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Former IRA member in German schools

Students show interest in the Nothern Ireland Conflict

Leer - On the 25^th of April the Irish book writer and former Director of Publicity of Sinn Féin Danny Morrison held a lecture and recounted stages of his vita as a politician and novelist. Three classes of the 11^th grade of the Teletta-Groß Gymnasium listened to him attentively to learn more about life during the troubles. Before the reading took place in the assembly hall at the Ostersteg, the students had worked on the Irish history in detail, especially with sources dealing with the Northern Ireland conflict and the fights between the IRA and the British army. Danny Morrison himself, born on the 9^th of January 1953, had become a young volunteer of the IRA at a very early age. He had believed in the necessity to protect his family and to struggle for a united Ireland and was finally charged for five years in prison. So there could be no better teacher for the pupils to get sufficient answers and to approach this complex topic.

Nevertheless the pupils’ opinions about this rather uncommon English lesson were mixed: Danny Morrison’s Irish dialect and his long answers, which sometimes took about 15 minutes per question, made it difficult for some students to follow his explanations and to concentrate all the time. But due to the students’ good preparation it was easier for them to comprehend his essay “Once a volunteer” taken from his book “All the dead voices” because they had already worked on this text the lessons before. All in all the lecture and the discussions in class were an attractive opportunity for the pupils to be informed about the Irish history and a welcome alternative.

Text: Sabrina Gawlik, Alexandra Janssen, Anna Bakenhaus, Moritz Cvoro und Michaela Poppen (11g)

2008-05-30, sp