After 7 months of digging around in federal archives, ceaselessly translating German documents, meeting with local academics, and even hiring Polish and Hungarian "research assistance" to help with translations, Fritz was given an opportunity to tie a pretty bow around his hard work in the form of a 45-minute talk at Goethe Universität in Frankfurt. This was the longest and most complete presentation Fritz has given on his bold dissertation topic: The Privatization of the Cold War.
Our endlessly kind and generous friends, Johanna and Frederic, hosted us in their apartment for the 2 days we were in town.
I received a private preview of his presentation in their living room before it was debuted for the German academics.
I was invited to attend the real thing along 21 other academics; a rather impressive crowd for such a talk. Professor Plumpe, a well-known German historian and Fritz's sponsoring professor (pictured above) was extremely complimentary of Fritz's project, and said something along the lines of (paraphrased and translated from German), "Fritz has the potential to reorient the field of Cold War history. "
After his talk, the historians in attendance proceeded to ask questions and debate the topic for at least 30 minutes. They asked their questions in German while Fritz responded in English, clearly understanding everything they were saying. I couldn't follow any of the German, but Fritz fielded each question beautifully. It was a very cool dialogue to witness!
Afterward, the entire group migrated to a traditional German restaurant where Professor Plumpe generously treated the two of us! The whole day was a complete success for Fritz. He delivered an excellent talk that succinctly wove together an explanation of how global finance affected the end of the Cold War in Hungary, Poland, and East Germany.
He was brilliant! And I could not have felt prouder of my handsome and intelligent love who just might change the world's interpretation of the Cold War!
Congrats to Fritz! I know doors will open for him and he will have a bright future in the academic world, maybe even the next Professor Plumpe someday mentoring another young doctoral student!
ReplyDeleteFritz's ideas changed the way *I* think about the cold war, so I'm sure he's well on his way to getting through the rest of the world. ;) Congratulations to Fritz!
ReplyDelete