Maayan Shalem und Shaked Cohen visiting 7xJung Museum Berlin
As part of the Netzwerk Israel Fellowship, funded by the EVZ Foundation, our fellow Maayan Shalem was able to complete an internship at the 7xJung Museum in Berlin, together with her partner Shaked Cohen. Both are members of the Tarbut Movement, a collective of artists and educators in Israel that promotes democratic education through art and dialogue.
Education in times of crisis
The starting point of their stay was the search for new methods of democratic education in times of crisis and war. In Israel, Maayan and Shaked work in an education system under immense pressure, due to the ongoing war, attacks on democratic principles and structures, racism, and an increasingly extreme public discourse. Teachers are faced with questions they often have no answers to.
The 7xJung Museum in Berlin stood out to them as a unique place of learning, an institution that not only preserves a culture of remembrance, but also transforms it into a new language. Through art, play, experiential learning, and dialogue, the museum enables young people to engage with history and connect it to the pressing questions of the present.
At the same time, Maayan and Shaked aimed to contribute their experiences from Israel to an international conversation. They see the strengthening of democratic forces not only as a local task, but as a global responsibility. As part of their fellowship, meeting educators and artists in Germany who are also grappling with the rise of the far right, racism, and the legacy of historical guilt was a double opportunity: to learn from one another and to build a network of support and inspiration.
contents
Maayan and Shaked gained insights into the museum team’s work and into how educational programs can be adapted to the needs of teachers. They learned how the history of the Holocaust can be made relevant for young people in very different contexts, and how play and creative practices can open the door to authentic dialogue.
To deepen their experience, they participated in various youth workshops and observed how facilitators guided sensitive and courageous discussions. They conducted interviews with educators and students, each offering a different perspective on the process. In parallel, they began developing initial ideas on how to translate the methods into Hebrew and adapt them to Israeli classrooms.
What they took from the experience
During their stay, Maayan and Shaked had a central realization: art can be a language that makes conversations about difficult topics possible in the first place. Creative forms of expression can help bypass resistance and open new pathways for dialogue — even when the subject is pain, fear, or identity. For Maayan and Shaked, it was especially moving to witness how openly and positively students responded to creative work, and how it helped them find their own way to express thoughts and emotions.
What left a lasting impression on them was the sense of hope: meeting educators and artists who engage every day with responsibility, guilt, fear, and courage — without losing their sense of optimism. Equally meaningful was the experience of being part of an international network of democratic educators who face similar challenges and support one another. This gave them the space to breathe they needed to continue their work in Israel.
CHALLENGES AND OUTLOOK
The challenges, however, remain significant: in Israel, the education system is exhausted by the war, young people increasingly resort to extreme language, and many teachers are losing confidence in their ability to foster democratic dialogue.
Maayan and Shaked plan to return to Berlin in the future to deepen their research, continue observing and learning, and developing new methods. They also intend to bring a small delegation of educators from the Tarbut Movement to Berlin — not as visitors, but as colleagues with their own findings and experiences. At the same time, they are working on an article about their experiences, as well as on educational materials in Hebrew, so that the methods they encountered can soon be applied in Israeli schools and youth groups.
Conclusion
For Maayan and Shaked, their stay as part of the Netzwerk Israel Fellowship marked the beginning of a broader process: building an international network of educators and artists who understand that the commitment to democracy, freedom, and an open society is a shared, courageous, and continuous effort. They describe the experience as an opportunity to take fresh inspiration and renewed energy back into their work.
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