Krefeld 1979

Krefeld 1979: Then and Now

This past August, some of our alumni got together for a reunion… 44 years later! Jackson Wright, one of the IUHPFL student interns and a 2022 alumnus of the Graz, Austria program, had the pleasure of speaking with three members of the group over Zoom. Ellen Sullivan, Stan Zygmunt, and Victoria Thanos discussed the process of setting up their reunion and recounted stories from their time abroad. Krefeld was among IUHPFL’s early sites, welcoming Hoosier students each summer from 1964 until 2014! This bunch was fortunate enough to experience all that Krefeld had to offer.

During their trip, the 1979 Krefeld cohort found themselves at the center of world politics. At the time, Germany was divided into West and East Germany, representing the broader division between the West and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. Krefeld was in West Germany, but the group took a trip into East Germany to visit Berlin. Berlin itself was also divided by the Berlin Wall into Western and Eastern zones. 

Ellen, Stan, and Victoria said crossing the so-called Iron Curtain affected their worldview. Upon arrival in East Berlin, the group converted their Deutschmarks to Ostmarks, only to find there wasn’t much to buy in the communist country. Unfortunately, they couldn’t change their new cash back to Deutschmarks when they returned to Krefeld. The group also mentioned their fear when East German soldiers boarded the bus on the way back to West Berlin, making sure nobody was sneaking out of the country.

Despite the circumstances, the three alumni had fond memories of Krefeld. They reminisced about after-class adventures, their favorite places to go swimming, and getting fireworks for a Fourth of July picnic in the Stadtwald. Ellen and Victoria were surprised at Stan’s extensive memory.

In February 2023, Ellen got the idea to get in touch with everyone from the cohort and propose a reunion. Stan and Victoria also helped organize the reunion, and Stan was even able to track down an alumnus who had changed his last name and moved to the West Coast! In August of 2023, 16 of the original 28 members of the Krefeld 1979 cohort met in Chicago for a weekend of memories and fun. Ellen, Stan, and Victoria said that most people were speechless as they saw old familiar faces. As the night wore on, however, it was almost as if no time had passed since the summer of ‘79.

Today, Dr. Stan Zygmunt is a professor of physics at Valparaiso University. Ellen continued her study of German and spent an entire year abroad in Tübingen, Germany. She then became a newspaper reporter and occasionally used German for interviewing German speakers. Another member of the group spent her senior year of college in Freiburg, Germany, met someone there, got married, and has lived in Germany ever since. Each member of the group has lived a unique and special life. Despite their diversity, everyone has a common experience, facilitated through IUHPFL, which ties them all together.