Our Year 11 and 12 Students had a special history lesson last week with the visit of contemporary witness of Divided Germany Peter Keup, a former citizen of the GDR who failed his attempted escape to the ‘west’. Born in 1958, Mr Keup worked as a successful ballroom dancer and represented the GDR in numerous championships. In July 1981, Keup attempted to escape via Czechoslovakia but failed. He was convicted of illegal emigration and sentenced to ten months' imprisonment.

Everyone in the room was captured by Mr Keup’s very moving and emotional story that in the end saw him reunited with his family in 1982 after being bought free by the former FRG.

Peter Keup visited GISS already in 2012 and the school holds a special place in his heart being the first international school at which he told his story of the German partition and his way of overcoming it.