During my final school year, I wrote a research paper about the Stasi. My German teacher, Frau Sydenham, surprised me by bringing her husband’s Stasi file into school. She patiently translated the file with me so that I could examine it as a primary source in my essay. Little did Frau Sydenham know that this act of kindness would shape the trajectory of my life.

After school, I studied History and German at the University of Sydney and spent a year on exchange in Bamberg. My year abroad was a wonderful experience, as I could practise my German every day. I also decided to take all my history subjects in German so I could learn the specific vocabulary necessary to understand academic German and read history books. At the end of my degree, I wrote my Honours thesis on the “Historians’ Quarrel” (Historikerstreit), and I was proud of myself that I could read the entire debate in German.

After graduating from my undergraduate degree, I applied to Oxford University to write a master’s dissertation analysing differing reactions to German unity in the East and West German press. In Berlin’s Landesbibliothek I read so many newspaper articles about the East German women’s movement and feminist protests. Although I had read a lot of books about the reunifying process in Oxford’s libraries, I soon realised that there was more to this narrative that I wished to research further. It was clear to me that I should write my doctorate about the East German women’s movement, leading me to undertake an oral history project. 

I am very thankful that the Oxford Berlin Research Partnership helped me secure a host institution for a research residency, the Centre for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies (ZtG) at Humboldt University. My research stay in Berlin was vital for my doctoral research. I had daily access to the archives and the gender library at the ZtG, where I gathered source material unavailable in Oxford. I also had the opportunity to present my research at Humboldt University and the Martin-Luther-University in Halle-Wittenberg. As Berlin is so well connected, I also visited archives in Dresden and Jena, in addition to interviewing 10 activists. Now I am back in Oxford and am trying my best to connect the written archival evidence with the personal experiences and insights the activists privileged me with in our interviews.

On a personal level, my time in Berlin was wonderful. I stayed in my friend’s apartment, who was an exchange student at my high school in Sydney back in 2010. We have been friends since then, and she is currently a student at Humboldt University. It was so lovely to have countless coffee and lunch breaks with her. My family is also originally from Lebanon and in Berlin I could eat the foods that feel like home to me as soon as I experienced any inkling of homesickness. Nowhere else but in Berlin have I eaten Lebanese or Syrian food that is comparable to the food my family cooks. Berlin offered me so much personally and professionally. I am so grateful to the ZtG and the Oxford Berlin Research Partnership.