Dirk Deichfuss has lived in all three variations of Berlin over the last two decades: in the 80’s he was a student in East Berlin, in 1989 he escaped to West Berlin, and six months later he lived in the unified city. No wonder the German instructor’s excursions to local sites are so popular. Last quarter, he led the well-liked excursion series entitled “In the Footsteps of the Wall,” which took students to sites that played important roles in the life of the divided city, including Schloß Cecilienhof, where the Potsdam Conference was held, and the Mauerdokumentationszentrum, a museum documenting the Wall. In another outing a group of over 30 ECLA students visited the Blindenwerkstatt, where Otto Weidt saved the lives of scores of Jews from the National Socialists by employing them in manufacturing work. In addition to teaching German, Dirk Deichfuss is Coordinator of the language programme at ECLA.
The Bard College Berlin Student Blog