Holocaust History Focal Point of Davidson Basketball Trip to Berlin

They traveled with the Benjamin Ferencz Institute for Ethics, Human Rights and the Holocaust, a nonprofit focused on Holocaust education and remembrance that is named for the Nuremberg prosecutor who tried Nazi officers for crimes against humanity. (Ferencz Institute Founding Director Stacy Gallin recently reflected on the trip in an op-ed in the Times of Israel.)

The Wildcats’ itinerary took them to the Olympic Stadium the Nazi regime built to sell itself to the world. They walked the grounds of the Wannsee Villa, where officials gathered around a table in 1942 to coordinate the murder of Europe's Jews. They spent their final day at Sachsenhausen, a nearby concentration camp that was built in 1936 and housed hundreds of thousands of prisoners until its liberation in 1945.

The trip marked a return for the men’s basketball program. In 2018, the team traveled to Auschwitz, guided through the camp by survivor Eva Mozes Kor. That trip was set in motion by Amanda Caleb '02, a former Davidson athlete who, with Gallin, facilitated this summer's program in Berlin as well. 

Davidson's experience in Berlin is now the model the Ferencz Institute is building on to bring immersive Holocaust education to collegiate athletes across the country, through its Athletes Against Antisemitism and Discrimination initiative. 

“It gave me a new perspective on everything,” sophomore forward Jackson Keith said. “My previous education on the Holocaust didn’t cover anything we covered here. Seeing everything here really makes me motivated to speak out.”

For more, the team posted reflections and photos during their trip on the The Ferencz Institute: Beyond the Game Substack.