Traveler Bio

Hallo! Hello! I'm Jan-Ruth, and I am thrilled to get the chance to share my journey with you. Along with warm weather, I most miss having students to talk with. I taught English and history before becoming a graduate student in history at Florida State University. My husband Dennis and our dog, Rosalinda, and I are in Germany because I have a Fulbright Scholarship to study the use of slave labor to produce Messerschmitt jets during the Third Reich. The Messerschmitt 262 was the first operational jet fighter. The Messerschmitt corporation was centered here in Bavaria.

I spend a good deal of time in archives and libraries. I actually met my husband, Dennis, who is also a historian, in an archive in Alabama, so research is a big part of our lives. But, besides the Nazi times, we are also learning about Germany’s long history, especially here in Regensburg. In fact, the “Old Town” is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We also enjoy walking our dog, Rosalinda. She is having a bit of culture shock; she is used to running up to dogs in the dog park at home. German dogs are very well behaved and don’t even look at her. Oddly, there is a big grey cat on our street that walks right up to touch noses with her! German cats acting like American dogs?

I look forward to exploring that question and any others you might have about Germany, history, or the other important part of our journey—German food!