In Murrow’s footsteps: Students report on history, remembrance at Buchenwald

"Permit me to tell you what you would have seen and heard had you had been with me on Thursday. It will not be pleasant listening. If you are at lunch, or if you have no appetite to hear what Germans have done, now is a good time to switch off the radio, for I propose to tell you of Buchenwald."

In April 1945, Edward R. Murrow told the world of the horrors revealed by the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany.

Eighty years later, four journalists studying in the college named for Murrow walked the same ground and - though the circumstances were very different - engaged in the same mission: finding out what was happening there and telling people what they learned.

"This was the first time I felt like a journalist," said Reno Probert, a senior studying broadcast production. "I really felt like I was doing actual journalism."

Probert and three other Washington State University students traveled to Buchenwald in March as part of the Backpack Journalism Program, a project of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. They spent four days at the camp, learning about its history and studying Germany's "culture of remembrance" around Nazi atrocities. Their stories about the visit have appeared on the CBS website, The Spokesman-Review, and Northwest Public Broadcasting.

It was a particularly apt way to follow in the footsteps of Murrow, a towering figure in 20^th century journalism who graduated from WSU in 1930.

"They have the same goal he did - to tell the truth, to provide insight about what's happening in this place," said Alison Boggs, an assistant professor who leads the program and traveled to Germany with the students.

The program has been sending students across the world since 2011. It is donor-funded and free to students, who are selected through a competitive process.

Bruce Pinkleton, dean of the Murrow College, said the Backpack Journalism Program is a expression of the college's goal of sending students out to gather experience beyond campus, as they learn to follow Murrow's example.

Along with Probert, the student journalists who participated were Brooke Bovenkamp, Jasmine Hallack, and Lauren Rendahl. They met with German journalists and students, then stayed at the former camp - now a memorial and education center - for four days, touring the grounds and learning about its history.

The WSU students were struck by the frank, thorough "culture of remembrance," ranging from memorials to educational programs. Rendahl encountered a 16-year-old German student who expressed it in this way: "We're not guilty for what happened during the Holocaust, but we're responsible for remembering it. We're responsible for carrying on this legacy so people don't forget what happened."

[Link]Murrow College of Communication students, from left to right, Reno Probert, Lauren Rendahl, Brooke Bovenkamp and Jasmine Hallack in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin in March during the Backpack Journalism Program. (Photo by Alison Boggs) [Link]Murrow College student Lauren Rendahl (left) listening to an explanation from Holger Obbarius (right), the director of education at Buchenwald. (Photo by Reno Probert) [Link]The gate into Buchenwald depicting the camp's motto, which translates to "to each his own" or "to each what is his" - meant to convey that individuals receive what they deserve. (Photo by Reno Probert) The Backpack Journalism Program provided Murrow College of Communication students with an international experience that included reporting from the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany.

The WSU students saw it as a sharp contrast to the way America engages with its history - and their German instructors saw it as a warning sign for the erosion of checks and balances in the U.S.

"The Germans weren't pulling any punches when we were talking American politics: 'This is happening to you guys, you need to be careful,'" Probert said.

For millions of radio listeners worldwide, Murrow's report from Buchenwald on April 15, 1945, was a shocking introduction to the realities of the Holocaust. One of the hallmarks of his report was the sense of individual humanity he conveyed, relating his interactions with prisoners along with haunting descriptions of bodies "stacked up like cordwood," emaciated children, and the "evil-smelling" stench of the camp.

The WSU students said that the experience helped them to understand the Holocaust as more than a matter of dates and statistics - but as a tragically human story.

"This wasn't a group of random monsters who took over a country," Probert said. "This was the country of Germany that did this and almost all aspects of society had a part to play."

One of those named in Murrow's report was Paul Heller, a Czech doctor who showed the journalist around the camp and later emigrated to America. Bovenkamp tracked down Heller's daughter and interviewed her. She has produced stories for print, radio and television, and she isn't finished.

"I think we all felt like we have a mission to bring this information back and to educate others at home," she said. "It felt more like a calling, a mission. My research hasn't stopped. I don't see this ending for me."