European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 8, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Waging instructors Vladim Golub left and Rainer Grenewitz speak russian when teaching classes. A amps Dove Casey by Vince Crawley staff writer the russian phrase a Luchshev by Dusschee can mean Many things said sgt. 1st class John o Neill pointing to the cyrillic letters on his uniform. But the most appropriate translation is Quot toward a better future Quot and that is the motto of the army s russian Institute an academic enclave at the foot of the bavarian Alps Garmisch Germany. Quot the dream was the end of the cold War a o Neill said of the Institute s 45-year history Quot that a been achieved. We re looking now to the openness of the far from being a cold War Fossil the russian Institute is entering the Post Gorbachev Era with Hopes of becoming a military Crossroads Between East and West. School administrators say that think tanks not Battle tanks Are the Best Way for the military to Deal with the remnants of the soviet Union. At a time when most strategic debates Center on calculating How fast . Guns and troops can be sent Home the institutes goal of International understanding Quot gives the american military Here in Europe just a Little bit More Validity Quot of Neill said. Adding a new twist to an old cold War phrase Deputy commander it. Col. Richard Mahlum said the school Quot would be a unique form of Forward presence on the european unlike most military outfits in Europe the Institute is expanding. And its Small staff wi1 double this summer when it merges with a language school that a pulling out of Augsburg. Founded in 1947 under the name det a the russian Institute uses a staff of mostly East european 6migr6s to teach military and cultural courses in the russian language. The students mostly Young officers include treaty inspectors and those being groomed for military attach careers. With the cold War won the army a russian Institute wants to play a vital role in fostering East West understanding despite a cold War reputation As a school for spies a a British paper once proclaimed the place to be Quot Reagan s red brigade Quot a faculty members say their goal always has been to encourage Contact with the former soviet Union and to Foster an understanding of its people. Russian television shows Are beamed into classrooms live via satellite. The Library one of the largest of its kind in the world boasts 200,000 volumes and periodicals with subscriptions to 62 russian newspapers and 158 russian language magazines. But the school charter has always prohibited the gathering of military intelligence. The staff includes a hard Core group of former East europeans who Are a far cry from the Star typical image of Liberal academics. Reagan was the first president to realize How we can react to those Crafty communists Quot said chief librarian Germaine Pavlova who fled St. Petersburg when it was still Leningrad Long before the warming of the East in recent years the school has been teaching inspectors for the on site inspection Agency and conventional Force Europe agreements going Over the Fine print of treaties in the russian language. The cafe text is 200 pages and the Start treaty runs to 700 pages said Richard Barthelemy chief of the school s treaty verification division. Quot what we re doing is of National interest Quot Barthelemy said. Quot for a very Small amount of dollars invested in this we re repaying a very Large amount of Money invested in defense during the cold War Quot Barthelemy said. A if you look at the Cost of a b-1 bomber versus what its going to Cost us to have classes Here its a very Smalt yet he said Quot that s the Way we re going to secure peace Here in the american military administrators tout their school As an Ideal meeting place Between soldiers from the East and West. They say that getting Young officers from former enemy armies to sit and talk together in the same room would prepare them to be High ranking military peacekeepers of the future. Soldiers of the defunct Warsaw pact can link up Ith their Western counterparts in the Institute s Quot non confrontational atmosphere Quot said col. John Prokopowicz the Institute commander who is leaving this summer. His school has Quot no Gate guards no weapons. We re just not that Type of military officers can enter his school and Quot can go out As such networking would grow in value As generation of students Rise in rank and influence. Quot the Way you influence is with contacts. If you want to influence the peace you have peaceful contacts Quot Prokopowicz said. Quot that s the Way things really get done. They done to get done by running a battalion of tanks through the Etc National training Center Quot Prokopowicz admitted he meets resistance from some quarters of the military but Quot for a cheap Price we think we re going to do one of the most important things in this despite the administrations Hopes that the Institute will thrive As a Center of East West understanding some students Are concerned that their russian specially might soon be obsolete. A when i got into the program the soviet Union was the evil Empire and i thought it was going to be a real hot commodity within the military Quot said maj. Randy Munch a student at the Institute. After nearly find years of study the former infantryman graduates this month to become a soviet East european foreign area officer. Capt. John Sharp predicts there will be plenty of opportunities in the career Field after the military gels through a Quot rough transition Quot of trying to figure out How to use its Pool of Fourier Sovie experts. Quot we re dealing with 15 governments now instead of one government and the Region is still strategically vital Quot a says Sharp who a in the same graduating class As Munch. Quot a lot of us instead of just training As soviet specialists have for years seen the writing on the Wall Quot and branched out into sub specialities. Sharp said. For instance he a concentrated on Central Asia studying $45 Dave Casey former instructor Irene Yudovich is fighting her dismissal from the Institute. For some the Battle rages on by Vince Crawley staff writer late one night in her downtown apartment Irene Yudovich wiped the sadness from her eyes and pondered renouncing the hard won american citizenship that she had spent a lifetime attaining. Quot sometimes i think whether i need this passport or not Quot the 63-year-old russian emigre said with imperfect English her husband lev Yudovich says he went to Law school with Mikhail Gorbachev and became a Moscow attorney who defended prominent dissidents in soviet courts. He and his wife fled to the West in the 1970s and have spent most of the years since teaching at the . Army russian Institute amid the splendid Alpine scenery of Garmisch Germany. They both lost their teaching jobs last year because of personnel shake . And the Institute they say is plagued by personality conflicts and an administration that a often hostile toward its foreign born employees. Army investigations Back up some of their claims. The jewish couple s charges of antisemitism against school officials also were backed up in part by army investigators. Early this year a report by the army civilian appellate review Agency said lev Yudovich had established a Quot Prima Facie Quot Case of religious discrimination then went on to say that this apparent discrimination played no part in his dismissal from the organization. Along with other teachers and former teachers the Yudovishes say they be been victimized by hard driving army officers trying to run a research Institute Quot like a platoon in Vietnam Quot while getting rid of older instructors to make room for Quot new of seven teachers dismissed last year two challenged the action and got their jobs Back. Two others a the Yudovishes a Are still fighting but remain jobless. Quot you Don t build research centers on corpses Quot Irene Yudovich said. Army investigations a and there have been Many a confirm allegations of unfair firing practices illegal searches and seizures and apparent anti semitism. One report describes Quot a state of turmoil Between employees and management an army inspector general report concluded that the Quot command climate is inconsistent with army an equal employment Opportunity investigator found the school s atmosphere Quot very tense Quot with Quot obvious division among both staff and faculty. There were factions on both the administration blames an outspoken teacher Steven Hassman for stirring up so Many Petty disputes with his Bosses that the school failed to properly react to the Era of Gorbachev and the death throes of the soviet Union. Hassman was fired last year and recently reinstated under the whistle Blower Protection program. Teachers in turn blame their Bosses for missing the glasnost boat saying the administration became preoccupied with getting rid of Hassman. Quot what you be got Here is a military institution at War with its civilians Quot said George Chuzi a Washington lawyer hired to defend the teachers. Quot there a no reason for gloating on either Side Quot said it. Col. Richard Mahlum the school s Deputy commander. Mahlum and other army officers involved say it is illegal for them to comment about details of an ongoing investigation. Hassman described variously As a ringleader or crusader against the administration was an Honor graduate from the Institute in 1978. Becoming a teacher there in the Early 1980s, he says he found that the army administration was taking unfair advantage of its foreign born teachers who were unfamiliar with their rights under Federal employment Laws. Since then he has literally filled a filing Cabinet with paperwork relating to his Many grievances against the administration. In turn he has been repeatedly reprimanded for insubordination. A year ago Hassman got embroiled in an esoteric feud with his Bosses when he asked his students to fill out course critiques against the administrations wishes. The incident snowballed and the teacher was fired in october for insubordination insolence and making a false statement Quot in an Effort to undermine the authority Quot of his supervisor. He fought his dismissal through the Merit systems Protection Board and was reinstated this Spring with Back pay. The Board s administrative judge William c. Jenkins upheld Many of the army s charges but ruled that Hassman was being fired As a reprisal for his whistle blowing activities at the school. Mahlum the Deputy commander wrote in a memorandum for the record that he considered Hassman Quot personally responsible for distracting precious amounts of manager and employee Energy and time Quot during crucial political changes. The teacher has an Quot unconstrained penchant to confront and antagonize management Over issues of personal interest to him and not issues related to the Public Good. His recourse to vilifying managers is historic and goes Back to 1984,&Quot Mahlum wrote. In a Brief this March Jenkins the Protection Board judge called the memorandum Quot a remarkable document Quot that played a part in letting Hassman keep his Job. In the latest round the army is appealing Hassman s reinstatement. The Point says lev Yudovich is not where the blame Falls but the fact that the school is admitting it did t properly react to upheaval in the former soviet Union. Quot that Means they did t prepare people to be analysts Quot he said. Quot our institution is a very important organization that helps prepare people who have to Deal with National Security. They will be people who will define our beginning in the mid-1980s, while americans were just learning How to pronounce perestroika the school administration began replacing its faculty of soviet experts. The teachers had excellent credentials according to testimony by a former school commander col. Richard s. Kosevich but he told the review Agency Quot none had recent life and professional experience in the .s.r.&Quot further Kosevich and his deputies condoned racism and ethnic strife several teachers also said. Quot racism is a reality of life Here at the continued on Page t6 Nukic languages like uzbek other students Are keeping their eyes on the military s Early out offers contemplating that it might to belter to Deal with the East As businessmen than As soldiers yet the schools faculty members warn that All is riot quiet on the Eastern front. Quot i or at least live years there is a need Tor keeping a close watch on what s going on Quot to the Lorimer soviet Union and Muslim worlds said Natalie g one of the teachers. Quot and Russia is very tar lion being Der Gross Hassman an israeli citizen veer continue watching with All the changes happening Aeiress the the military students also me rethinking the was they View the East said Pavlova the librarian Quot if they study because they want to know their enem then nothing will be Good. They need to study for latino peace Quot Pavlova said. Quot this Center can have this new and i Bieront Mission because now Russia is not the enemy Quot she Adderi. Pointing out it s better to have friends than enemies Quot s i Tassman a at Ewd a Hon d on the russian Institute founded in 1947 As det r. The . Army russian Institute prepares military officers and government civilians for careers dealing with the former soviet Union. Using classes taught entirely in russian the original idea was to recreate the experience of living and learning in Russia during a time when cold War politics prevented american military people from meeting their soviet counterparts. With the cold War Over the school Hopes to capitalize on its prestige and expertise to become a military meeting place Between East and West a typical student would graduate As a foreign area officer a or Fao a specializing in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent states during the cold War students spent about a year at the defense language school in the United states. Then they attended graduate school also m the states for As Long As two years before heading to the russian Institute in Garmisch Germany where they spent another two years More recently the Institute has trimmed its Fao program to t8 months in order to keep up with the Pace of in the former soviet Union. In the past graduates have manned the Moscow hot line or become advisers on soviet affairs one graduate became the ambassador to the soviet Union another alumnus maj Arthur Nicholson became one of the final victims of the cold War when working As a Liaison officer ire was gunned Down by a soviet Soldier in last Germany m March 1985 Institute facts staff fourteen military members and about 65 civilian workers including about 15 permanent teachers and 12 contract instructors. Another 20 staff members will arrive this summer when a language school from Augsburg Germany combines with the Institute. Students seventy five to 100 per year attend the to program. In More recent programs 270 per year attend Shorter courses for the on site inspection Agency and about 75 nato students each year attend similar courses on the conventional forces Europe treaty graduates More than 800 military of icons and civilians passed through the Insl Itule during the cold War. Page 14 the stars and stripes monday june 8, 1992 the stars and stripes b Page 15
