FIRST DRAFT:
The TEACHER book is an autobiographical journal of my teaching years. This first draft will be re-edited and expanded as I work my way through to the end.
On my visit to Germany in the summer of 1968,
I buy a used BMW motorcycle
for 300 dollars in my hometown of Oldenburg.
I ride it through the alps
and down the magnificent Dalmatian coast
all the way to Athens.
I had three near-death experiences.
The Force was with me.
In the fall, I return to school
for practice teaching (my first experience)
and a post-grad Diploma in Education
from McGill University.
There were teachers in my family, on my mother’s side.
My mother, Irmgard, was a kindergarten teacher
in Konigsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia).
Her father – my grandfather – was a teacher as well.
His clash with Nazi values, eventually cost him his life.
In the late nineteen thirties and early forties
life in Germany was very dangerous
for people of conscience –
and especially so
for teachers instructing youth.
The schoolchildren of the times –
which included my mother and father –
were exposed to a toxic environment
that not only taught them
but expected them – to hate.
Photos and posters from their times show how.
