Fifteen students from Georgetown University (GU-Q)’s Zones of Conflict, Zones of Peace (ZCZP) programme have returned from  a study trip to Poland and Germany.
Over the course of the 10-day trip, the students focused on the theme of “memorialisation”, or the ways in which communities and countries remember tragic events that shape national history and identity.
Students took walking tours, visited memorials located throughout cities in both countries and were treated to specially prepared lectures by the curator of the Galicia museum in Krakow (Poland) and Georgetown University professor Dr Charles King.
While the trip was voluntary and open to any student regardless of the degree, the co-curricular programme requires the students to enrol in a course that focuses on conflict management and conflict resolution prior to taking the trip.
Sheena Martinez, student support administrator and trip organiser, stressed the benefits of the programme. “Whether students come with an interest in economics, culture or politics, the ZCZP programme offers them the unique opportunity to study current events from their chosen perspective,” said Martinez.
GU-Q student Fatema Hubail said the trip was “a life-changing one”. “I had the opportunity to tread down history’s lane in an attempt to understand what humanity means. The trip has made me realise that it is indeed up to individuals like me who need to stand up against injustice, accept every individual as a fellow human being, delve into history and prevent historical mistakes from ever happening again,” she said.
With the start of the academic year in August, the students will present reports about the trip to faculty, students and staff - an event that regularly draws a lot of interest from the Georgetown community. Students share their thoughtful analysis of an assigned topic or specific location from the trip itinerary.
The Poland-Germany trip, the second one this year, was arranged to understand the ways in which World War II and the Holocaust are remembered
and memorialised.