Embedded Files
A School’s Question Became a Lifelong Journey
What happened in our school when the Nazis came to power? That question, raised by students at the Friedrich Gymnasium in Frankfurt (Oder), helped give rise to the Building Bridges project. Their search led them to a former pupil: Tzvi Aharoni, who had attended the school in the 1930s before his family’s life was changed by Nazi persecution.
Aharoni’s story connected the school’s past to a much wider history. He later served in Israeli intelligence and played a central role in locating Adolf Eichmann in Argentina. A group of students travelled with Peter Staffa to England to interview him. Through that encounter, they could ask what had happened to Aharoni and his family, and hear how his life had unfolded after he left their school.
The connection deepened when Aharoni was invited back in 2001 for the unveiling of a memorial to his cousin, Issachar Jehoiachin, who had helped Jewish young people escape during the Nazi period before he was caught and murdered in prison.
For Peter Staffa, founder and director of Building Bridges, Aharoni’s story became a lifelong commitment to remembrance and dialogue. It shows how the determination to investigate a school’s past responsibly can draw generations of students and partners into a shared journey. That work is part of the history carried forward today by East–West Dialogue.
How do you find a man who has disappeared behind a new name on the other side of the world? This documentary follows Mossad investigator Tzvi Aharoni as he traces Adolf Eichmann to Argentina. A former address, local witnesses, a family name and a risky attempt to obtain photographs gradually turn suspicion into identification.
The account then moves from surveillance to the operation to capture Eichmann. Aharoni’s own recollections bring the uncertainty and tension of the mission close to the viewer, revealing the human decisions behind a pivotal moment in the pursuit of justice after the Holocaust.
Returning to the School He Once Attended | Tzvi Aharoni and Building Bridges
And then came the moment to bring Tzvi Aharoni back to his old school—to a place that had once rejected him with hatred, and now welcomed him with open arms.
His return could not undo what had happened to him and his family. But in the moving encounter with a new generation of students, there was room for something that had once seemed impossible: to face the depths of despair together and still find hope. The young people listened, asked questions and offered him a reason to look at the future differently. For Building Bridges, this was the heart of the project: allowing a personal meeting to open a path toward understanding.
When History Becomes Personal: on the Power of Youth Dialogue
When History Becomes Personal: on the Power of Youth Dialogue
What happens when young people encounter history through the lives of people they can meet and speak with?
In this video young people explore the power of personal stories in German–Israeli youth exchanges. He reflects on the questions these encounters raise, the assumptions they challenge, and the understanding that can grow when young people listen to one another.
A thoughtful invitation to hear why dialogue matters—and what can happen when history becomes personal.
Beyond the Headlines: Young People in Conversation Across Divides
Beyond the Headlines: Young People in Conversation Across Divides
What changes when young people meet the people they have only heard about from a distance? This video follows an exchange that brings Israeli, Palestinian and German participants into the same room—and into conversations about history, identity, fear and the possibility of living together.
The discussions are sometimes uncomfortable. Participants question assumptions about one another, speak about the realities shaping their lives, and ask what dialogue can achieve amid conflict. Their willingness to listen makes the video compelling: it shows how an encounter can begin to change the way someone sees the other side.
A Student’s View of the Dead Sea | René Hänschke
A Student’s View of the Dead Sea | René Hänschke
During one of the Building Bridges delegations to Israel, René Hänschke was captivated by the beauty of the country. His film preserves that moment of discovery, moving from the wide desert landscape to the smallest details of its rocks and plants.
René was also one of the students who uncovered the story of Tzvi Aharoni, a former pupil at their school during the Nazi period. That discovery connected the history of a place they knew to the life of someone who had once studied there.
For us, the exchanges offered more than a journey to another country. They encouraged students to open their hearts, ask questions, grow curious, learn, dream and stand in wonder. René, now a writer, was already finding his creative voice during that delegation. His film lets us see the landscape through the eyes of a young person encountering it for the first time.
Hermann Arndt, Tzvi Aharoni: A Name Returns to Frankfurt (Oder)
Hermann Arndt, Tzvi Aharoni: A Name Returns to Frankfurt (Oder)
An RBB television report follows the unveiling of a plaque honouring Hermann Arndt, who later became known as Tzvi Aharoni. At the school he once attended, the ceremony brings his story back into public view: a Jewish pupil forced to leave under Nazi rule who later played a central role in locating Adolf Eichmann.
The report brings together voices from the present and archival footage of Aharoni’s earlier return to the school. Peter Staffa, founder of Building Bridges and a friend of Aharoni, reflects on the lasting connection between his life, the school and the generations of young people who began asking what had happened there 27 years ago.
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