Selected Events May-Aug 2009

Book of Condolence on the Death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy

The Embassy of the United States of America has opened a book of condolence in remembrance of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy. The condolence book will be available for signing at the Embassy Chancery in Berlin (Behrenstraße entrance) on Friday, August 28 and Monday, August 31 from 1.00 until 5.00 o'clock in the afternoon. Photo Gallery »
Photo exhibition “Jesse Owens: A Sports Hero”

August 21, 2009. Marlene Dortch, granddaughter of U.S. sports hero Jesse Owens, attended the official opening of the photo exhibition “Jesse Owens - A Sports Hero” at the Berlin Sports Museum and presented the official 2009 U.S.A. Track And Field (USATF) jersey to the museum. Full Story »
Cultural Diplomacy at the Track and Field World Championships

August 16, 2009. On the “Day of Nations,” American soul singer Lisa Doby performed at the “KulturStadion” on Pariser Platz. Lisa Doby was supported by Frank Bedez (bass), Jérôme Spieldenner (drums) and Yali Eichert (guitar). Later that day, U.S. Embassy’s Acting Press Attaché Mitchell Moss contributed to a televised stage discussion together with representatives from other embassies and the German Foreign Ministry. Full Story »
Oregon and Washington in Zehlendorf – 49th German-American festival

July 24, 2009. For the 49th time the German-American festival opened in Berlin-Dahlem. It celebrates German-American relations and is the largest festival of its kind in Germany. Full Story »
Memories of an American Diplomat in East Berlin during the Peaceful Revolution

July 14, 2009. To commemorate the “peaceful revolution” that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and Germany’s postwar unification, the U.S. Embassy is developing an online repository to document America’s ties to the people of the German Democratic Republic. On July 14, Cultural Attaché Peter Claussen discussed the project at a program at the Potsdam City Library. From 1987 to 1990, Claussen was posted at the U.S. Embassy in East Berlin. The public affairs programs he and his colleagues developed were very different from those in the Federal Republic of Germany. Claussen described how he and his colleagues were able to explore aspects of East Germany’s political, economic and cultural institutions and also to help foster personal and professional ties between the United States and the GDR. Members of the audience shared their own impressions of the U.S.-GDR relationship. For the next year, up until October 3, 2010, the Embassy will feature such personal stories in the form of videos, photographs and texts. What did “the USA” look like from the other side of the Wall? What did the DDR look like from the other side of the ocean? Come write on our virtual Wall at: Undivided: Encounters with America »
Public Diplomacy in the 21st Century

July 10-12, 2009. 25 students of Halle-Wittenberg and Humboldt University Berlin gathered at the Center for U.S. Studies (ZUSAS) in Wittenberg to discuss the future of public diplomacy in a think tank atmosphere. Among them were students from Bulgaria, Russia, the Ukraine, Hungary, Poland and Lithuania who provided a unique international viewpoint on the subject. Full Story »
United States Celebrates Its 233rd Birthday July 4

On July 3, the U.S. Embassy held its traditional Independence Day reception at the American Academy in Berlin. Full Story »
Berlin Poetry Festival Focuses on American Writers

June 27-July 5. Poets and poetry from the United States were featured at the 10th Poetry Festival Berlin organized by the Literaturwerkstatt Berlin and hosted by the Berlin Academy of the Arts. Cultural Attaché Peter R. Claussen joined the organizers and Pulitzer Prize winner Rita Dove in presenting welcoming remarks at the opening ceremony. The Friday evening audience of 200-300 poetry fans seemed surprised to learn that President Obama had hosted a Poetry Jam at the White House. U.S. participants, including former American poet laureate Rita Dove, participated in various workshops and panel discussions throughout the weeklong event with poets from around the world. The U.S. Independence Day, July 4th, became “America Poetry Day,” featuring Dove and other American writers like Christian Hawkey, Claudia Keelan, Sherwin Bitsui in readings and workshops, culminating in a late night concert with Saul Williams and Ed Torres. The Poetry Festival drew well over 10,000 visitors, making it Europe’s largest event celebrating the poetic arts. In its tenth anniversary year it has become a landmark in Berlin’s cultural scene. www.literaturwerkstatt.org »
U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder speaks at Transatlantic Forum

July 1, 2009. In his keynote speech at the Transatlantic Forum conference in Berlin, Ambassador Ivo H. Daalder, the United States Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels, underlined the importance of the transatlantic partnership in confronting global challenges. Full Story »
Chargé d’Affaires Koenig praises German-American relations

Juni 25, 2009. In the wake of Chancellor Merkel’s departure for Washington, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. John Koenig rejected in a live interview with Deutschlandfunk media reports which claim that President Obama’s relationship with Chancellor Merkel was tense. Full Story »
Louis Begley Reading: Why The Dreyfus Affair Matters

June 16, 2009. As part of the U.S. Embassy Literature Series and in cooperation with Suhrkamp Verlag, Humboldt University and The American Academy in Berlin acclaimed novelist Louis Begley read from Why The Dreyfus Affair Matters at the Humboldt University. Full Story »
Trade Policy under the New U.S. Administration

June 15, 2009. U.S. trade specialist Susan Aaronson of George Washington University (GWU) began a one-week speaking tour of Germany today in Berlin with a working breakfast with journalists and a discussion with policy experts at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik. Aaronson, Associate Research Professor of International Affairs at GWU, will visit Berlin, the Frankfurt area, Heidelberg and Nuremberg before traveling on to Amsterdam and The Hague for a series of lectures and discussions with specialist audiences to discuss U.S. trade policy under the Obama Administration, prospects for a successful conclusion to the Doha Round, and the impact of the financial crisis on global trade.
Reception for German-American Judicial Conference

June 10, 2009. The Embassy welcomed 55 American, German, and Canadian participants in the German Judicial Academy’s Conference on the Law of Parent and Child at a reception honoring their contributions to international cooperation on these difficult legal matters. The six day conference, organized by the German Judicial Academy in coordination with the Ministry of Justice, focused on child custody, child protection, child support and parental abduction as part of an annual series of professional development conferences for German family law judges. During the course of the exchange the participants gained greater understanding of the respective legal frameworks within which their counterparts operated and forged consensus on their mutual obligations under the Hague convention. The conference also afforded them the opportunity to forge those personal links which transform formal relationships into effective partnerships. Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Jay Anania welcomed the members of the German Judicial Academy and the American and Canadian guest judges participating in the conference, in particular the Conference Chair Dr. Martin Menne and Judge (ret.) Eberhard Carl, “whose dedication to the success of the Hague Abduction Convention and international judicial cooperation is unrivaled.” Anania also welcomed U.S. Liaison Judge Judith Kreeger, and thanked her for sharing her expertise with other judges throughout the world in the Hague Network of Judges. Also present were Kathy Ruckman, Deputy Director for the Office of Children’s Issues in Washington; and Corrin Feber, Attorney Advisor from the Office of Policy Review and Interagency Liaison. Anania went on to explain that the Department of State has no higher priority than the welfare of U.S. citizens overseas, and how this is particularly true for children. Assisting the victims of international parental child abduction has long been an important activity of the Bureau of Consular Affairs. Photo Gallery »
Embassy supports Conferences @ JFK Institute & HD

June and July Conferences at the JFK Institute Full Listing »
President Obama’s Cairo Address: A New Beginning

June 4, 2009. The U.S. Embassy welcomed a diverse German and American audience of students, journalists, politicians, and community leaders on Thursday, June 4 to watch President Obama’s speech to the Muslim world from Cairo, Egypt. Full Story »
German Association Of American Studies (GAAS) Discusses Educational Reform In Jena

June 4-7, 2009. Leading German Americanists met at Jena University to discuss “Education and the USA” with American practitioners such as American Studies veteran Paul Lauter, Trinity College, historian Roger L. Geiger, Pennsylvania State University, and Paula Moya, Stanford University. Workshops featured junior scholars and discussed education as one of the most critical issues in the United States and in Germany. Cultural Affairs Officer Peter Claussen introduced poet Kerry Shawn Keys to the audience and stressed the importance of educational exchange. The concluding panel discussion featured the intense political, social, and cultural issues surrounding the subject in a comparative view and revealed an increasing gap between antagonistic definitions and concepts with regard to the form and the function of education in the future. Should education be functionalized and privileged simply as economic capital, a commodity sold for the highest bid by a service industry geared at individual professional competence in highly competitive global markets? Or should education rather be freely distributed as a public good and protected as an indispensable necessity of social justice and equality, and therefore as a fundamental right for all? GAAS president Peter Schneck, Osnabrück University, repeatedly referred to President Obama remarks on “A Complete and Competitive American Education” and the ethical and economic dimensions in the current political urgency of the question of education.
CBYX Program Celebrates 25-Year Anniversary

May 29, 2009. The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Program (CBYX), or Parlamentarisches Patenschafts-Programm (PPP) as it is known in Germany, celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary at the Bundestag as part of the annual "Berlin Day" for the American students completing their exchange year in Germany. Full Story »
Iranian-born American Writer Nahid Rachlin Tours Germany

May 29, 2009. Nahid Rachlin, who came to the United States to attend college and stayed in the 1970s, read from her memoir, Persian Girls (Penguin), and her novel Jumping Over Fire (City Lights), at the literature festival in Tübingen (May 24), at the German American Institute in Heidelberg (May 25), at Augsburg University (May 26), at the Consul general’s residence in Frankfurt (May 27), at Hamburg University (May 28), and at Humboldt University (May 29). She outlined the difficulty of growing up a Muslim girl in a repressive system and movingly described her own road towards political and economic freedom in the U.S. Nahid Rachlin, though not well known as a writer in Germany, greatly impressed her audience with her own story and personality and made her listeners reflect upon the status of women, the role of religion and politics, and the future of Iran-American relations. The daily Schwäbisches Tagblatt (May 19 and May 25) covered her reading. Schwäbisches Tagblatt »
60 Years Bundesrepublik - Let Freedom Ring

May 23, 2009. As part of the festivities Chargé d’affaires John M. Koenig took part in a discussion panel on the main stage in front of Brandenburger Gate. ARD talk show host Sandra Maischberger moderated the discussion. Full Story »
38th National Teacher Trainer Conference Discusses Youth Culture In Bonn

May 21-24, 2009. In cooperation with the Amerikazentrum Hamburg and the Gustav-Stresemann-Institut e. V. Bonn the embassy organized its annual Teacher Trainers’ Conference in Bonn on ”Urban Cultures, Urban Landscapes: Growing Up in the American City”. 70 teacher trainers, curriculum planners, and textbook editors discussed urban youth culture in film, literature, music and as part of innovative urban planning. Full Story »
Author Howard Wolf in Berlin and Bonn

May 18-24, 2009. Howard Wolf, Professor emeritus at SUNY Buffalo and author of six books met with students and teachers of American Studies in Berlin and Bonn. In Berlin, Professor Wolfe discussed his writings with participants of a luncheon hosted by Minister Counsellor Helena Kane-Finn. He met with a small group of graduate students from Potsdam University and delivered a lecture on travel writing as part of the Du Bois Lecture Series at Humboldt University. At the annual teacher trainers’ conference in Bonn, Prof. Wolf provided a personal view of growing up in New York City and discussed in a small group F.Scott Fitzgerald’s depiction of the city in his short stories and novels.
Richard Powers participates in Berlin Literature and Science Series

May 16, 2009. Richard Powers, one of the most important voices of contemporary American literature, participated in the U.S. Embassy Science and Literature Series in Berlin’s “Schaubühne.” Powers read a short essay on a fictional person’s life shaped by new media called “Enquire Within About Everything.” Full Story »
60 Years Airlift: Berlin celebrates the End of the Blockade

May 12, 2009. Chargé d’Affaires a. i. John M. Koenig and General Roger A Brady, Commander, U.S. Air Force Europe represented the United States of America at the official ceremonies at Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport on the occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the Berlin Blockade. Full Story »
Architecture exhibition “Gifts of the Americans” opened

May 8, 2009. Assistant Cultural Attaché Pam DeVolder and Ingeborg Junge-Reyer, Berlin’s Mayor and Senator for Urban Development gave welcoming remarks at the opening the exhibition “Geschenke der Amerikaner” (Gifts of the Americans) at the Amerika Haus Berlin. Full Story »
“From Jesse Owens to Barack Obama – Social Recognition through Sports.”

May 7, 2009. Deputy Embassy spokesman Mitchell Moss participated in a panel discussion “From Jesse Owens to Barack Obama – Social Recognition through Sports.” The panel discussion was organized by the Jesse-Owens-Initiative of the Marie-Curie High School in Dallgow-Döberitz. The panel discussion was a scene setter for the 4th Jesse Owens Memorial Relay for tolerance and against racism which will take place on June 6 in the Olympic village in Elstal. Five panelists tried to answer the question whether achievements in sports by African American athletes helped to pave the way for the first African-American President of the United States. Professor Hans-Joachim Teichler of Potsdam University, Clemens Prokop, President of the German Athletics Federation, Dr. Peter Danckert, Chairman of the Sports Committee of the German Bundestag and broad jumper Semjon Pitschugin discussed with students of the Marie-Curie High School and other attendees interested in sports and its impact on society. Journalist and actress Dorothee von Winning moderated the panel discussion. Mitchell Moss outlined that the United States is a country that is determined to use the many talents of its people no matter what race or gender they are. Many African-Americans were the “firsts” in their respective sports or music fields and they paved the way for greater African American educational and professional access and achievement. Press Coverage »