Dr. H. Peter Reinkordt
Professor of German
I was born in 1943 in Schwäbisch Hall, Germany to Baltic-German parents of German, Swedish and Danish heritage. They had fled the Soviet invasion of Estonia in 1941, generations and centuries after my forebears had settled there. I grew up in a tri-lingual environment of German, Estonian and Russian.
I attended primary school and the beginning of secondary school in Schwäbisch Hall before emigrating to Nebraska in December of 1956 after the death of my father. I attended high school and the University of Omaha. After the B.A., I studied for one year at the university of Tübingen in the mid sixties, returning to graduate school at UN-L with an M.A. in 1968, and a Ph.D. in 1972.
My wife Jane and I worked at a private secondary boarding school in Kaltbrunn, St. Gallen, Switzerland from 1973 until 1977. We traveled for two years in Asia, North Africa and Europe, visiting friends and relatives on the way – including Jane’s brother, who was finishing his two year Peace Corps posting in Nepal.
We returned in 1979 to help on the family farm near Denton, with me teaching part-time at UNL, Nebraska Wesleyan, and Doane College (1984). From 1983 until 1991, I taught only part-time, farmed, and was the stay-at-home parent while Jane taught full-time at Lincoln Southeast High School.
I began full-time work at Doane College in 1992 after the kids were in school all day, taught German and history, headed the Modern Language department and was Chair of the Fine Arts and Humanities division from 1999 until 2007.
My research and publications are in the areas of philosophical (Habermas) and pedagogical issues (teaching American culture to future English teachers in Germany, business German), and German civilization and culture (text written for GER 415). I am also interested in, and have done research and presentations and teaching in European history of the 20th century (Fascism, Holocaust), film, and issues of human rights – refugees, migration, ethnic discrimination, assimilation and multi-cultural problems.
I work with student exchange programs such as AFS, YFU, Bundestag-Congress and CIEE.
I counsel students on study abroad programs, work on setting up internships in Germany and Europe, advise on travel abroad and work closely with the Fulbright program. I travel frequently to Europe and other places.
Our home language is German; both of our now adult children were raised bi-lingual and are now tri-lingual.