Spoiled by the Gymnasium Am Breiten Teich

During the past few days I've been in Borna, learning about how German high-school teachers practice their craft and go about their days. Since 2011, Katja Rose and Constanze Hahn have worked with Henry Wend to develop an exchange program for our schools. Unfortunately, the Wildcats haven't returned to Central Europe since 2014! There are simply too many foreign trips for USM students to choose from, and since our World Language curriculum doesn't include German, students are more likely to go to China, France, or Spain.

Multiple murals celebrate the cavalry regiment.

Borna lies in Saxony, just south of Leipzig. The first thing I did once I got settled was to visit the city museum, where Gabi and Ferdinand were hugely friendly! Gabi personally guided me through the exhibits and Ferdinand and I had a long conversation about Borna, post-1989 Germany, and modern life in general. Borna can be summed-up with four words: cavalry, pianos, onions and Tagebau (surface-mining). Briefly, Borna served as a barracks town for the Royal Saxon Karabiner Regiment until 1919, when the unit dissolved; the locals built pianos and harmoniums (not anymore); the surrounding earth is excellent for onion-cultivation, and although the peasants sold onions, they couldn't themselves afford to eat them. Tagebau refers to surface-mining for coal that has been underway for years. In fact, these huge mines eventually fill with groundwater, which explains why the Borna-ers call this area New-Sea-Land (get it?).

Katja and Connie took great care of me. Katja arranged for me to join 11th and 7th grade English classes, where students asked me all kinds of questions. When I met with 11th graders, only those who had previously lived abroad were really active. Otherwise, most seemed hesitant to participate. In contrast, the 7th graders were eager to talk and learn what they could about me. Among the first questions in all sections were: "What do you think about Donald Trump?" and "What about guns in America?" So apparently America's headlines preceded me. What concerns did the students have? Some voiced concerns about the American president, his impulsiveness and pugnacity. Others were more concerned about their own futures. A group of outspoken students expressed their frustration at an education they believed left them unprepared for life after graduation. They wanted to learn how to change a car tire or do their own finances, not just how to prepare for college. Katja found it frustrating--"We live in a modern society with a division of labor!" she reassured them.

I wonder if student unease is a function of growing up in the former GDR? Under communism, families learned to make do with less. They had to make simple repairs on their own because East Germany had a lot of scarcity.

With Mephistopheles... 

A brief aside: I visited the Zeitgeschtliches Forum in Leipzig, which currently has a fun exhibition called "alles nach plan?" about industrial design in the GDR. I was initially skeptical, but I found it fascinating to see how the SED (Socialist Unity Party) shaped design choices. For example, one wold think that the new post-war socialist system would embrace modern styles with simple lines. Instead, they rejected Bauhaus-inspired design as "western-decadence" in favor of folk-art and classical styles of previous centuries. In the early 70s, in contrast, an Office for Industrial Design" worked with East German firms to create export-worthy products. The GDR reserved its best products for export; citizens at home faced a dearth of choices and there were always shortages.

Katja and Constanze took me into Leipzig as well, and Constanze prepared a walking tour. Connie took us to the Nikolaikirche, which is an important location in the history of the fall of East German communism. In September, 1989, the "Monday Demonstrations" began, with peaceful marches that began at the Nikolaikirche and then wound their way around the city. By the time the tour was over it was pretty clear to me what I would do over the course of the next days. I planned to go to the Zeitgeschichtliches Forum and the Runde Ecke (Stasi Museum). We also went to Auerbach's Keller, one of the locations in Goethe's Faust.

On my last day in Borna, Constanze and her husband, Jens, took me on a whirlwind tour of their hometown and the surrounding area. Connie first took me to the site of a former work camp associated with Buchenwald. At Flöβberg, Jewish prisoners from Hungary and Poland manufactured German anti-tank rockets during the last few months of the war. Then we walked around Bad Lausick, a beautiful town built around Saint Kilians Church. Built in 1105, Saint Kilians is the oldest (still standing) Romanesque-style church in Saxony. 

The high-water mark is in red

After a delicious lunch that Connie prepared herself, we took a brief road-trip to check out the ruins of Katarina von Bora’s medieval cloister. Katarina von Bora eventually married Martin Luther, and so she’s tremendously important to the history of the Protestant Reformation. We also visited a nearby village one can still see the traces of the massive "Hundred-year" flood in 2002. There was a suspension bridge that was completely destroyed by the flood and the high-water mark is noted on multiple bridges.

Finally, we all attended a student concert in the Böhlen Kulturhaus. The theme was “Soundtrack Music”. Student from multiple grade, middle, and high schools played pieces from The Pink Panther, Amelie, Jurassic Park, and many other films. The finale included the entire Am Breiten Teich choir singing “Eye of the Tiger” and “Skyfall” with full orchestral accompaniment. It was charming and cool all at the same time.