Dr. John Stoessinger is known to interject some comic relief
during class while transitioning between world crises.
“A 96-year-old divorces his attractive, blonde 24-year-old
wife to marry a nice, average-looking 68-year-old,” Stoessinger said with a
slight grin, during a February lecture about revolution in
“Why did he do this? Because the older woman has patience!”
There were no laughs, and Stoessinger stood in the center of
class, bewildered by the silent response before finally speaking up with
flailing palms. “Does no one find this funny …
at all? Well, it’s funny to me for obvious reasons!”
Only then does the class erupt in laughter — partly because
most of Stoessinger’s jokes are self-deprecating and partly because, even in a
joke, he teaches his students a lesson of patience that can be applied to
history and politics.
Stoessinger’s understanding of international and private
relations derives from numerous encounters with historical figures and
situations; his historic life began when he encountered Adolf Hitler and
expands through his time spent with former President John F. Kennedy during the
Cuban Missile Crisis, to the current war in
His continuous involvement in world crises has fueled him to
teach for the last five decades, but his students best remember him as the
professor with sharp, effortless humor and a signature outfit; regardless of
the season, Stoessinger wears a solid-colored sweater with his shirt collar
meticulously affixed above its crewneck, finished with standard-washed blue
jeans and black or white sneakers.
“I may look harmless, but I’ll grill your [history] knowledge,”
Stoessinger said.
After teaching at prestigious colleges such as Massachusetts
Institute of Technology,
and
Stoessinger now lectures at UCSD and the
of
may hint at his age and substantial knowledge of history, but his ear-to-ear
grin after telling a joke eliminates any idea that he suffered through the
Holocaust or watched helplessly as innocent men and boys — including students
of his — perished in the Vietnam War. His career was shaped by the world crises
in which he involuntarily or consciously became involved, and his lectures give
students a glimpse into important internatioal issues.
Stoessinger has no office at either UCSD or USD. The UCSD
political-science department can offer only ambiguous answers on how to reach
him beyond class hours; since he posts no e-mail address next to his name on
the faculty directory, his availability has become a hot commodity that
students eagerly seek.
“He’s different [from other professors] because you become
more interested in his life and his experiences as opposed to the actual course
material,” Eleanor Roosevelt College senior and past student Elska Vuong said.
“World crises that seem so remote from your real life become more dimensional
because [his] personal stories take incredible events off the page and [make
them] more real and relatable.”
On
seven-year-old Stoessinger knew his life would be changed forever when his
governess, Lisl, took him to see Hitler speak in his hometown of
crucifix necklace, Lisl muttered, “Holy Maria, Mother of God — this is a new
Messiah.” His entire childhood changed for the worse for four years with the
Nazis at his family’s heels; they finally fled
taking a train across the
three months later.
Although
was not an ally of the
a Japanese diplomat named Manabe helped Stoessinger’s family obtain visas to
seek refuge in
from the genocide. This man taught Stoessinger the power of human kindness at a
very young age.
“You can’t spend your life generalizing people into
categories of good and evil,” Stoessinger said. “A Japanese man saved my life
during [World War II] — that’s enough to prove that you cannot have a
preconceived mentality about individual behavior.”
After arriving in the
States
involved with politics and would devote the rest of his life to preventing
events such as the Holocaust, from happening again.
“I’ve seen the world suffer through many experiences that
could have been avoided,” Stoessinger said. “He who steps into a war in the
20th century will come out a loser — and I hope this is a message to a certain
president who has us in a losing predicament.”
In the early 1970s, Stoessinger worked with the secretary
general as director of the political affairs division at the United Nations to
draw peace negotiations between the
States
unfortunately, the two presidents lacked patience for his proposed conferences.
Bilateral talks did not succeed, and the Vietnam War erupted despite
Stoessinger’s efforts. Even today, his sudden halt in pacing and hushed voice
when mentioning this war shows some remorse for what was lost during his eight
years at the United Nations.
“In this situation with
I failed at preventing war and unnecessary death,” he said. “But I think you
learn more from failure than from success — so I learned from it, and it was a
terrible experience [that] made me wiser and somewhat sadder.”
His lectures not only iterate history lessons, but also
incorporate bursts of song and mischievous adolescent thoughts; his infamous encounter
with a Chinese prostitute — a particular story that highlights a lecture about
his life during the Holocaust — stands out in students’ memories.
Stoessinger’s vivid story of his teenage run-in with the
Chinese escort — properly named “The Golden Dragon” for her 200-pound frame and
24 gold-capped teeth — never fails to shock the class.
“What do you do when you’re 15-years old in the middle of a
war,” Stoessinger said. “And you’re a virgin who thinks he’s about to die?”
The lecture hall echoed with uncontrollable laughter as he
revealed how his friends sent him to the brothel in his best suit and tie — and
armed with a nail file “in case anything went wrong.”
Nonetheless, Stoessinger assured his students that he
remained a virgin that night after being kicked out of the brothel.
Students like
constantly lose themselves in his tales.
“Professor Stoessinger is passionate about what he teaches,
which I find so rare in professors at UCSD,” Micevych said. “Many professors
teach the materials and classes because they have to as a part of their
university contract, [but] Stoessinger … even challenges students in their
personal lives, not just to excel in his class.”
At the first lecture of each Crisis Areas in World Politics
course, Stoessinger forces a handful of students to stand up in front of a
class full of strangers to share their stories of “the one who got away.”
Each of these students must discuss a past situation in
which they were too shy to ask for someone’s phone number; Stoessinger then
asks them to seize an opportunity with a romantic interest before the class
final and report back to him with their endeavors. The quarter-long
embarrassment for these students stems from his take-home message about taking full
advantage of any circumstance — whether it is trying to snag a date with
someone, prevent the repetition of mistakes or contribute opinions to the
class.
Throughout the course, his personal and professional
experiences convey the message for students to become involved in their
environment using knowledge gained from various world crises.
Despite his humorous anecdotes and stories of childhood
misbehavior, the entire class is based on his theory of a morality where
leaders must realize that mistakes made throughout modern history should be
taken as lessons learned — that war will cost millions of lives at the wager’s
loss. Each crisis lecture emanates this premise, and Stoessinger wants his
students to reflect on history and apply it to their own lives.
“I hope somebody gets the message sooner or later that it
doesn’t matter if you’re a capitalist, communist, rich, poor or whatever color
you are — if you start a war, you will lose the war,” Stoessinger said. “But
people still fight and haven’t gotten the message yet. I hope that in my small
way, I can make a contribution that people will finally learn a lesson through
history.”
