Does the rubble of burning tanks and armored vehicles inspire you to play and wise off? Well for Immo Starbreit playing soldier with friends on abandoned tanks of World War II was the catalyst for his future. While the twelve-year olds were playing one of their games in the rubble, paying no heed to the dangers of war, American tanks rumbled around the corner. The lead tank stopped. The top opened. A Major appeared and asked the boys if any of them spoke English. Young Starbreit volunteered that he spoke a little. The Major told him to climb into the tank, saying he needed a guide and interpreter who knew the area. Before long Immo was acting as the daily guide and interpreter for the Americans.
Appreciative of Immo’s help after the German defeat, the Major told Immo he was an assistant professor at Princeton and that he would sponsor him to come to America for college.
Of age and a year through college in Germany Immo sent a missive to the Major asking if he could attend Princeton. Not only did the Major say “yes”, the Major arranged for Immo’s acceptance into Princeton and all of Immo’s transportation, tuition, room and board and living expenses. Contrary to the destructiveness of World War II the serendipitous meeting between a warring soldier and a child playing in the rubble proved to be a true fortune of war.
After three years at Princeton and a return trip to Germany Immo acted as a liaison in U.S.-German affairs. He later became the German Ambassador to the United States. All thanks to “wise’ing” off among burning vehicles in Berlin.
[I welcome your comments and suggestions]
________________
Link to “Secondary Source Grandfather” Audio -
https://soundcloud.com/harris-familyregister/princeton-class-of-1953-story-from-a-reunion-story-not-about-a-reunion-story
Transcript of the Primary Source Audio
(Inflections and cadence missing)
This is a story that was told to me by Emo Starbright, a classmate of mine at Princeton.
What our class does is—after the 50th reunion, we go to class reunions in different cities. Emo was the sponsor for the trip to Berlin. So I got a chance to talk to him, and we got around to, you know, how you end up at Princeton. And it was a very interesting story.
Bear in mind that during World War II, we were around 10, 11, 12 years old. Emo was living in East Germany with his brother, his mother, and his sister. His father was a physician stationed in Berlin.
As the war was ending, the Russians were taking over East Germany. When they captured German soldiers, they would march them east—and not too many of those guys came back. But on the march, if anyone dropped out during the day, the Russians would just go to a nearby farmhouse, pull someone out, and put them in the line. They didn’t care whether it was a man, woman, or child. The number always had to stay the same.
So his mother started getting nervous, and they decided it was time to go to Berlin.
Before they left, she told Emo: “Go out to the pasture, look for the biggest horse, load our stuff on it, and we’ll walk to Berlin.”
So Emo, ten years old and not knowing much about horses, goes out and picks the biggest one he sees—which happens to be a pregnant mare. They're a little rambunctious, but they managed to load their belongings on her and headed for East Berlin.
Meanwhile, Emo recalled that if the Russians found anyone they didn’t like—or if a German stepped out of line—they’d just hang them from a lamppost. He said he spent a lot of time looking at dead bodies on lampposts.
When they got to Berlin, they found their dad. The city was being bombed pretty regularly by the Allies. But at that age, you feel like you’re immortal.
So, when the bombing stopped, he and a buddy would go out into the streets. There might be a burned-out tank or armored car, and they’d be out there playing around—playing cowboys and Indians or whatever.
One time, while they were out, three or four American tanks came around the corner. The lead tank stopped, and the guy inside looked down and said, “Hey, do any of you kids speak English?”
Emo said he spoke a little English he’d learned in school, so he replied, “I do.”
The man, who turned out to be a major, said, “Get in the tank.”
So Emo spent two or three weeks with the major, showing him around Berlin and acting as a kind of interpreter.
When the major had to leave, he told Emo:
“Emo, you’ve been very helpful. I want you to know my regular job is assistant professor at Princeton. When you’re old enough to go to college, here’s my card. Contact me.”
He handed Emo a card with his name and Princeton University on it.
Emo spent one year in college in Germany, then wrote to the professor and asked, “Any chance I could come to Princeton?”
The professor wrote back: “Come ahead.”
Emo ended up spending two or three years at Princeton (I think it was three, but it might’ve been two). His English got quite good.
When he returned to Germany, he got involved in U.S.–German affairs. He eventually became ambassador to the United States—and later, ambassador to France.
He told me:
“I wouldn’t have even thought of these kinds of things if I hadn’t been out, playing around, wisecracking near some burning vehicle in Berlin. In some ways, the war made me.”
I thought it was an interesting story.
Image Citation -
1. Lamprecht, Gerhard, director. Somewhere in Berlin. Somewhere in Berlin, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somewhere_in_Berlin.
My Writing Situation-
1. My Subject - Emo Starbrights progression from benighted boy to UN ambassador in U.S German Affairs.
2. My purpose - “Expedient”- to learn from my grandfather's story abilities to ameliorate my own. “Alterocentric/Allocentric/Other Regarding” - to record my families stories in a family register for our descendants and their upbringing.
3. My Intended Audience - My instructor whose putting himself in the role of my soi-disant peer/and or somebody who’s also at my level of education and life experience.
4. The Sources of Information available to me - at this point in time, only a secondary source, my grandfather recounting his friends story.
5. Constraints - Grandfather only source; secondhand source, who got it from main guy.
Hook Attempts Introductory Paragraph -
Playing about and wising off in an internecine conflict, World War II, changed a man's life.
Vocabulary I thought about and Avoided-
Intrepid, Impavid, Benighted, Detritus.
: