August 27, 2025 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, for Lawson Bader, one teacher changed everything. Erika, his German instructor, wasn’t content to simply drill vocabulary. She wanted her students to see history with their own eyes. That meant taking Lawson to Berlin when the Wall still loomed large, dividing families and a nation. Standing at the Cold War’s most visible fault line, he learned more than any textbook could teach: the consequences of tyranny, the meaning of freedom, and the power of one teacher to shape a student’s life forever.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
This is Lee Habibe and this is our American Stories.
It's time for our Final Thoughts series, where we bring
you the final thoughts from loved ones to those who've
passed an obituary, a eulogy, a note, and today's comes
to us from laws Invader, who paid tribute to his
late teacher, Erica, and he did it in the form
(00:35):
of a letter to her brother. Let's take a listen
to Lawson and his letter.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Fall twenty and fourteen. Dear Eberheart, you and I have
never met, but I knew your sister Erica. I'm sorry
I missed her memorial service. I did manage to go
online and sign the obituary page, and I included myself
(01:05):
in the Facebook group. But I feel compelled to write
this two years after her death because of what my
family and I were just able to do. You see,
I was one of Erica's kids. I know she had
many of them, but I also think that I was
(01:25):
part of her original gaggle, the ones who traveled with
her to Germany that first time. We were her guinea pigs,
as she called us. David was also in my class.
In fact, he and I had been in Montessori school
together in the early nineteen seventies. I probably met Erica then,
(01:47):
but I had no idea who she would become later
in my life. She changed my world. I know that's
an overused phrase, but it's true, and not just because
I learned to appreciate another language. Well, at least I
(02:07):
tried learning German. She thought it fairly ironic that it
actually became a college miner of mine later on. She
was also instrumental in helping my brother through some rough times,
but that's his story, not mine. Now. She changed my
(02:29):
life because she made it so clear that the best
teachers are the ones who know you, really know you.
It's why I learned so much. I married a teacher,
a seriously great one. So I appreciate Erica even more
(02:50):
now that I see what's going on in the background
of the best teachers. There is a cost to being
a great teacher, such a great reward too. She also
changed me because she's the one who got this Scott
to go to Germany. As you know, we were the
group that did that first exchange. We lived with families
(03:14):
who in turn became a family. I spend a lot
of time these days working among people and groups that
are committed to promoting the causes of freedom. I have
had what I would call many interruptions in my life
that have led me down that path. Erica is one
(03:35):
of those interruptions, and I would simply not be as
content with what I'm doing today without her, So allow
me to tell you about it, even though I'm really
telling her. Thirty one years ago we first visited Berlin,
(03:58):
do you remember, Erica? And in Berlin I was changed.
I loved being in your city of Hamburg, entertaining long
evening hours with hair praying, discussing World War II and
his experience of being forced into the Hitler youth. We
drove north through empty woods to Degrenza, that ominous fence
(04:22):
separating East and West Germany, and I saw Helga weep
at that tragic reality of her separation from the village
where she grew up, which we could just see over
the fence a few kilometers away. I wonder how you
felt when you journeyed away those many years ago, and
(04:42):
then you took us to Berlin. In Berlin, the past
collided with the present. The bullet riddled Reichstag, the old
German parliament building, which backed up to demour, that infamous
graffiti adorned wall that surrounded in rate in that city,
the expanse of No Man's Land Pottstemmer Plutz, a great
(05:06):
public square covering what remained of Hitler's bunker while providing
an open firing range for the East German snipers. The
contrast between colorful nightlife with the kurfensten Damstrasse, West Berlin's
equivalent to Times Square, contrasted with the dull gray of
(05:27):
Alexander Plutz, which was the East Berlin response to Times Square, which,
as you know, wasn't really much of a response. Frankly,
on wooden scaffolding, we would gaze up and over the
wall and beheld anonymous binocular staring back at us from
behind cement block watch towers. Thirty one years later, earlier
(05:51):
this month, I returned to Berlin. It was a bit
strange to be back. This time. I was with my children,
the youngest of whom Margaret was now the same age
I think I was on that first visit. We spent
(06:11):
most of our two days exploring what used to be
the Soviet sector. We walked to Checkpoint Charlie, which of
course mark the end of the American sector. In the
beginning of the Soviets claim on the city, but we
approached it from a decidedly different angle than I first
did in nineteen eighty three. Today a large MacDonald's dominates
(06:33):
the intersection the Golden Arch, replacing what was once a
tense set of switchback plates and armed guards. At eleven
o'clock at night, Alexander Plots is a mass of humanity,
young and old, enjoying a balmy evening of street performers
and endless food tents Potsdammer Plots is now a temple
(06:57):
to modern high rises and gleaming and dismissive of what
once lay beneath its foundations. A solitary guard tower remains,
though tucked away on a tree lined street where for
a few euros you can have your photo taken with
East German soldiers playing dress up. Now the only place
(07:21):
to see a tray band that ubiquitous East German car
is at a special museum that could actually fit perfectly
with the Kichikney Island boardwalk. It even advertises where nostalgia
is guaranteed. Opfomann, the iconic symbol that was once used
(07:42):
by the East Germans to epitomize the Importance of Work
now has its own capitalistic and fused retail store opposite
the friend zosischedom the old Berlin Cathedral, which lay so
quiet and empty those many decades behind the wall. Late
one evening, we all took the subway to the Kudam,
(08:06):
which is still the central shopping district of Berlin, just
as it was in the nineteen seventies and eighties. Gucci, Dijo, Zara,
h and M and Kenneth Cole stores lying the street
still bathed in the blue reflection off the Kaiserville Helm
Memorial Church windows. But unlike the last time I was there,
(08:29):
it was quiet. I wasn't looking for a Metaphor maybe
it was there the capitalistic west becoming stale as it
gives way to entrepreneurial energies from the east. Or maybe
it was just a quiet night in August when many
(08:51):
folks were on holiday. There was no need to make
it more than it was. And you and I never
agreed in our politics anyway. Thirty one years ago you
took me to Berlin. In the years that followed, I
made multiple trips, but my last visit was just before
(09:13):
Demauer came down. Now Here, I was back. Those early
days had been sobering experiences. Now thirty one years later,
I watched my children whiz through the Brandenborg Gate on bikes,
soaking up the sunset and the populated plaza without a
(09:35):
care or first hand appreciation of how that place has changed.
I had to stop and, through misty eyes, reach out
and touch it. Erica, I touched it profoundly, grateful that
their first visit to Berlin brought with it such greater
(09:59):
promise and hope. Then did my visits those many decades before. Anyway,
I thought you'd appreciate hearing that something you started decades
later still having an impact. I miss you, as do
(10:19):
many others.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Thanks Lawson, the power of one teacher to change a life.
Loss In Beader, it changed his and his view toward freedom.
Our Final Thoughts series, loss In Beder on his final
words to his German teacher, Erica here on Our American
(10:43):
Stories
This is Lee Habibe and this is our American Stories.
It's time for our Final Thoughts series, where we bring
you the final thoughts from loved ones to those who've
passed an obituary, a eulogy, a note, and today's comes
to us from laws Invader, who paid tribute to his
late teacher, Erica, and he did it in the form
(00:35):
of a letter to her brother. Let's take a listen
to Lawson and his letter.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Fall twenty and fourteen. Dear Eberheart, you and I have
never met, but I knew your sister Erica. I'm sorry
I missed her memorial service. I did manage to go
online and sign the obituary page, and I included myself
(01:05):
in the Facebook group. But I feel compelled to write
this two years after her death because of what my
family and I were just able to do. You see,
I was one of Erica's kids. I know she had
many of them, but I also think that I was
(01:25):
part of her original gaggle, the ones who traveled with
her to Germany that first time. We were her guinea pigs,
as she called us. David was also in my class.
In fact, he and I had been in Montessori school
together in the early nineteen seventies. I probably met Erica then,
(01:47):
but I had no idea who she would become later
in my life. She changed my world. I know that's
an overused phrase, but it's true, and not just because
I learned to appreciate another language. Well, at least I
(02:07):
tried learning German. She thought it fairly ironic that it
actually became a college miner of mine later on. She
was also instrumental in helping my brother through some rough times,
but that's his story, not mine. Now. She changed my
(02:29):
life because she made it so clear that the best
teachers are the ones who know you, really know you.
It's why I learned so much. I married a teacher,
a seriously great one. So I appreciate Erica even more
(02:50):
now that I see what's going on in the background
of the best teachers. There is a cost to being
a great teacher, such a great reward too. She also
changed me because she's the one who got this Scott
to go to Germany. As you know, we were the
group that did that first exchange. We lived with families
(03:14):
who in turn became a family. I spend a lot
of time these days working among people and groups that
are committed to promoting the causes of freedom. I have
had what I would call many interruptions in my life
that have led me down that path. Erica is one
(03:35):
of those interruptions, and I would simply not be as
content with what I'm doing today without her, So allow
me to tell you about it, even though I'm really
telling her. Thirty one years ago we first visited Berlin,
(03:58):
do you remember, Erica? And in Berlin I was changed.
I loved being in your city of Hamburg, entertaining long
evening hours with hair praying, discussing World War II and
his experience of being forced into the Hitler youth. We
drove north through empty woods to Degrenza, that ominous fence
(04:22):
separating East and West Germany, and I saw Helga weep
at that tragic reality of her separation from the village
where she grew up, which we could just see over
the fence a few kilometers away. I wonder how you
felt when you journeyed away those many years ago, and
(04:42):
then you took us to Berlin. In Berlin, the past
collided with the present. The bullet riddled Reichstag, the old
German parliament building, which backed up to demour, that infamous
graffiti adorned wall that surrounded in rate in that city,
the expanse of No Man's Land Pottstemmer Plutz, a great
(05:06):
public square covering what remained of Hitler's bunker while providing
an open firing range for the East German snipers. The
contrast between colorful nightlife with the kurfensten Damstrasse, West Berlin's
equivalent to Times Square, contrasted with the dull gray of
(05:27):
Alexander Plutz, which was the East Berlin response to Times Square, which,
as you know, wasn't really much of a response. Frankly,
on wooden scaffolding, we would gaze up and over the
wall and beheld anonymous binocular staring back at us from
behind cement block watch towers. Thirty one years later, earlier
(05:51):
this month, I returned to Berlin. It was a bit
strange to be back. This time. I was with my children,
the youngest of whom Margaret was now the same age
I think I was on that first visit. We spent
(06:11):
most of our two days exploring what used to be
the Soviet sector. We walked to Checkpoint Charlie, which of
course mark the end of the American sector. In the
beginning of the Soviets claim on the city, but we
approached it from a decidedly different angle than I first
did in nineteen eighty three. Today a large MacDonald's dominates
(06:33):
the intersection the Golden Arch, replacing what was once a
tense set of switchback plates and armed guards. At eleven
o'clock at night, Alexander Plots is a mass of humanity,
young and old, enjoying a balmy evening of street performers
and endless food tents Potsdammer Plots is now a temple
(06:57):
to modern high rises and gleaming and dismissive of what
once lay beneath its foundations. A solitary guard tower remains,
though tucked away on a tree lined street where for
a few euros you can have your photo taken with
East German soldiers playing dress up. Now the only place
(07:21):
to see a tray band that ubiquitous East German car
is at a special museum that could actually fit perfectly
with the Kichikney Island boardwalk. It even advertises where nostalgia
is guaranteed. Opfomann, the iconic symbol that was once used
(07:42):
by the East Germans to epitomize the Importance of Work
now has its own capitalistic and fused retail store opposite
the friend zosischedom the old Berlin Cathedral, which lay so
quiet and empty those many decades behind the wall. Late
one evening, we all took the subway to the Kudam,
(08:06):
which is still the central shopping district of Berlin, just
as it was in the nineteen seventies and eighties. Gucci, Dijo, Zara,
h and M and Kenneth Cole stores lying the street
still bathed in the blue reflection off the Kaiserville Helm
Memorial Church windows. But unlike the last time I was there,
(08:29):
it was quiet. I wasn't looking for a Metaphor maybe
it was there the capitalistic west becoming stale as it
gives way to entrepreneurial energies from the east. Or maybe
it was just a quiet night in August when many
(08:51):
folks were on holiday. There was no need to make
it more than it was. And you and I never
agreed in our politics anyway. Thirty one years ago you
took me to Berlin. In the years that followed, I
made multiple trips, but my last visit was just before
(09:13):
Demauer came down. Now Here, I was back. Those early
days had been sobering experiences. Now thirty one years later,
I watched my children whiz through the Brandenborg Gate on bikes,
soaking up the sunset and the populated plaza without a
(09:35):
care or first hand appreciation of how that place has changed.
I had to stop and, through misty eyes, reach out
and touch it. Erica, I touched it profoundly, grateful that
their first visit to Berlin brought with it such greater
(09:59):
promise and hope. Then did my visits those many decades before. Anyway,
I thought you'd appreciate hearing that something you started decades
later still having an impact. I miss you, as do
(10:19):
many others.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Thanks Lawson, the power of one teacher to change a life.
Loss In Beader, it changed his and his view toward freedom.
Our Final Thoughts series, loss In Beder on his final
words to his German teacher, Erica here on Our American
(10:43):
Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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