Students in Northeast Texas Community College's new German 1311 class recently had visitors from†Berlin, Germany.† Uwe and Henny Goettert are currently living in Toronto while Henny completes her degree in molecular genetics. †They were visiting in the Pittsburg area with Henny?s former host family from 2000-2001, when she was a foreign exchange student to the US.
Henny was born in East Berlin when the Berlin Wall was still standing. She was four years old when it fell in 1989. Uwe also lived in the former East Germany, and at the age of 18 rode his motorcycle to Czechosolvakia and attempted to sneak across the border on foot from there into southern Germany. He was apprehended just 80 yards from freedom by East German border guards and sentenced to prison for 18 months. He was released after six months as part of an amnesty program for political prisoners in celebration of the 750th†anniversary in December 1987 of the founding of the city of Berlin.
Upon declaring his intention to continue to try to escape East Germany, Uwe was expelled from the country as a ?deserter from the [German Democratic] Republic? ? described by the Communist Party as ?an act of political and moral backwardness and depravity? - and was able to emigrate to free West Berlin.
Uwe and Henne described their experiences to the German students and then helped them with their German vocabulary and pronunciation.
Bette Miller, who taught German in high school for more than 30 years and has a Master?s degree in German, teaches the new course at Northeast. This spring German 1311 will be offered again as well as German 1312 for this fall?s students who wish to continue.
