July 13, 2002

Contact: Travis Fahey

802-443-5794

tfahey@middlebury.edu

Posted: July 12, 2002

MIDDLEBURY,

Vt.— Dr. P. Christian Hauswedell, Boston’s general consul of the Federal

Republic of Germany, presented Middlebury College Language School German

School Director Jochen Richter with the Cross of the Order of Merit of

the Federal Republic of Germany on July 11. The award, presented on behalf

of German President Johannes Rau, is given to those who further German

culture and language abroad.

The

award was presented during Middlebury College’s annual Zernik Lecture,

which explores German issues for students in the German School and members

of the community. The lecture is presented in German for the students

in the summer program, who take a pledge not to communicate in English

during the length of the course.

This

year’s Zernik lecture explored the topic of failed German-Jewish symbiosis

and the current state of German-Jewish relations in Germany, Israel and

the United States. Hauswedell, who served as chief foreign policy advisor

to German Chancellor Helmut Kohl for 10 years, gave the lecture before

presenting the award in English for non-German speaking members of the

College community in attendance.

Richter

is one of several Middlebury College German School directors that have

received the award, the most recent of whom was Konrad Kenkel, who received

the award in 1996. Kenkel teaches German in the foreign study program

at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. He received the award for his work

there and at Middlebury.

Richter,

who has taught at and recently took directorship for the German School

for 26 years, is a professor of modern languages at Allegheny College

in Meadville, Penn. Richter received his master’s degree and doctorate

in German literature from Syracuse University. Since then, he has penned

three books on German literature and 11 research papers on German writers

and the influence of World War II and technology on German literature.