1960: Letter Frank Pattison

21st October 2011

Dear Mr Nash,
I was interested to hear about the book which will include reference to Martin Deutschkron. You will be familiar with Inge’s book “Ich trug den gelben Stern” and perhaps her later book “Unbequem — mein Leben nach dem Uberleben”, which describes how Martin took on the running of a home for Jewish boys in Birmingham before, at 54, being appointed to the staff of Redditch County High School in 1947. The latter book includes these lines about Inge’s father:

“Von da [receiving his naturalisation papers] lehrte er seine Schüler die deutsche Sprache mit einer lnbrunst, die fast religiös zu nennen war. Und er tat dies bis zu seinem 88. Lebensjahr. Mit vergleichbarem Eifer leitete er jahrelang einen Schüleraustausch zwischen einer Schule in KöIn, später in Baiersbronn, und der englischen Schule in Redditch, in der er lehrte, unter dem Vorwand, dass dies der Erlernung der jeweiligen Sprache dienlich sei. Für ihn hatte es sicher eine tiefere Bedeutung.”

I was a pupil at Redditch County High School and was taught by Martin, or Doc as we all called him, for four years, from my first German lesson to Oxbridge entrance. He was not the most efficient of teachers, being rather
unorganised and often irascible, especially with naughty teenage girls, but as a person he was truly inspiring and was a decisive influence in my life.
In lessons he regularly promoted the exchange with the Aufbaurealschule in Cologne. I had no interest at all in going to Germany and refused to take part. Then, at breakfast one morning, my parents told me that Dr Deutschkron had visited us the previous evening after I had gone to bed and persuaded them to send me on the exchange. To make it easier for them, he would arrange for me to stay with a German family without the requirement to accommodate a German guest in return.

It was a meeting that changed my life. I loved Germany and the Germans from the first moment, studied the language at university, became a German teacher and during my 36-year teaching career led an exchange to Germany every single year. I think it’s true to say that over this period hundreds of young lives, not just mine, have been enriched by their contacts with Germany, and this all goes back to a secret visit to Redditch by a 67-year-old German teacher who was prepared to drive 30 miles late at night in the interests of one reluctant pupil.

Another initiative of Doc‘s which I was initially unwilling to accept provided me with one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Between school and university he arranged a six-month work placement for another County High School pupil and me at a bank in Cologne. After that total immersion in German life and the German language and the tremendous confidence it gave me, both linguistically and socially, I was resolved to give others the same lifechanging opportunity and so became a German teacher, with exchanges, study visits and work experience as a central aspect of my teaching.

I may have been a little dismissive of Doc‘s teaching earlier. An example of his poor organisation is that we spent half a year ploughing through “Der zerbrochene Krug“ as an A Level text, only to discover when we opened the examination paper that the work wasn‘t on the syllabus that year. His strength was his insistence that we spoke German in class, something that was quite unusual in language teaching in the late 1950‘s. And when we were allowed to glimpse something of his own history, as in his teaching of “Das Brandopfer“, which deals with the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany, he was fascinating.

Furthermore, it is to his great credit that a school which previously had hardly ever produced an Oxbridge candidate sent three boys to Oxford to read German in successive years. The three of us, Alan Jones, a former German lecturer and author of books on Germany, who will also be contacting you, Brian Styler and I feIl in love with German as a result of our experiences on the Cologne exchange, but the rigour of Doc‘s language teaching in the Sixth Form, to say nothing of his impatience, ensured that our German was scholarly and accurate as well as fluent.

I last met Doc at my brother‘s wedding. My brother and his wife, herself a German graduate, took part in the Redditch-Cologne exchanges and, like me, remember Doc with great affection; they are still in contact with Cologne friends from half a century ago. We remember Doc as friendly and warmhearted, still incredibly energetic and dynamic as he approached 70. Probably more than anything, we are grateful for his German exchanges and for the effect that they had on our lives. lt was a real privilege to have known such an inspirational person.

I hope that these notes will be of some interest. I will be happy to answer any questions that you may have about Martin Deutschkron.
With best wishes,

Übersicht aller Briefe und Veröffentlichungen:
Index

Index