Special events
Excursions and field trips on different topics are a fixed part of the history curriculum. Among other excursions, we visit the Basel City Hall, the Swiss Parliament Buildings in Bern, a battlefield of World War I in Alsace and different museums.
Several ambassadors of EU nations to Switzerland visited our school and took part in discussions on current affairs. These events can be counted as highlights of the past years.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Evers year, on the 27th of January, the school invites a guest to hold a lecture on the topic of the Holocaust. The senior classes are invited to this event in the assembly hall and commemorate the Holocaust and discuss this event.
Among others, the following guests have paid a visit to our school to lecture on their experience and share their knowledge: Schlomo Graber on the publication of his autobiography "The boy who did not want to hate". Movie director Ron Pataki on his movie «Davka», which focuses on the fate of Jews in Hungary. Oral witness Ladislaub Löb on his escape from the ghetto and his life-saving trip to Switzerland as part of the "Kasztner Group".
Field trips to Hartmannsweilerkopf and the concentration camp Struthof
Every October, the senior classes travel to the Alsace and the trenches of WWI on Hartmannsweilerkopf and then visit the former concentration camp Natzweiler-Strufhof.
On this full-day field trip students have the opportunity to experience the topics "WWI" and "Germany during the Third Reich" on original sites. It is an intensive and impressive experience for the students to compare their knowledge acquried from text books with the real sites. The immediate confrontation with the horrors of trench warfare and the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis touch the students every year.
The newly curated museum "Historial" on Hartmannsweilerkopf at the entrance of the site offers the students the chance to look at numerous original artefacts and provides a stunning movie on the battles on this part of the western front.
On the visit to the concentration camp, the teachers guide the students through the site. Work sheets are provided to consolidate the knowledge gained during the visit.
Study trip to Berlin
There are regular study trips to Berlin. On the one hand, IB-history students get the chance to study the topic of the Cold War there, which does not form part of our IB history standard level course. On the other hand, the topic of "History of the German Democratic Republic/GDR/East Germany" features on the curriculum of the elective subject "History" ( Ergänzungsfach Geschichte ). As field trips are an integral part of the elective subject, we do study trips to Berlin.
Once in the city, we visit the former Stasi-headquarters, the Stasi-prison Hohenschönhausen, the Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauer Strasse, the Holocaust Memorial, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, the Soviet War Memorial (Tiergarten) and many other sites. Students especially like the "Mauer Walk" - an extended stroll along the course of the former Berlin wall.
The trip also features workshops and debates with oral witnesses. Former inmates of the Stasi-prison guide us through the Stasi-prison Hohenschönhausen - a breathtaking experience.