentation that exists in the form of written orders. Orders to kill and destroy Jews and their property. As I read this, I wrote in the margin a question: “What would it have been like to receive these orders?” I was thinking about men that were being ordered to kill their neighbors, and then I remembered that the men receiving the orders were probably not members of the community, rather they were SS officers so I dismissed my question and almost crossed it out. Would the SS have had any connection with a people they had been groomed to see as vermin? But Horst points out that “…locals had to have helped…they knew where everyone lived” (76). Before my initial TOLI seminar 4 years ago, I thought,I am embarrassed to admit, Hitler invented anti-semitism, but Horst addresses the “800 years of religious anti-
Semitism” and I sympathize with Andrea’s visceral reaction to hearing that the church she puts her faith in shared in Hitler’s hatred and persecution of the Jews long before Hitler was born. It is hard to recognize the ugly side of things we find beauty in because we often refuse to look; it may be even harder to look at the ugly in order to find beauty. I appreciate Sondra’s courage to actually look into what she had always considered ugly; to look with an open mind in order to maybe find some beauty.
Sondra’s response to Astrid and Christa’s questions concerning changing who we are was something I really appreciated. I admire the real work that Sondra does to confront her own bias and lead those she teaches by her example. Sondra writes of taking the opportunity to grow as a person and her book testifies of the relationships that can develop when we open ourselves up to others with different backgrounds, world views, and thoughts. I hope that I can become more courageous in responding in a genuine way that gives voice to my inner fears and concerns while also being respectful of those that do not share the same things.
Erica Kaufman 
Gatsinzi Basaninyenzi 
lthompson 
SueFletcher 
Klaudia Neufeld 
Lori Menning