Interview with Jesus Peña Irsula (Fidel Castro's interpreter)

Jesús Ismael Irsula Peña (*1953) first came to the DDR as a summer school student. He then trained as a German teacher in Cuba, studied German language and literature in Leipzig, and worked as an interpreter for Fidel Castro in the 1980s.
About IF DDR:
With its studies, IF DDR aims to contribute to current debates on social struggles, drawing on the conditions and experiences of DDR socialism. For this purpose, we produce accessible historical and contemporary witness material. Initially, “Studies On The DDR” will provide the basis for an international exchange about the #DDR by tracing the structure of this socialist state and its lived realities on the basis of selected aspects from everyday life.
ifddr.org/en/a...
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Mit ihren Studien möchte die IF DDR in Hinblick auf die Bedingungen und Erfahrungen des DDR-Sozialismus einen Beitrag zu aktuellen Debatten über soziale Kämpfe leisten. In verschiedenen Reihen bereitet sie hierfür historisches und Zeitzeugen-Material in anschaulicher und verständlicher Weise Auf.
ifddr.org/ifddr/
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You can find more about our work here:
Website: ifddr.org/en/h...
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Facebook: / ifddr
#GDR #DDR

[@jimtroeltsch5998]

Amazing interview! Thank you for posting! Your institute is vital!

[@sabinee.7942]

Mir kommen fast die Tränen. Es tut so gut von der DDR zu hören so wie ich es auch kenne. Viva Cuba.

[@ChristerHugo-sf4cf]

Very interesting!

[@Ratko13]

👍✊👏

[@sbgskf]

A multi-cultural GDR, the spirit of internationalism. Quite different than today's rising fascism and xenophobia in the FRG!

[@OnkelKarl-ro5uk]

Die DDR war nicht besonders multikulturell. Sonst wäre jeder Staat mit ein paar Austauschstudierenden bereits multikulturell.

[@jbruck6874]

Quite the opposite is true. Today’s Europe, any country of the EU is much, much more open and multicultural, than the DDR or most other Eastern European countries.
We live in a different historical AND technological era - now even the poor can fly across Europe.
The unfortunate populistic and right wing tendencies across Europe are visible because we have political pluralism that allows this (for better or worse).

[@jimtroeltsch5998]

Absolutely. It's so tragic.