The story of saving the shtetlach
When Arielle entered college, she was aware of only one portion of European Jewish history: the eight-year period of the Holocaust. She was introduced to this history when she was thirteen years old when she wrote a short story seeing life through the eyes of a Holocaust victim. Afterwards, Arielle became passionate about Holocaust history and she decided she wanted to be a writer. This interest carried her all through high school as she took an intense course on the Holocaust and was driven to write more stories in order to preserve the Holocaust's memory.
In 2012, Arielle began her studies at the Johns Hopkins University. In her very first semester, Arielle started to take Yiddish classes because she wanted to learn how to translate Holocaust survivor diaries written during the Second World War. What Arielle didn’t expect was that Yiddish would introduce her to a whole new period of history: the history of Jewish life in Europe, pre-World War II. It would be this interest that would take Arielle to Europe for studies during the summer after her freshman year and start her on a journey that she never expected before.
In the summer of 2013, Arielle travelled to Europe for the very first time. With a scholarship from her university, she travelled to Belarus, Poland, and Lithuania to learn Yiddish and study the country’s pre-Holocaust and Holocaust histories. In Europe, she visited fascinating sites: former shtetls, old synagogues, world famous Yeshivas. She met incredible people who were working very hard to preserve this pre-War Jewish history and she began to write about her experiences in this blog Saving the Shtetlach.
After a wonderful summer in Europe, over the following year Arielle travelled to Vienna and Poland with her university Hillel. On these trips not only did Arielle learn more about the Holocaust and European Jewish history pre-World War II, but she was introduced to a new story for her: the story of Jewish life in Europe post-World War II. She met people who were working hard to help rebuild Europe’s Jewish communities after the war. Inspired by this effort, Arielle decided to return to Europe after the summer of the junior year to research more about these communities and hear more people’s stories.
Again with the help of research funding from the Johns Hopkins University, Arielle travelled to Warsaw, Krakow, Berlin, and Paris during the summer of 2015 to interview different Jewish people and learn about each city's modern Jewish community. From this, Arielle conducted a cross-city analysis – she tried to understand the different stories of Europe’s Jewish communities and how they each had resurgences of Jewish life after the Holocaust. When she returned home from her summer in Europe, Arielle began writing a memoir about her undergraduate research and travels, hoping to document the journey she has so far taken.
Now, Arielle is living in Berlin, Germany for one year as a grantee of the Fulbright Scholarship. She is continuing her research of Germany’s modern Jewish community and will write about it for different German and American media publications. In addition, Arielle will spend this year finishing her memoir and blogging about her travels, recording as many amazing Jewish stories as she can.
In 2012, Arielle began her studies at the Johns Hopkins University. In her very first semester, Arielle started to take Yiddish classes because she wanted to learn how to translate Holocaust survivor diaries written during the Second World War. What Arielle didn’t expect was that Yiddish would introduce her to a whole new period of history: the history of Jewish life in Europe, pre-World War II. It would be this interest that would take Arielle to Europe for studies during the summer after her freshman year and start her on a journey that she never expected before.
In the summer of 2013, Arielle travelled to Europe for the very first time. With a scholarship from her university, she travelled to Belarus, Poland, and Lithuania to learn Yiddish and study the country’s pre-Holocaust and Holocaust histories. In Europe, she visited fascinating sites: former shtetls, old synagogues, world famous Yeshivas. She met incredible people who were working very hard to preserve this pre-War Jewish history and she began to write about her experiences in this blog Saving the Shtetlach.
After a wonderful summer in Europe, over the following year Arielle travelled to Vienna and Poland with her university Hillel. On these trips not only did Arielle learn more about the Holocaust and European Jewish history pre-World War II, but she was introduced to a new story for her: the story of Jewish life in Europe post-World War II. She met people who were working hard to help rebuild Europe’s Jewish communities after the war. Inspired by this effort, Arielle decided to return to Europe after the summer of the junior year to research more about these communities and hear more people’s stories.
Again with the help of research funding from the Johns Hopkins University, Arielle travelled to Warsaw, Krakow, Berlin, and Paris during the summer of 2015 to interview different Jewish people and learn about each city's modern Jewish community. From this, Arielle conducted a cross-city analysis – she tried to understand the different stories of Europe’s Jewish communities and how they each had resurgences of Jewish life after the Holocaust. When she returned home from her summer in Europe, Arielle began writing a memoir about her undergraduate research and travels, hoping to document the journey she has so far taken.
Now, Arielle is living in Berlin, Germany for one year as a grantee of the Fulbright Scholarship. She is continuing her research of Germany’s modern Jewish community and will write about it for different German and American media publications. In addition, Arielle will spend this year finishing her memoir and blogging about her travels, recording as many amazing Jewish stories as she can.
