USD Magazine, Summer 2001

INCREDIBLE VOYAGE Political science Professor John Stoessinger's journey from the shadow of the Holocaust to USO

]ohn Stoessinger enters a Serra Hall classroom reverberat- ing with the din of a dozen student con– versations. He walks to the front, sets his briefcase down, turns

former Secretary ofState Henry Kissinger and President Carter's national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and

A young John Stoessinger, with his parents, Oskar and Irene, before he boards the General Gordon for his voyage from Shanghai to the United States.

a prolific author whose books are staples ofpolitical science courses throughout the world, Stoessinger brings a first-person authority to virtually every significant event in international politics since World War II. But Stoessinger teaches more than history andpolitics. His incredible journey from Hitler's Europe to China, from Iowa to the United Nations and, ultimately, to Alcald Park, prepared him to offer insight into something else. '1 teach my students about life, " he says.

and smiles. "Ladies and gentlemen, " he begins in a soft, clear voice. The room falls silent. For the better part ofthe next two hours, Stoessinger's students are spellbound by their professor, a former director ofthe United Nations' political affairs division, who weaves the discussion in and out ofthe world's current political crises. His talk is equal parts lecture and storytelling, scholar– ship commingled with personal tales. A Harvard scholar whose colleagues include

BY TIMOTHY MCKERNAN

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