Mrs. Dr.Wiebke Janssen is the new head of Moritzplatz Document Centre, sponsored by “Bürgerkomitee Magdeburg e.V.” . Motivated by positive reports in the local newspaper “Magdeburger Volksstimme“, we contacted Mrs. Janssen to ask her to give a presentation to our students.
Her dissertation titled “Teenage yobs and beatniks in East Germany of the 50s”, gives an ideal piece of authentic information to modern day history lessons today. The new guide lines of our state require the teaching of exactly that time and aspect of German history in the classroom.

In her presentation to class FG16d, Dr. Janssen gave exciting insight into events of that time, presenting audioclips of rock`n`roll and “Lipsi”. As she told the students, members of the “Bill Haley Club” in Halle were sentenced to prison in the late 50s because of “inadequate behavior”. The club members` individuality was marked by their music and clothes, both being a clear sign of western trends and fashion and with it a thorn in the flesh of communist officials.
Our students`awareness of history will also be developed by singular regional events like this.
Thank you, Mrs. Janssen.