Berlin Fellowship 2025
Sixteen fellows are participating in Widen the Circle’s year-long Berlin Fellowship, beginning with an immersive learning program in Berlin, June 12 - June 18, 2025.
Tanja Berg is an educator who focuses on helping adults strengthen democracy, and combat antisemitism, racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination. She is currently Head of the Department of Democracy and Civic Education at the Minor Project Office for Research and Education in Berlin. For the past decade she has been a board member and leader of the nonprofit organization that is rebuilding the main sanctuary of the historic Fraenkelufer Synagogue to create a cultural center for the diverse neighborhood where it is located.
Tamyra Gordon is dedicated to reclaiming Black history, legacy, and identity through education, historic preservation, and public programming. She is the founder of Your Legacy Tours, the flagship program of Greenwood Seneca Foundation an organization that enables Black people to connect to their full history with more joy & honor. Tamyra creates immersive experiences that bring the stories of Black ancestors out of the shadows, honoring their resilience and resistance through immersive, community-focused experiences. With more than 18 years of experience, she has built sustainable programs, expanded national workforce initiatives, and strengthened community engagement in a variety of settings, including as Los Angeles executive director for the job training nonprofit, YearUp. Tamyra has a background in education and curriculum design, multicultural marketing, and public history and preservation.
Melanie Haller is the project and association manager for the Network for Democratic Culture (Netzwerk für Demokratische Kultur, or NDK) in Wurzen, Germany. NDK was founded two decades ago to counter the rise of neo-Nazis in a small town outside of Leipzig. Today the group has a range of programs to support democracy and counter the far right in a place where far right influence continues to increase. NDK’s broad-based work includes outreach with migrants/refugees, remembrance projects, and efforts to counter neo-Nazi bullying in schools. Melanie previously worked on German-Polish communication projects at the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations in Wrocław, Poland. NDK is an Obermayer Award winner.
Alex Lichtenstein is Professor of History and Chair of American Studies at Indiana University and the former editor in chief of the American Historical Review. Alex's work centers on the intersection of labor history and the struggle for racial justice in societies shaped by white supremacy, particularly the U.S. South (1865-1954) and 20th-century South Africa. His most recent book is Marked, Unmarked, Remembered: A Geography of American Memory, a collaboration with his brother, photojournalist Andrew Lichtenstein, and he recently co-curated a travelling exhibition about the history of anti-lynching protest, Unmasked: The 1935 Anti-Lynching Exhibits and Community Remembrance in Indiana.
Anja Listmann is a dedicated historian and educator who has been researching the former Jewish community of Fulda, Germany for more than two decades. She wants her students to understand the Holocaust in human terms and encourages them to use art and media to process what they’ve learned. In 2023 she organized a five-day reunion of 170 former Jewish residents and descendants. She created an app-based city tour dedicated to 1,000 years of Jewish life in Fulda. Her continued advocacy led to her being named the city’s first representative for Jewish life. Anja is an Obermayer Award winner.
Theo M. Moore II is a historian, filmmaker, and founder of Hiztorical Vision Productions, a nonprofit dedicated to uncovering untold African American histories and elevating them through the art of storytelling. Based in Alabama, Theo's work includes collaborating with PBS on film projects about Alabama’s first incorporated black municipality, black banks and the racial wealth gap, and the process for Native American tribes to get federal recognition. Combining his background in education with a passion for community engagement, Theo uses history as a tool for fostering dialogue, promoting healing, and inspiring action.
Stefan Schirmer has been the guiding force behind making Mainz-based German amateur football club FC Ente Bagdad into a beacon for diversity, acceptance, and equality, as well as in helping people recognize and understand Jewish history and culture. The club organizes many popular remembrance events, particularly during Mainz Remembrance Weeks, and reaches out to “new Germans” from war-torn countries including Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine who have found refuge in Mainz. On several occasions, the entire team wore kippot in solidarity with persons having been attacked. Stefan is an Obermayer Award winner.
Jocelyn Stanton is the Senior Director for Staff Development and Program Design at Facing History and Ourselves, where she trains staff on content and pedagogy, collaborates on new resources, and facilitates workshops for educators. Prior to joining Facing History, Jocelyn was a Fulbright Scholar in Cape Town, where she studied the evolution of history education in post-apartheid South Africa. She has also worked as an administrator and as a middle and high school ESL, humanities, and world literature teacher for schools in Boston, San Francisco, and Morocco.
Tiffany Tolbert is Senior Director for Preservation of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund (AACHAF) at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In her role, she leads the broad-based efforts to steward sites at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and historically important Black churches. She has developed preservation strategies for sites such as the Nina Simone Childhood Home, the John and Alice Coltrane Home, and the Emmett Till and Mamie Till Mobley National Monument. Tiffany previously directed the Northwest Field Office at Indiana Landmarks. Her preservation expertise includes providing technical assistance to local organizations, advocacy, strategic and preservation planning, historic designation and rehabilitation.
Lena Vogel is the head of adult education and international projects for Zweitzeugen e.V. (Second Witnesses), an organization that turns young people into “second witnesses” by teaching them the life stories of Holocaust survivors. Zweitzeugen helps students as young as 10 develop empathy and a stronger perspective on antisemitism and discrimination during the NS-era and in the world today. Lena’s role includes work with teachers and social workers, the scientific community, corporate employees, as well as international partners, including a recent project with the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York. Zweitzeugen is an Obermayer Award winner.
Eric K. Ward is one of America’s leading voices on the intersection of authoritarianism, hate-fueled violence, and the fight to sustain a multiracial, inclusive democracy. He serves as Executive Vice President of Race Forward and is a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center. In a career spanning nearly 40 years, Eric made history in 2021, as the first American awarded the prestigious Civil Courage Prize. His bold, widely cited essay, “Skin in the Game: How Antisemitism Animates White Nationalism,” helped reshape the national conversation on antisemitism and is considered a cornerstone in understanding the recent rise racial authoritarianism in the United States. Eric serves on the boards of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy and Auburn Theological Seminary.
Destiny Williams Levy is a social impact strategist and public historian committed to honoring untold stories. She leads a consulting firm focused on equity-driven initiatives and is deeply passionate about historic preservation, with a special interest in Black genealogy and cemeteries. At Alabama Values, she develops partnerships and programmatic strategies to advance social justice and democracy. Destiny’s commitment to history also extends to her work with the Friends of the Freedom Rides Museum and the Alabama River Diversity Network, where human culture and history intersects with environmental diversity.
William (Billy) Weitzer spent a decade as the head of the Leo Baeck Institute (LBI) in New York until his recent retirement. LBI is a research library and archive dedicated to preserving and raising awareness of the history of German Jewry. Previously, Billy spent his career working primarily in higher education and the nonprofit sector, including at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Wesleyan University, and Fairfield University. Trained as an environmental psychologist, Billy has expertise in analyzing the internal forces organizations must deal with in order to create concrete plans and make progress. In addition, Billy is focused on strengthening democracy in the United States.
Dan Wolf is an artist blending rap, theater, personal narrative, and history to confront contemporary issues through projects that have traveled globally-from concert halls to museums, schools, and Holocaust memorial sites. Dan creates music and theater that resonates with the present moment. His play "Stateless" is a hip-hop and beatbox infused theatrical collaboration with Grammy award winning musician Tommy Shepherd that has been performed in San Francisco, Hamburg, and New York. It balances German and Jewish history with the issues of racism and the African American experience. Dan’s play "Angry Black White Boy" is based on the novel by Adam Mansbach. He is the Artistic Director of Sound in the Silence and a co-founder of both the Bay Area Theatre Cypher and Felonious.
Carole Zawatsky is the inaugural CEO of the Tree of Life in Pittsburgh, an organization that is building a memorial, a synagogue, and an educational institute focused on countering prejudice and antisemitism, at the site where 11 Jews were murdered in 2018. She previously spent a decade as the CEO of the Edlavitch Jewish Community Center in Washington, D.C. She has also served in senior roles at the National Museum of American Jewish History, the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Cleveland, Ohio, The Jewish Museum in New York, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.