metro From Germany from page 12 "Her experience in Pittsburgh was very motivating for me Richard says. "I had a chance to visit her, and I'll never forget the pride I felt seeing my 'kid' sister addressing an audience of 400 students at the University of Pittsburgh. Currently she is working on her bach- elor's degree in Arabic studies at the Philipps University Marburg, learning Arabic and Hebrew and preparing to spend two semesters in Cairo" Richard's year in Detroit marks his fourth extended visit to the U.S. In September 2010, while still an under- graduate, Richard participated in a workshop at the Wende Museum in Los Angeles. The project that he organized with five friends from the University of Leipzig brought him together with students from Loyola Marymount University to develop an online exhibit focusing on everyday life in East Germany between 1949 and 1990. 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Ruza Anita & Dr. Louis Schwartz Melanie & Glen Schwartz Geri & Steven Zeldes The Jah ioh ;nm= iliTITOPOSTATI DETROIT Ask Richard what it's like to be part of the third generation of Germans after World War II and actively working for an organization with the mission never to forget the atrocities of the Holocaust, and he shares both fond and troubling memories of his grandparents, born in 1926 and 1928. "They were just children when the Nazis rose to power, and in their daily school life they were educated in that ideology. They were encouraged to join the Nazis' youth organizations where young German boys and girls would learn their roles in society: to be good Germans. "My grandfather joined the army and, in the summer of 1944, toward the end of the war, was drafted into the SS. Though he spoke little of what happened to him during the war and throughout his four-year imprisonment in a Russian labor camp, I am doing research in his Russian prisoner of war records and am learning what he might have been involved in. "So, when I speak to school groups at the Holocaust Center now, I tell them about my grandparents, what their generation went through and the way they were educated and how their edu- cation affected them even after the war. I tell them that my grandmother is a very loving, open and kind woman, but sometimes some of the stereotypes she has in mind — particularly about the people of Poland — can be traced back to her education" Born after the war, now in their 40s, Richard's parents are very supportive of their children's graduate studies and what they do through ARSP. "But I don't think they fully under- stand what we do:' Richard says. "I have a degree in American studies, and I wrote my thesis in English, a language my parents only partially understand. Their world experience, growing up in East Germany during the Cold War, was so different from mine. Even today, their world is mainly centered around the East German countryside. And to some extent, they would be lost in my world" On Detroit How is Richard Bachmann, ARSP vol- unteer for a year, finding life in Detroit? "Inspiring," he says. "What people do here is so exciting to me. I find there are a lot of dreamers in the city. And, not only do they dream, they also have the drive to pursue their dreams. I don't know if that spirit is distinctly an American thing or entrepreneurial in general. "But in Germany, it seems to me that even when people are more politically radical, they ultimately steer to a very traditional way of life. Here people have the courage of their convictions. "Being here today, having this expe- rience at the Holocaust Center — and meeting other young people who work in the city — specifically in Downtown Detroit with organizations like Repair the World — and seeing how much passion they put into their projects — that's really left me questioning: Do I want to be the guy who's always in the library reading? And talking and talk- ing? Why am I not doing this when I'm in Germany?" At 26, Richard has seen something of the world. On an academic track, he can envision himself as a professor, but he, too, has a dream. "There's theory and there's practice," he says. "My girlfriend and I are talking about starting an educational insti- tute — a new model of higher educa- tion, which is not as formal or exclusive as our system in Germany. "In Germany, only about 30 percent of all secondary school graduates have the opportunity to enter a university. We're talking about learning beyond the classroom, about bridging the gaps between academic life and the practi- cal needs of people building personal connections and the basis for deeper understandings of one another. I guess in many ways, we're talking about con- tinuing the work at hand with Action Reconciliation Service for Peace" ❑ Vivian Henoch is editor and writer at myJewishDetroit.org where this story first appeared.