Widen the Circle Learning Day

Berlin, Germany, Febraury 2, 2026

Widen the Circle has designed an extension of the annual Obermayer Awards weekend. In addition to attending the awards ceremony, participants see firsthand some of the powerful grassroots remembrance work occurring in Berlin and meet the dedicated and creative people responsible for it.

You will also meet participants from our innovate Berlin Fellowship, which brings together remembrance activists from the U.S. and Germany. They use history to counter racism, antisemitism, and other forms of bigotry, and confront the ongoing war on memory that is taking place in both places. Learn how this cross-border community has influenced and inspired their work. 



Highlights

We will speak with Joel Obermayer, Widen the Circle’s founder and executive director, and Dr. Karlos Hill, a professor of African American studies at the University of Oklahoma and a participant in Widen the Circle’s Berlin Fellowship. They will discuss the importance of remembrance and memory work in confronting the war on memory and supporting democracy. Dr. Hill will discuss how the cross-border Fellowship has influenced and inspired his work. We’ll also discuss why this type of community-based effort is so effective and holds so much hope for the future.

We will visit a local grade school to learn about their remembrance project, in which elementary school students have honored the lives of 2,000 Jews who lived in the neighborhood by building a unique brick wall. This project has been going on for three decades and has inspired a national monument to the victims of lynching in the United States.

We will visit the apartment of Marie Rolshoven, director of Denkmal am Ort (“Think About This Place”) and a 2024 Obermayer Winner.  Once a year, scores of residents in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, and Frankfurt open their homes to share stories about people who once lived there—Jews and others persecuted by the Nazis or members of the resistance. The project started with stories told at Marie’s apartment.


Highlights (open to all guests)

Sunday, January 26

  • 12:15-12:30: Join Widen the Circle’s German Operations Manager, Bryan Fellbusch, for a greeting and an overview of activities for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. We will meet in the same room as the informal lunch talk about the Obermayer Awards and Widen the Circle. Look for signs in the hotel lobby for our meeting location in one of the hotel’s conference rooms. (As a Widen the Circle Learning Program participant, you have been pre-registered for this event.)
    (Location: Classik Hotel Alexanderplatz, Rosenstraße 1, Berlin)

  • 12:30–13:30: Join us for an informal light lunch to learn more about the Obermayer Awards and Widen the Circle. Participants will grab a sandwich and join a table with a representative of Widen the Circle or the Obermayer Foundation to learn more about our origins, our work, and how you can get involved. Look for signs in the hotel lobby for our meeting location in one of the hotel’s conference rooms. (As a Widen the Circle Learning Program participant, you have been pre-registered for this event.)
    (Location: Classik Hotel Alexanderplatz, Rosenstraße 1, Berlin)

  • 14:00: For those who will arrive in Berlin early on Sunday, we would like to offer an optional tour of the historic Jewish Quarter near the Classik Hotel. There will be tours available in both German and English at 11:00 & 14:00. Please meet in the lobby of the Classik Hotel Alexanderplatz. (As a Widen the Circle Learning Program participant, you have been pre-registered for this event.)

    (Location: Classik Hotel Alexanderplatz, Rosenstraße 1, Berlin)

  • 18:30: 2025 Award Banquet: The banquet will be held at the Hackescher Hof, with a drink reception to start at the Classik Hotel Alexanderplatz. Participants should come to the Classik Hotel at 18:30. If you wish to meet us at the restaurant directly, please arrive at the Hackescher Hof restaurant by 19:30.
    (Location: Meet at 18:30 at the Classik Hotel Alexanderplatz, Rosenstraße 1, Berlin. From 19:30, the dinner will be held at Hackescher Hof, Rosenthaler Str. 40, Berlin)

Monday, January 27

  • 10:00-11:30: Join us for a conversation with Joel Obermayer, Widen the Circle’s founder and executive director, Dr. Karlos Hill, a professor of African American studies at the University of Oklahoma and a participant in WtC’s Berlin Fellowship, and Stephan Conrad of the Treibhaus e.V. (Obermayer Award, 2022). They will discuss the importance of remembrance and memory work in the face of bigotry and injustice. We will share some of the inspiring stories of people doing this work and creating understanding and reconciliation where none seemed possible. We’ll also discuss why this type of community-based effort is so effective and holds so much hope for the future.  (As a Widen the Circle Learning Program participant, you have been pre-registered for this event.)

    (Location: Centrum Judaicum, Oranienburger Straße 28 – 30, Berlin)

  • 13:00–15:00: Open lunch buffet. We invite all participants who are celebrating the 2025 Obermayer Awards to join us at the Classik Hotel Alexanderplatz for a buffet lunch on Monday afternoon from 13:00-15:00. This is an informal opportunity for awardees, nominators and supporters, award jurors, Widen the Circle staff, and the Directors of the Obermayer Foundation to come together before the formal ceremony on Monday night. Please feel free to drop in at any time from 13:00-15:00.
    (Location: Classik Hotel Alexanderplatz, Rosenstraße 1, Berlin)

  • 18:30: The 2025 Obermayer Awards ceremony will begin at 18:30 sharp on the evening of Monday, January 27. Please arrive at the Red Town Hall (the Rotes Rathaus) no later than 18:00. All attendees must bring a photo ID and your digital registration confirmation in order to be admitted. A drink reception will follow the ceremony. 
    (Location: Red Town Hall, Rathausstraße 15, 10178 Berlin)

Widen the Circle Learning Day (registrants only)

Tuesday, January 28: An all-day program

  • 8:30-9:30: Our day begins over breakfast at the Classik Hotel Alexander Plaza.

  • 9:45: Meet in the hotel lobby and depart by taxi for Berlin Schöneberg neighborhood, a location of several notable community-based remembrance sites.

  • 10:30-12:00: We will visit the Löcknitz Grade School to learn about their Yellow Bricks project, in which elementary school students have remembered and honored the lives of more than 1,600 Jews who lived in the neighborhood by building a unique brick wall. This project has inspired other projects around the world.

  • 12:00-15:00: We will have lunch as a group and visit with Marie Rolshoven, director of Denkmal am Ort and a 2024 Obermayer Winner.

  • 15:00-15:30: Return to hotel. Auf Wiedersehen!