BERLIN 2006


Dear All of You!

One of the highlights of our Berlin American High reunion in Berlin will be the opening of a special exhibition at the Allied Museum in Berlin on July 28. This exhibition is to be about us(!) – the US High School in Berlin – from it’s opening in 1946 through to it’s closing in 1994.

Cate Speer and Jeri Glass comprised the initiating force behind this idea – and together with Dr. Helmut Trotnow, Director of the Museum and Florian Weiss, Museum Curator, set the foundations for the project. Here is an intro from Dr. Trotnow:

Let us take a walk down memory lane...

Who of you doesn’t recall the time you spent in Berlin? To be a student in Berlin was quite special, particularly as it also meant living in the “Outpost of Freedom” – a major focus point of world affairs during the Cold War.

What has become of the children and the youth of those days? What lives on in their memories, and in which manner did their experiences from those times assist in vitalizing German-American relations?

Recent events have shown how important it is to cultivate relationships in order to nourish and maintain friendly connections. The exhibition about the story of the “Berlin Brats”, those who attended the American High School in Berlin, will also show that the American presence in Berlin did not consist of military only. We are looking forward to an interesting exhibition, one which will open yet another page in the history of the Western Allies and Berlin from 1945 to 1994.

And now, this is a call to all of you for your help, support and your ideas!

First off, the museum is counting on us to provide display items. Thus this call to you to please check through ALL your Berlin mementos, and to offer anything you feel might be of interest, or even things you don’t consider museum pieces, but were important to you during your stay in Berlin. Items offered can include the whole gamut, for example:

- original photos of events, people, etc. pertaining to the school, student exchanges, German – American activities, life in the military community
- documents of all kinds, i.e. school newspapers, personal school papers or notebooks
- music recordings and artifacts from the school band and other student bands
- letter jackets, sports / cheerleading / band / drill team uniforms, school t-shirts, Bear suit, trophies
- favorite clothes, particularly those representing fashion styles of the times
- and whatever else you can think of from within and beyond the school doors

Don’t send any of these items directly, please, but list them with a short description and send this to me at: bahs_museum_project@web.de (with underscores).

I’ll continue to collect all input, and the museum will soon make it’s selection of items it would like to include in the display and send out requests for the pieces chosen to be sent in. (Please note that loan contracts will be provided by the museum, and funds will be available to defray the cost of mailing these items. At the end of the exhibition, which is to be shown about three months, latest until end 2006, all the items used will be returned.)

We’re hoping to produce an exhibit catalogue with not only a description and pictures of the display, but also articles describing living in and attending school in Berlin. So do take a moment to write about that special memory, or to speak it onto an audio file and send it my way. All contributions are most welcome!

Again, this exhibition is to be about and for all of us. So do please take out the time to dig out those special sentimental treasures. It’s very appreciated!!

Thanks! And all best,
Katrin Lindroth Planz '71


Click here for a list of RSVPs.

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