As a spouse of a Foreign Service Officer (FSO), one is exposed to a unique lifestyle in the world of…
In the Heat of the Cold War: Diplomats in a Divided Germany
Ever since the Foreign Service’s infancy, Foreign Service spouses have traveled with their partners to all corners of the world,…
The Road to Reunification: Remembering the Reintegration of East and West Germany
The road to German reunification was long, turbulent, and beset with political obstacles. Despite the challenges, German reunification represents a…
Helping Reunite Germany with Tennis
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 ushered in a fraught time in the lives of East and West…
East Germany Builds the Berlin Wall
The summer of 1961 was fraught with tensions between Moscow and Washington. Berlin, which had been a Cold War flash…
Targeted by Germany’s Red Army Faction
An offshoot of the radical Baader-Meinhof Group (named for its founders, Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Horst Mahler, and Ulrike Meinhof),…
Dealing with a Reunified Germany
With the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, the long-awaited reunification between East and West Germany began. A…
“We’re in East Germany! We better get the hell out quick!”
It began as a routine trip to test artillery battalions. It ended as a minor international incident that lasted several…
Rescuing Americans from East Berlin
Rescuing Americans from East Berlin William J. Dyess, a native of Troy, Alabama, and a University of Alabama graduate, joined…
Issuing the Visa that Would Save a Jewish Girl
Issuing the Visa that Would Save a Jewish Girl Richard H. Davis, a young Foreign Service officer from Chautauqua County,…