About a week ago, I was on the S-Bahn and picked up a cell phone that a lady sitting across from me forgot when she got off. Having a recent casualty to the D.C. metro, I did what I had hoped someone else would have done for me; not to mention, people have done in the past. My cell phone has been found on curbs, in intersections, locker rooms, and so on, they called one of my parents in my contacts and my phone was recovered. After trying to text from her phone to the last person she called and failing miserably (I think her friend received an attempt or two), she just called me and we went from there. Ulrike was certain that she MUST repay me, so I left my email address with her phone at an information desk in my favorite book store, for us to be able to connect. I agreed to coffee this past Sunday with her in the outskirts of the old Jewish area of Berlin, and I was actually pretty excited for it. My high expectations were certainly not let down.
Ulrike is a 43 year old math and physics teacher at the private American based high school called the John F. Kennedy School. She's even lived in Washington D.C. between 2000 and 2004 teaching at the private German high school there. She grew up in a small Eastern German town not far out of Potsdam and moved to Berlin in 1989. She expressed her love for America and how much she enjoyed living there. We talked primarily in English but I tried to insert German when I could, and she obliged with welcomed corrections. We talked about politics, religion, history, and social problems within Germany, America and the rest of the world. But, we just kept coming back to the idea of freedom.
Ulrike told me her parents died right after the Wende (a term used for the transition in Germany right after reunification) and only saw Germany in the eyes of WWII and divided - living in the GDR. They never got to travel, or really be free. She said her mother always dreamed of being able to travel to Paris, but never got to. And Ulrike said something like being able to travel has never made her feel more free. We talked about how some Eastern Germans don't even know what to do with themselves because even though they had nothing in the East, they had a job, and now, some of them don't even have that in a unified Germany - this being an issue we have learned a lot about in my class... Some would prefer that the division still exist! But, not Ulrike. Her concern now is for the freedom for other groups of people in our world today.
She carries, with her, a great guilt for what happened to the Jews in WWII, and believes in the support the United States provides to Israel. So much so, that she doesn't understand why the Germans, themselves, do not do more. And, having worked in a school in the lower income areas in Berlin before her time in the US, she feels for the Turkish girls she taught who would stay at school as long as they could to avoid having to go home and do house work. It upsets her that these girls are expected to focus on working for the family business or in the house instead of pursuing things like education, which is what they really want to do. We talked about the difference in religions, extremists, and how this can taint the idea of any group of people and how good or bad they may be...
Nothing amazed Ulrike more than the idea of a black man rising to be president in our country. Interestingly, she does not know much about President Obama and his politics, merely what he "stands" for and that he is simply a change from President Bush. Ironically, there was no doubt in her mind that she agrees with the good things that are being done in Iraq or Afghanistan. She even said that she became a little more defensive of the Americans when she returned to Germany with all the regular bashing of the government and president. Honestly, none of these mentalities surprised me, except for one: her opinion of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
I immediately asked her, after she said how she was amazed that America would elect a black man, if she didn't feel the same way toward Angela Merkel. She is not only the first woman to be chancellor in Germany, but is also an Eastern German. Ulrike replied with one big negatory, that Chancellor Merkel is too much a power hungry, forward, rough and tough kind of female and politician. Oh. To her, she's too conservative and laissez-faire, "like Bush," and is on her way down. Interesting. I don't know if I'll ever understand how Germans justify the differences between the different kind of politicians, and what, in their opinion, makes them great or not.
Regardless, my new friend and I agreed that the world would be way better if its problems could merely be solved over coffee on a Sunday morning in the middle of Berlin. I was so glad to spend the morning talking with someone about nothing other than the idea of freedom on my independence day. There was no doubt to her that America has done great things for her country, and that what we stand for is a wonderful thing. Tears were brought to her eyes among the euphoric madness of Berlin in 1989 when she finally felt she could breathe again and was free.
After I left Ulrike, with a gift in hand and a hug as she went on her way to explore Ukraine with a friend the next day, I was determined to do some things in the city that I wanted to do before I leave this upcoming weekend. I spent a lot of time walking, stopping at Checkpoint Charlie, the Topography of Terror Museum and then to the New Synagogue. All three just so relevant to the hope and idea of freedom. Checkpoint Charlie, an American station that filtered people coming in and out of the sector during a divided Berlin. The Topography of Terror Museum, positioned over the old Gestapo headquarters, had great new exhibits on the timeline and persecution of the Nazi party. There was also a fantastic exhibit of photographs taken by Jews who lived in the ghetto and were commissioned by the government in order to promote the "good things" about ghettos. The pictures were of the children going to school, the sick being cared for and the other Jews working - something the head of the ghetto used as a deterrent for the deportation of its members to extermination camps. And lastly, the New Synagogue, which was only partially restored. The museum was small because they chose not to rebuild it the way it was before the war and communist regime. But, it allowed me to learn more about the practices of the Jewish religion and prevalence of the Jewish community in Berlin pre-WWII. Two of these places I had visited before, but the third I had not. I was more than happy to repeat, because as I get older I appreciate things for different reasons.
Freedom means different things to different people. To some it's being able to practice a religion, move from country to country, being able to buy anything you want with the money you work hard for, or simply being able to have a right to vote for your new and up and coming president. Either way, people are still people with needs... There was no doubt to Ulrike, no matter who is in office or what not, that America stands for great ideals that most people are envious of. If I couldn't have been home eating hot dogs and pretzel salad while watching fireworks, I don't know that I would have wanted anything else out of the holiday.
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty" - JFK
No comments:
Post a Comment