The German School is located in the woodlands outside the gates of Washington, D.C. Inside the school, the principal Waldemar Gries hangs the jacket of his dark suit on the back of a chair and rolls up the sleeves of his snow-white shirt. He has a big project ahead of him. Next year the German School will be 50 years old. The festivities are scheduled to last for three whole days. “We are expecting guests from all over the world,” the 57-year-old proudly explains. Already numerous acceptances have been received from former students, who are meantime scattered around the four corners of the globe and who will be arriving from Russia, China, Canada, Latin America and Africa especially for the anniversary celebrations. And naturally from Germany too.
The school festival will begin on Friday, September 30, 2011. A lot of people are already looking forward to seeing Biermösl Blosn, the Bavarian cult band who will be traveling to the event in the company of cabaret artist Gerhard Polt. A fair match is anticipated on the soccer pitch for a classic encounter between pupils and teachers. The Alumni Bistro will act as a meeting point and contact office for former students. It will also be possible to have virtual reunions there: guests can chat via Twitter and Facebook with everyone who could not come in person. The seven founders of the initially tiny teaching institution will focus once again on the 50-year-old German School Washington. Things were certainly not easy back then, just a few years after the Second World War. For many German immigrants at the time it seemed more pertinent to learn English and become integrated as quickly as possible. On September 11, 1961, the situation was just right. In a private villa on MacArthur Boulevard in the Palisades district of Washington, D.C. a real school had been “put together” with space for 33 students. About one year prior to that, the seven initiators had laid the legal foundation for the school by founding the Deutscher Schulverein Washington, D.C. The funding for the school came from private donations fom parents and subsidies from the German Foreign Office, which is still subsidizing the school.
Back to the present: an electronic gong resounds, marking the end of the break. The students slowly return to their classrooms. Today, 610 students attend the German School. It is now a huge complex of buildings in the sober architectural style of the 1970s, and includes a preschool, an elementary school and an upper school. It is located in Potomac in the state of Maryland, a 30-minute drive from the White House. The working language is mainly German. The German language was also what Beate Ziener mainly had in mind when she moved to Washington with husband Markus and daughter Lara. “When we came here four years ago, it was clear to me that Lara would go to the German School.” Beate Ziener pauses for a second, then adds: “For me personally, the German School is still a bit like home.” Feeling at home – this includes preserving German traditions. For example, the “Schultüte” (literally, school cone) which each school beginner is given to sweeten his or her first day at school. Most Americans are not familiar with this custom. One of the main tasks of German schools abroad is to promote cultural exchange between Germany and the respective host countries. These schools are also part of the German Foreign Office’s Partner School Initiative (PASCH). The German School Washington is also open to American students and prepares children both for the German higher education entrance qualification and for the High School Diploma. The associated language school, German Language Courses, is by far the largest German language school in the United States. Every week about 500 children and adults learn here at different levels and can sit for the German Language Diploma.
Many of the students and parents involved with the German School Washington would like there to be even closer links betweenthings German and American. Antje Sina, mother of another student and member of the Board of the German School, hopes thatin future there will be “a lot more exchanges between students from German and American schools.” All in keeping with the motto of the German School: The Best of Two Worlds.////
