Berlin-- Robert Koch Oberschule

I arrived in Berlin in August with the hope of becoming immersed in the culture and language I had studied for so long. I thought I was prepared to give up my Duke-persona and selflessly jump into life as a European. I had hoped that previous vacations to Europe and plenty of German classes would shield me from the culture shock that so many find here across the pond. However, my experiences in my first month in Berlin, like so many before me, were nothing like I expected. I had feared that I would be overwhelmed by the new culture and use of the language, when in actuality all of us Duke-in-Berliners had the same fears and thus clung to one another. We spent most of our time only with one another, speaking English and reminiscing about Duke events of previous years. Though we clearly noticed the differences between life in Berlin and in Durham, we were quickly becoming a sub-section of society as opposed to a temporary part of it.

Thus, I was so thankful to finally get organized with my SEE! project by the end of September for some interaction with some Germans besides my ten-year-old host-sister. Unfortunately, right after my first visit to the Robert-Koch Oberschule, the students went on vacation for two weeks, followed by a two-week fall break for me. This interruption was unfortunately timed, but now I have plans to work at the school every Friday for around two hours. I work with an English teacher and two of his classes, mostly with students whose English is about on par with my German and are only a few years younger than me.

The high school is located in the heart of Kreuzberg, an area of west Berlin that has a huge Turkish population. Herr Bohse, the English teacher I work with, estimates that about 80% of the school is Turkish. In my two trips to the school I have also met students with Greek, Irani, Iraqi, Saudi Arabian, Jordanian, Syrian, and Afghani backgrounds. I consider myself lucky that simply asking my program director for some advice with service placement landed me exactly in the situation I was looking for. Berlin is one of the largest Turkish cities in the world, but you can pretty easily overlook that and ignore the huge section of society if you don’t go poking around in the right places. I have only visited this high school twice, and already I know that it has deeply impacted my study abroad experience—I’m seeing Berlin for what it is today and what it will be in the future, not where Checkpoint Charlie was and where Kings saw operas.

I’ve heard from a variety of sources here in Berlin that new research shows that third-generation German-Turks are actually less integrated in German culture than their parents. As the Turkish population grows and children can function in their own society with their own language and stores, there is a reverse-integration occurring. With a growing dislike of Turks in Europe (or at least a more open discussion of the dislike with the talks of EU integration) and an ever-expanding unemployment problem in Germany, the students who I work with are at a great risk of further falling out of German society.

The students I am meeting with are actually preparing for a BBC Worldwide live broadcast from the school in December where they will be speaking English and discussing problems facing their generation. In the classes I visit, we sit around in a circle and the teacher and I attempt to prompt discussions of these topics by me describing what it means to me to be an American and likewise their impressions of their identity. One student profoundly expounded in English, likely a third or fourth language for her, that Germans do not accept her as European and Turks do not accept her as Turkish. So this generation is not only facing unemployment, they are being rejected from the homes that they know.

Though I can imagine that many Duke students who tutor downtown in Durham have similar experiences to the ones I’m having at this high school, there is an interesting dynamic between Turks and Germans that exists only here in Berlin. I’m thankful that I can be taking advantage of this dynamic and learning from it while I’m here while also giving something back to the society and helping these excited and intelligent students to prepare for their BBC debut.

-Allison Kenney, October 2006