Beyond the Iron Curtain

The first time the late Tom Lathrop suggested that Hans-Jörg Busch accept a visiting professor position at the University of Delaware, Busch had to decline.

“They don’t allow us to travel,” he said. This was in 1988 when the two Spanish professors, Lathrop from UD and Busch from Karl Marx University (now the University of Leipzig) in the former German Democratic Republic, commonly known as East German or the GDR, met at a conference in Poland.

A year later, the Berlin Wall fell, the communist East German regime collapsed and Lathrop repeated the invitation. This time, Busch accepted, and in August 1991, Jörg, his wife Iris, also a Spanish professor, and their 5-year-old daughter Stefanie, arrived in Newark. The family began a new life in Delaware, with both Jörg and Iris teaching in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures (DLLC).

It began as a one-year appointment but extended more than three decades when the family made Delaware their permanent home. Now, after more than 30 years as UD faculty, Iris, assistant professor of German, and Jörg, associate professor of Spanish, are retiring to begin the next chapter in their lives.

East versus west

“UD welcomed us with open arms,” Iris said. “It is an international department, so many of our colleagues were also away from home. People understood how it felt. And Richard [Zipser, former DLLC department chair] researched the GDR, so he knew the struggles we had faced.”

Returning home the following summer was a shock as the Busches realized that “home” wasn’t there anymore. Changes had swept across the former GDR, and the country where they grew up and started their family no longer existed. West German personnel were brought in to revamp the university system, and even the building where they had studied and worked had been torn down. Reunification was welcomed, but it was hard on many East Germans.​

“After the euphoria of reunification, things got rough for East Germans. Most factories closed. Many people lost their jobs and had to reapply. Universities had to be restructured. There was a general attitude that everything East German was bad and had to be destroyed, and of course the winner takes it all — creating a conflict between the ‘stupid, uneducated east’ and the 'arrogant, know-it-all west,’” Iris said. “While we experienced this welcoming attitude here, when we returned to Germany we felt like second class citizens. We didn’t want that. We knew it could be different.”

They returned to Delaware that fall, becoming permanent faculty in the DLLC and making Newark their new home.

Living language

Like many young couples, Iris and Jörg met at a party, but their relationship began with a dictionary. A relative from the West had sent Jörg a monolingual Spanish dictionary, and Iris was eager to look through the rare book because dictionaries were hard to come by in the GDR.

Freedom of choice was hard to come by as well. All students were required to study Russian, and authorities assigned other languages based on aptitude, political needs and even students’ private circumstances.

“I was given two Western languages, English and Spanish, because I didn’t have any family in the West. They could deploy me on a trip to work as a translator, and I wouldn’t defect because my family was in the East,” Iris said.

“I flunked the aptitude test because I wasn’t good in Russian,” Jörg said. But he was skilled at romance languages like French, and eventually he was assigned Spanish and Portuguese as well because of the GDR’s political connections with communist regimes in Latin and South America.

The move to Delaware brought different challenges. Jörg didn’t speak English or have a driver’s license when they arrived, and he had to start his career again from the start.

“I was an assistant professor in Germany, and here I basically started as an adjunct. It took a few years to get a contract here,” he said.

In other ways, moving to Delaware meant more continuity in their lives.

“All our friends did something new. I can’t imagine what life would have been like if we had stayed in Leipzig,” Iris said. “When we moved to Delaware, everything around us changed, but professionally we continued to do what we had done in East Germany.”

Teaching the American way

Although they were both trained in foreign language education pedagogy, stepping into classrooms at UD was unlike their experiences in the GDR.

“Being a student in East Germany meant there was one opinion — the teacher’s. Your own opinion didn’t matter,” Iris said.

Even the teachers were not free to say whatever they wanted.

“There was a political aspect, too. If you said something that was not in line with the party, it could have been the end of your career,” Jörg said. “It’s completely different here, and that is a good thing.”

In America, students felt free to say whatever they wanted, and they wanted to be heard. Even though it was very different from what they were used to, Iris and Jörg learned to embrace the learning partnerships that formed in their classrooms and value the more student-centered and communicative approach.

“The 400-level classes are my favorite because you can see all that the students have learned over the years. We speak Spanish during the entire class. At the advanced level, students can really create with the language, discuss complex ideas and express what they think. Lower levels are more about repetition,” Jörg said.

However, Iris prefers the beginner level courses.

“For me, it’s German 105. The students are so excited, and every day when they walk out of the classroom they have learned something measurable,” she said. “They feel empowered, and it’s just so gratifying. It is a fun course and my favorite.”

In their three decades at UD, the Busches have seen many changes, from the growth of businesses on Main Street, to adding languages like Japanese, Chinese and Korean to the DLLC curriculum, and they’ve drawn on their language skills to develop and lead study abroad programs in Germany, Argentina, Costa Rica and Spain.

“The programs are a good opportunity to speak the language with real people. When you teach in the classroom all year, it’s nice to live in the country and experience all the things you teach about culture,” Jörg said.

“If you want to spread your wings, to get to know yourself, to know your own culture better, you need to study abroad. You need to contrast what you know with another culture. Students are young and free, so for them the time is now,” Iris said.

Life after UD

The family has always returned to Germany during breaks, but Newark and UD are home. They became American citizens in the early 2000s, and their two grandchildren are growing up in Ohio.

“We are American Germans. We have grown with the department and the University, and we feel like we are a part of Newark,” Iris said. “I’ve lived more of my life in America, and these have been very good years. I have always embraced the American way of being. I feel that people are more welcoming here, friendly, and they take an interest in people they meet. We have so many very good friends here.”

In retirement the couple plans to do what many Americans do — spend time with grandchildren, pursue hobbies, take classes and volunteer.

“We consider ourselves incredibly lucky. We were here at the right time, with the right people, in the right place,” Iris said. “It is unbelievable that it happened to us, two East Germans.”​

Article by Megan M.F. Everhart 

Photos courtesy of Iris and Jörg Busch

December 21, 2023