Tag Archives: Germans

My Germany: Teaching and Living in Germany on an American Fulbright, 2007-2008 (Episode 2 of 2)



In this second of two episodes I conclude my recollections of my Fulbright semester in Halle an der Saale, Germany in 2007-2008.  What did Germans want to know most about Americans, and what do Americans need to know about Germans?  I discuss my talks before German audiences in Chemnitz, the former Karl Marx Stadt.  Interest in the American presidential election of 2008 was keen here, even though these citizens hardly ever even saw an American.   The positive and negative aspects of the German way of life are subjects of reflection. The rise of the radical right neo-Nazi party, NPD, and the day it made an appearance in Halle is also discussed.  Few nations have to deal with political factions so radical as does Germany, but few nations have the experience in doing so that Germans have had in the last 72 years.