(All people must be free)
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
At one time I spoke German fluently. I attended Kant Gymnasium in Berlin, then known as West Berlin. The year that I spent in Berlin was between my junior and senior years in high school in America. I attended classes in the 11th of 13 grades at Kant Gymnasium. In America one takes biology, physics or chemistry five days a week for a year. In Germany one takes each subject a few times a week of the 6 day school week (Saturday is shorter) from 7th grade to 13th grade. If I had taken a subject in America, I was way ahead of my class mates in knowledge. If I had not, they were way
ahead of me. I had not yet taken physics. I did my best to listen in physics after 6 weeks of summer school in German I but the test I took came back with a grade of "4- fuer physikalisher Inhalt" with 5 being the lowest grade. My method was to sit in class, any class, and write down any word I heard and
and then to look it up in the dictionary. In the beginning I could hear only phrases so there would be no entry in the dictionary. Just at the time I began to understand modern German or Hoch Deutsch, the teacher switched to Mittelhoch Deutsch. "Ich bin din und du bist min." I finally decided to attend
German classes (like our English classes in the U.S.) for all grades. My home, however, was the 11th as the age group was the same.
I had a choice at the end of the school year to travel to Florence (Firenza) with the 11th grade class or to Finland with the 13th grade class. I chose Finland. It may have been the 12th grade class. In Finland we hiked every day for 3 weeks with the physical education teacher (male). We hiked alternately 20 and 30 miles. I remember more than once coming
upon a cabin in the wilderness that was like a corner store. I would buy a liter of butter milk and half lie, half sit against a tree drinking it. I have toured the castle at Savonlinna! We slept on the floor of an elementary school and the tap water was ice cold. We ate dinner at a small restaurant with the menu in Finnish on the wall. We had no idea what we were ordering. I ordered by price and got a bowl of oatmeal. Another ordered and got a plate of cooked minnows with heads and tails on. I ordered something more expensive and got a deli sandwich. I would have eaten that every night but the menu changed and no one could eat it or speak Finnish and no Finn there spoke German or English. Little children were playing in streets in the middle of the night in Helsinki due to the summer sun barely ever setting. 20 years later I went to Florence and saw some of what my 11th grade class mates had seen.
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
No one told me not to ride my bike on the side of the road
next to the barrier between East Germany and West Berlin.
I looked up and saw rifles aimed at me from a watch tower.
I crashed my bike! After that I rode on the other side of the street.
They must have had a good laugh and wondered who I was!
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
This just can't be productive!
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
You may wonder how I could get such a photo being so close.
I did not have any kind of zoom camera function in 1965 or 1966.
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
Separated but not happy about it!
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
Someone drowned here getting their foot caught in the underwater barbed wire.
No one tried to rescue him as it would be an international incident.
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
The sign may say in English: for Peace and Security
through rapprochement (cordial relations) and understanding
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
We watched people tend their gardens!
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
Our dangerous swimming place in Kladow
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
I was not a Christian then but eventually this drove me to smuggling Bibles elsewhere.
Der Funkturm in Berlin 1966
You always knew where you were when you saw the Funkturm!
I was 18 in Berlin 1966
Headed to Helsinki with the 12th grade class of Kant Gymnasium in Berlin 1966
Every year your class takes an extended trip, possibly 3 weeks.
I had the choice to go to Florence or to Finland.
We slept on the deck of the ferry.
Last Updated: 05/17/2012
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
At one time I spoke German fluently. I attended Kant Gymnasium in Berlin, then known as West Berlin. The year that I spent in Berlin was between my junior and senior years in high school in America. I attended classes in the 11th of 13 grades at Kant Gymnasium. In America one takes biology, physics or chemistry five days a week for a year. In Germany one takes each subject a few times a week of the 6 day school week (Saturday is shorter) from 7th grade to 13th grade. If I had taken a subject in America, I was way ahead of my class mates in knowledge. If I had not, they were way ahead of me. I had not yet taken physics. I did my best to listen in physics after 6 weeks of summer school in German I but the test I took came back with a grade of "4- fuer physikalisher Inhalt" with 5 being the lowest grade. My method was to sit in class, any class, and write down any word I heard and and then to look it up in the dictionary. In the beginning I could hear only phrases so there would be no entry in the dictionary. Just at the time I began to understand modern German or Hoch Deutsch, the teacher switched to Mittelhoch Deutsch. "Ich bin din und du bist min." I finally decided to attend German classes (like our English classes in the U.S.) for all grades. My home, however, was the 11th as the age group was the same.
I had a choice at the end of the school year to travel to Florence (Firenza) with the 11th grade class or to Finland with the 13th grade class. I chose Finland. It may have been the 12th grade class. In Finland we hiked every day for 3 weeks with the physical education teacher (male). We hiked alternately 20 and 30 miles. I remember more than once coming upon a cabin in the wilderness that was like a corner store. I would buy a liter of butter milk and half lie, half sit against a tree drinking it. I have toured the castle at Savonlinna! We slept on the floor of an elementary school and the tap water was ice cold. We ate dinner at a small restaurant with the menu in Finnish on the wall. We had no idea what we were ordering. I ordered by price and got a bowl of oatmeal. Another ordered and got a plate of cooked minnows with heads and tails on. I ordered something more expensive and got a deli sandwich. I would have eaten that every night but the menu changed and no one could eat it or speak Finnish and no Finn there spoke German or English. Little children were playing in streets in the middle of the night in Helsinki due to the summer sun barely ever setting. 20 years later I went to Florence and saw some of what my 11th grade class mates had seen.
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
No one told me not to ride my bike on the side of the road
next to the barrier between East Germany and West Berlin.
I looked up and saw rifles aimed at me from a watch tower.
I crashed my bike! After that I rode on the other side of the street.
They must have had a good laugh and wondered who I was!
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
This just can't be productive!
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
You may wonder how I could get such a photo being so close.
I did not have any kind of zoom camera function in 1965 or 1966.
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
Separated but not happy about it!
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
Someone drowned here getting their foot caught in the underwater barbed wire.
No one tried to rescue him as it would be an international incident.
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
The sign may say in English: for Peace and Security
through rapprochement (cordial relations) and understanding
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
We watched people tend their gardens!
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
Our dangerous swimming place in Kladow
Die Grenze in Berlin 1966
I was not a Christian then but eventually this drove me to smuggling Bibles elsewhere.
Der Funkturm in Berlin 1966
You always knew where you were when you saw the Funkturm!
I was 18 in Berlin 1966
Headed to Helsinki with the 12th grade class of Kant Gymnasium in Berlin 1966
Every year your class takes an extended trip, possibly 3 weeks.
I had the choice to go to Florence or to Finland.
We slept on the deck of the ferry.
Last Updated: 05/17/2012