Waldsee

“The coolest language school in the world.” That’s how Germany’s popular television show Galileo describes Waldsee. Waldsee is a residential immersion program for learning German, Austrian, and Swiss culture in North America. It has been around for almost 60 years. Thousands of young people, families, and adults have come to Waldsee for whimsical adventures in the German language. It’s all part of a mission to inspire courageous global citizens. Waldsee is an idyllic location in the Minnesota North Woods. From a small language learning group to joining cultural activities to expressing themselves through the arts to games and sports, dancing, singing, eating, cooking, and making new friends, many come to Waldsee for the fun. It was the impetus for what are now 15 different Language Villages, including French, Italian, Chinese, Norwegian, Russian, and Korean. But in 2018, the name Waldsee was associated with a dark period of German history. German trains delivered Jews from all over German-occupied Europe to killing centers, such as Auschwitz. Some have viewed this as a contradiction to the joy and innocence of learning another language. Knowledge of what happened in the past is vital to never forget. It is a hard juxtaposition. But the Waldsee experience is about learning and celebrating the beauty of language and culture, and also knowing the dark parts of history.