A delegation of American Jewish college students spent their recent Spring Break assisting the growing Jewish community in Germany.

From their home base of Berlin – where the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign students visited residents of a seniors center and volunteered at a local Jewish school – the delegation made trips to outlying areas, including the Saschenhausen concentration camp and an abandoned ancient Jewish cemetery.

The Alternative Spring Break trip was the second one organized by the Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life at the University of Illinois and Chabad-Lubavitch of Berlin in as many years.

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A delegation of students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign pose in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate with Rabbi Dovid Tiechtel, left, co-director of the Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life.
A delegation of students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign pose in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate with Rabbi Dovid Tiechtel, left, co-director of the Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life.

A delegation of students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign pose in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate with Rabbi Dovid Tiechtel, left, co-director of the Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life.

Visiting American students light candles before celebrating Shabbat with their Berlin counterparts at the Rohr Chabad Center. This year’s trip was the second such Alternative Spring Break organized by the Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Chabad-Lubavitch of Berlin.
Visiting American students light candles before celebrating Shabbat with their Berlin counterparts at the Rohr Chabad Center. This year’s trip was the second such Alternative Spring Break organized by the Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Chabad-Lubavitch of Berlin.

Visiting American students light candles before celebrating Shabbat with their Berlin counterparts at the Rohr Chabad Center. This year’s trip was the second such Alternative Spring Break organized by the Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Chabad-Lubavitch of Berlin.

Students visit with a Jewish resident of Berlin.
Students visit with a Jewish resident of Berlin.

Students visit with a Jewish resident of Berlin.

As part of the community service component of their trip, the students tended to an abandoned Jewish cemetery in an area of Germany virtually exterminated of its Jewish population during World War II.
As part of the community service component of their trip, the students tended to an abandoned Jewish cemetery in an area of Germany virtually exterminated of its Jewish population during World War II.

As part of the community service component of their trip, the students tended to an abandoned Jewish cemetery in an area of Germany virtually exterminated of its Jewish population during World War II.

They also toured a Jewish school in Berlin that occupies a building once belonging to the Gestapo, the notorious Nazi secret police.
They also toured a Jewish school in Berlin that occupies a building once belonging to the Gestapo, the notorious Nazi secret police.

They also toured a Jewish school in Berlin that occupies a building once belonging to the Gestapo, the notorious Nazi secret police.

The visiting Americans volunteered in the classrooms.
The visiting Americans volunteered in the classrooms.

The visiting Americans volunteered in the classrooms.

The delegation walks through the grounds of the Saschenhausen concentration camp.
The delegation walks through the grounds of the Saschenhausen concentration camp.

The delegation walks through the grounds of the Saschenhausen concentration camp.

Members of the delegation sit down with diplomatic staff at the American embassy in Berlin.
Members of the delegation sit down with diplomatic staff at the American embassy in Berlin.

Members of the delegation sit down with diplomatic staff at the American embassy in Berlin.