[AV02428] Under the Same Stars: Germany

a wise man once said why should we not all live in peace and harmony we look up at the same stars we are fellow passengers on the same planet and we dwell beneath the same sky what matters it along which road each individual endeavors to find the ultimate truth here is a young man he looks out upon the same stars the same sky as you and i yours mine his who is he just who is this young man and why is he here i think perhaps he can tell you better than i can how do you do my name is hubert wagner i'm german exchange student and i'm living in spirit lake i'm living with a very nice family mr and mrs stephanology i was born in czech slovakia in 1935 and spent my first 10 years on my father's farm but after the war was over in 1944 to 1945 and the communists took over we had to move like other germans and so now we are in germany my country is bavaria i have three brothers and one sister two older brothers and the younger one and the little sister my father couldn't get a farm so he worked as a carpenter and now many people is unemployed and also it also happened to my father sometimes i attended five-year high school in germany already and now i'm going to high school in spirit lake and we'll graduate this year there after i want after i go back to germany i want to go back to school and then finish my high school then i probably want to get a job as for commerce importer or exporter i'm also very interested in politics the program under which i am here is the youth exchange exchange program because i wanted to live on a farm farm bureau federation took charge of me the program is to promote and educate a better understanding better international understanding between the two countries because without understanding we won't get any world peace i left germany with other 199 students on july 21st there we traveled to italy northern italy and in genoa we got shipped in after eight days of nice travel we arrived in new york in new york we made our first step on american soil and now i'm here i'm learning i'm seeing and i'm taken back thoughts of democracy american living and many many surprises these dooms we thought we know how america is what is what it will be what it be would like but there were many surprises many many surprises were also waiting i would like to mention you some but not all i can't tell more the big field the vast areas of the fields i live on a farm i'm working on them but it is very very different than in germany maybe one field is as big as germany farm and you can imagine how small the farms are in germany and that is because we have so many people over there and so few land you follow the newspaper the news and you see how many people is coming over from the eastern zone six thousand a day is the average and you think what shall we do with them who shall feed them where shall we put them it is one of the greatest problems of the days and if you know where the germans live in cellars everywhere six families in one house one room for a family just imagine one room for living room dining room bedroom and kitchen in america you'll find empty houses you wouldn't find an empty house in america and if it would be a stable what do you think do you have any suggestions how we can solve this problem we don't know we know the cell walls are sweating so there is nothing we know it is a great danger for our health but who can help germany it is my country and i love it i am a german and i am proud of it we have so many wars but who can help we need a government we need people who are interested in politics but no one seems to be it is different in schools you in america have schools you are taught government you are taught economics but being german if you hear nothing about the government it isn't taught in schools we have to work we have to learn about ourselves and that is not easy a few differences in living i would like to tell you too because it's so interesting there are little differences but they are important and everything if i know i'm talking uh of experience if you think you are doing right sometimes you want you might even know you are wrong but we got to learn we are here to learn and take back whatever we know thousands of people and thousands of people wanted to come over here then we heard about first with the newspaper and in school we were told to come over here just imagine 14 000 students were volunteers for that and 4 000 came over here apparently 400 came over here and you know in germany everybody wants to go to america and i think it is in every country because america is a land of the future america is a young nation and i think in america is a paradise of the world i think the americans have money the americans have everything because they have cars you know in germany if you have a car that means something you are a big wheel or anything but i found out in america you have a car you don't have to be nobody sometimes they have car don't even have money to pay their car expenses but the car is necessary in america i found out what would the farmers do what would the people do who live out in the country without a car i know it but many many people don't know about anything about another country if they haven't been there i'm music our music is very different in germany we have a new jazz and we know the german at least believes the jazz is coming from america but our music is a folk song every country has his folk song and we have it too and i would like to present you an example of our full song right now right foreign foreign my so you see that's real german music that's original music but there was a time the chess took over and now especially the young people is very very exciting and to light the chest very much me i mean i'm talking i played accordion for a year in a band in a jazz band and i'm a big fan of jazz too but it's american i think now you'll see the american people the american people is thinking i know i have experience of it and i have i know the people thinks different things and so everybody does but i hope the americans have done many many things for the germans and the germans appreciate it and these students we exchange students 400 in america and so many before us we have to be prepared and go back and put in practice what we have learned and i think it will be a good idea we are back together over there in groups and organizations it's the same thing as a competition the things we have we have to to promote when we go back it's one thing to put the people together in organizations and in in clubs in society to put the government to subject government into schools to promote a better understanding between families and families between children and and parents a better understanding at school between teacher and student it's a great trick problem but i think you can solve it if you put together if you hold together and if you work together this is one of the biggest problems and only with that we can get the peace of the world i think because you know germany is divided there are corruption in germany which have to be removed and i think we have to do it and we will do it as this is thought i thank you very very much and i know i will have to come i'll go back to germany and take back and so does every student thank you very much and so this afternoon ladies and gentlemen you've met hubert wagner from germany you've heard him tell you about his country and about his views about america and you've also heard him play the accordion to talk to you about jazz just exactly why did we ask hubert to talk with you today why did we ask you to meet him here is a young man from germany a country that was once very very far away but now is but a few hours from our own choice by air travel in this shrinking world we do have our differences and we must live with it he with ours and we with his but those differences are really superficial for beneath them lie all the things in which we are all alike there are common needs our necessities our wants our likes and dislikes and our common humanity so we ask you to remember well this young man from germany the fellow who is a fellow traveler on the same planet who lives under the same sky it looks up at the same stars as you and i you