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"Never give up building bridges": From translation to King's legacy

by Henrik Eger

One of the greatest honors in my life happened in May 1965 when I met Martin Luther King, Jr., who invited me to become his Nobel Peace Prize mail translator. The parents of one of my American exchange sisters, Ruth Ewy White '63 (the 1961-62 Bethel exchange student at Wuppertal), invited me to join them in visiting her in Atlanta, where she was a civil rights worker at the Ebenezer Baptist Church and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). She promised to introduce us to Dr. King.

The church was crowded with church-goers, most of them African American. Ruth, her parents and I were four of maybe six or so white people who attended that Sunday morning to hear the man who had dared to share his dream. As I was finding out to my dismay, quite a few Americans at that time looked at King with suspicion. After all, he was preaching equality of all human beings and that made him dangerous.

I am a happy agnostic, but I must admit his sermon spoke to me on several levels. I will never forget his encouragement to everyone in the congregation: "Never give up building bridges." People nodded and cheered him on. Afterwards, Ruth introduced us to one of the most famous living Americans, who welcomed us and shook our hands. I asked him to sign two books he had written and whether he could show me his Nobel Peace Prize. "Sure," he said, then looked me straight in the eye, doubt wrinkling his forehead: "Frankly, I don't know where I have that thing!"

One of the world's greatest honors - "that thing." No time for glory and pride: MLK had work to do. Fighting abuse and discrimination could not wait. I realized he was an extraordinarily busy man, but this sophomore from Germany really wanted to see the Nobel Peace Prize. "All right," said the Mahatma Gandhi of the United States, "let me try to find it. Come and see me tomorrow." Then he gave me his address. I could barely sleep that night. After all, how often does a young college student get invited to see the Nobel Peace Prize?

The next day, with great anticipation, I walked into King's office at the SCLC, which he headed. I was struck by the contrast between the neighborhood itself - which looked economically deprived, even neglected by society - and the famous gold medal Dr. King had dug up for me. It seemed the people of little Norway valued King's work more than many Americans did, and that saddened me.

I was in awe holding King's Nobel Peace Prize in my hand, with the inscription "Pro pace et fraternitate gentium" ("For the peace and brotherhood of men") on one side. Dr. King had even brought along a blue box from which I unscrolled a parchment-like document signed by the King of Norway.

I felt so honored that I asked right away whether I could do something for Dr. King. "I don't know," he said. Then I heard myself say I was bilingual, German and English. "Oh, German, good," he said. "There are all those Nobel Prize letters."

Within minutes, I found myself sitting at his typewriter and typing my translations of letters from all over Germany, both East and West, and the whole of Eastern Europe where German was still the lingua franca. Every single correspondent was thrilled about his award. I clipped my translations together with the originals and placed the most important one on top of the pile: an invitation from the Thomaner Kirche (Thomas Church) of Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig, (then) East Germany - an invitation that King, the new Nobel Peace laureate, could not accept lest he contribute to accusations in the United States of Communist sympathies if he were to visit behind the Iron Curtain.

Had it not been for Bethel College, which had the courage to invite a controversial speaker to its campus, and Ruth Ewy White and her generous parents, I would never have met one of the world's most famous civil rights leaders.

Now, semester after semester, I share my experience with my American and international students and shake hands with them, so that they are connected to one of the most extraordinary historical figures by just one handshake. I encourage all of them to shake hands with others and to pass on the message of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Never give up building bridges of understanding.

Henrik Eger, Upper Darby, Pa., was the 1964-65 Bethel-Wuppertal exchange student from Germany.