Eli Weissenboeck

     Hallo liebe Leute! My name is Eli Weißenböck and I am graduating with a major in German studies. As a heritage speaker who was raised 7,300 km away from home, by the time I entered W&M, my German was as good as forgotten. My mom (stubborn as always) pushed me to take German for my language proficiency. I want to thank my mom for seeing my potential so easily when I could not. Our program’s outstanding professors: Professor Burney and Professor Leventhal sparked an interest in me far beyond any 8-credit proficiency. Dr. Gully (bless her heart) put up with me for 6 whole weeks in Berlin, and Dr.Taylor taught me the culture (and adjective endings) of a heritage I thought I’d lost. I now know that anyone who claims that adults cannot learn a new language have never faced the fury of Taylor’s Subjunctive Cross!
Language is unity, understanding, and identity. I, like many other students, chose W&M to prepare me for the world. In today’s climate, more than ever, we need the tools to listen, understand, and communicate. Our German studies program does so much more than teach us to speak, we learn historical patterns of fascism and oppression and to keep perpetrators accountable and victim’s stories remembered. The administration’s discontinuation of our German Studies major is more than an attack on language and culture, it is a blatant attack on historical accountability and remembrance of millions of massacred Jews, Sinti and Roma, Nama and Herero, LGBTQ+, the physically and/or mentally impaired, and other communities whose voices are being erased by the American school system. Thank you to our professors for continuing to fight for these voices while also helping students find our own.