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Hundreds of memories shared to celebrate 70th anniversary of the first day of Session 1
Salzburg Global took a trip back in time on Saturday as it celebrated the first-ever Salzburg Global Day.
Fellows from throughout the ages got in touch with Salzburg Global to share memories, anecdotes, photos, and videos of their time at Schloss Leopoldskron.
The inaugural celebration took place on the 70th anniversary of the first day of Session 1. At that time, in 1947, Salzburg Global was called the Salzburg Seminar in American Civilization.
Ahead of this year's Salzburg Global Day, Fellows were encouraged to publicly share their experiences at Schloss Leopoldskron on social media using the hashtag #ShareWithSGS.
More than 600 posts have since been shared on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Many people who are not on social media have also gotten in touch to have their moments highlighted.
This includes Ann Elter (née Bradshaw), who attended the first session in 1947 as a 20-year-old student from England. She said, "After six years of isolation in England during World War Two it was an incredibly enriching experience to travel to Salzburg in July 1947 and meet my fellow participants. There were not only my former enemies from Germany and Austria but neutral friends from Sweden and many bewildered Displaced Persons who had fled from the Balkan countries to Austria as the Russian Army had advanced into their homelands.
“Then there were the American scholars and lecturers already partly known to us from their works but not heard before in person and the student helpers from Harvard who did all they could to enable us to live comfortably together.
"Outside the Schloss, there was the magical city of Salzburg itself and the concerts and operas to which we mysteriously seemed to be given tickets, if only to sit on the steps leading down to the arena! All in all, it was an unforgettable six weeks which strengthened my resolve to work in the international field as soon as I possibly could and to keep in touch with my many new friends, sadly now mostly departed.”
Moving forward in time, Jodie Boyce, a participant at the 10th Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change in 2016, shared photos and thoughts on Facebook. She said, “With so much toxicity and hatred in the world, Salzburg is somewhere I hold sacred. The Schloss is a place I will never forget in my life, and the experience is one that will stay with me until the day I die. The city is a fairy tale, the people are the future leaders of the world, and the faculty are the most inspirational people I have ever met in my life.”
Posts have been amalgamated into one social media feed, which can be seen on Salzburg Global’s 70th-anniversary website. This feed includes group photos, scenic shots of Schloss Leopoldskron, and firsthand accounts of how people have used their Salzburg Global experience to their advantage.
Salzburg Global Fellows were also encouraged to meet up to reunite, reflect and reminisce on their time together. YCI Fellows from the Salzburg Hub met for a drink the day before Salzburg Global Day to celebrate the occasion, while other Salzburg Global Fellows such as Adam Molyneux-Berry, C. Harvey, and Samuel Hoi also took the time to catch-up at the Maryland Institute College of Art.
While the day is over, Fellows are still being asked to share their memories using the #ShareWithSGS hashtag. To make your post visible to other Salzburg Global Fellows, please make your individual posts public rather than sharing only with your friends.