speeches by amb. coats

Amerikazentrum Hamburg
January 23, 2004

As prepared for delivery.

This evening we meet to support and honor the work of the Amerikazentrum. This event is a milestone in a more than 200 year history of cooperation and communication between the city of Hamburg and the United States. It was during the presidency of our first President George Washington that diplomatic ties with Hamburg were established. The first American Consulate in Hamburg was opened in 1790, during the time that Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, served as our nation’s first Secretary of State. Hamburg was also, of course, the port of embarkation for millions of people from West and East Europe seeking a new life in the New World. Thus tonight, while we look back upon more than two centuries of government, business, intellectual and family ties, we also look forward to the challenge to build and strengthen and renew those historic ties in this new 21st century.

Mayor von Beust, I would like to thank you for your support of the Amerikazentrum. I understand, at your first meeting with Consul General Susan Elbow, that one of the main points on your agenda was how to develop the Amerikazentrum as an institution that can give form and substance to a strong 21st-century German-American -- and transatlantic -- partnership. Today, the concepts of political discourse and dialogue -- in a world plagued by an international terrorism that feeds on hatred, intolerance and fanaticism -- are more important than ever before.

“It goes without saying that Germany will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the USA.” Mayor von Beust, those were your words at your first speech to the Consular Corps some weeks after September 11. Let me emphasize how much we appreciate those words of support -- and also how thankful we are for the support that goes beyond words. That includes the excellent support we get from the Hamburg police and law enforcement agencies that protect our Consulate and ensure the security of transatlantic commerce and an outstanding working relationship with the city – at all levels.

We were especially touched by the many heartfelt expressions of support from the people of Hamburg. Right after 9/11 – and once again a year later when the Chamber of Commerce placed a full-page ad in the New York Times assuring Americans of the support of the people of Hamburg. The Amerikazentrum collected close to $200,000 from individuals for the families of the victims of September 11 and forwarded the money to organizations in Washington and New York. And many Hamburg-based companies made donations. I will single out one particularly generous donation later this evening.

September 11 provided a dramatic focus on the threats we face today, but the experience of the past two years has also shown how important it is that we maintain a concerted dialogue -- between partners -- about the many challenges that face us in this new century. We must think carefully about the manner in which we talk and learn about each other and the ways in which we can partner in meeting the challenges of the 21st century.

In times past, the affairs of state were often undertaken at a more leisurely pace. Our first Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson once remarked that he had not heard from the minister to Spain in two years. "If I don't hear from him next year," he added, "I shall write him a letter..."

We don’t have that luxury anymore. Today information is available -- and is demanded – on television, radio, on the Internet and email, all in real or nearly real time. But these new modes of communication do not substitute for the need to personally meet and speak with each other -- plainly, openly and in depth. Now, perhaps as much or even more than ever before, we need to bring together and involve the many groups of people who are a part of our partnership -- to explore common concerns, to find mutual interests and to work together on solutions. Our job – not just yours, Mayor von Beust, or mine or Consul General Susan Elbow’s, no, everybody’s here tonight -- is to ensure this dialogue takes place and make it relevant. And that requires a new association of government, private and non-profit organizations. And here is where the Amerikazentrum plays a critical role, bringing together our young people, our scholars, our business people and our citizens from all walks of life.

A fundamental part of the Amerikazentrum’s mission is to engage young people and to inspire in them a desire to learn more about the U.S., be it as a high school student in Germany or as a student at an American university or as an intern with an American company. Nothing demonstrates the success of the Amerikazentrum services better than young people passing the word to others. As an independent, nonpartisan institution it is well suited to respond to the concerns and interests of its audience and to facilitate critical debate based on current and balanced information. One student came to the Amerikazentrum to find out about MBA programs in America. He was counseled and later admitted to Columbia University. Knowing how difficult it was to get his application ready and take all the necessary tests, he is now giving GMAT preparation courses for the Amerikazentrum in Hamburg --- as well as in other cities in Germany.

That is a fulfilled purpose and the spirit of the Amerikazentrum.

The Amerikazentrum has been active in supporting the Hamburg-Chicago sister city relationship. In 2004, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of that relationship – with hopes to expand this vital relationship between these two dynamic and important cities.

This, too, is a function and the spirit of the Amerikazentrum.

For the past five years the Amerikazentrum has brought together teachers from Chicago and Hamburg in workshops addressing topics like German-American relations, the immigration experience and Islam in contemporary American society. The benefits of these discussions have been passed to hundreds of students.

That also is the spirit of the Amerikazentrum.

We applaud the efforts of the Amerikazentrum and the support you all are giving to it. We share the belief that excellent German-American relations are imperative to the well-being of our two great nations and that these relations are finally not determined by governments but by the people.

And that is why it is so important that the Amerikazentrum be provided with an effective and viable operating platform. Responding to the invitation of the Mayor, a group of Hamburg business people joined the Amerikazentrum management to explore possibilities and they have come up with an innovative plan for a new permanent home for the Amerikazentrum. I am particularly pleased and proud of the very important role that our Consul General Susan Elbow played in the planning and development of this project. With the able assistance of Susan, Mayor von Beust, the organizing committee, business and citizen support, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is uniquely posed to host an institution of this nature. With your support it can grow further and reach out to advance our relationship far beyond the limits of this great city.

When I spoke about Hamburg’s support for the U.S. after September 11, I referred to a company which made a particularly generous donation. I now have the occasion to tell you more about this company. The Amerikazentrum, in recognition of all that Hamburg and the people of Hamburg have done to support German-American relations, decided to establish a Hamburg-America Friendship Prize. And I am very happy to announce this evening that the first recipient of this prize is the Hapag-Lloyd Aktiengesellschaft.

There is hardly a Hamburg company whose history and philosophy is so closely connected with the United States and its people than Hapag-Lloyd. This connection started with the very first day of the company’s history when on May 27, 1847, the company was founded with the name “Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft.” The company’s first sailing ship for the New World left on the fifteenth of October in 1848. In those days, it took 40 days to cross the Atlantic. The first steam ship was put into service eight years later. Over the next four decades, Hapag expanded its services rapidly and by the mid-1890s, Hapag had become the world’s largest shipping line. Although Hapag lost almost all of its ships during World War I, in the 1920’s, with the help of some American shipping lines, especially the United American Lines, Hapag was able to restart its transatlantic service. In the 1930’s, the Atlantic routes were again Hapag’s most important ones. Two ships won the prestigious “Blue Ribbon” for the fastest transatlantic crossings.

The United States is a nation of immigrants and Hapag-Lloyd is intimately connected with the history of U.S. immigration. Both Hapag and Norddeutscher Lloyd, which merged to become Hapag-Lloyd in 1970, brought millions of German and other European emigrants to American shores – one of which was my mother, a young Swedish immigrant.

Taking emigrants across the Atlantic was a huge and profitable enterprise, but Hapag also made extraordinary efforts in providing medical services, good sanitary conditions and a degree of comfort unequalled by any other line. Hapag and Lloyd became pioneers in emigration services and greatly improved transatlantic travel. Hapag’s “Auswandererstadt” was inaugurated in 1901 to accommodate 100,000 to 200,000 emigrants per year. It provided a range of services to emigrants and was so advanced that a model of the city was honored with a prize at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900. The “Auswandererstadt” is truly a unique chapter in both Hapag-Lloyd’s history and the history of the city of Hamburg.

I congratulate Hamburg on its decision to build a museum on the last remaining elements of the “Auswandererstadt.” In the United States, the Ellis Island immigration museum is one of the most frequented museums in the country and I am sure the new Hamburg museum will be just as popular.

Up to this very day, Hapag-Lloyd has had extensive company connections with the United States. Today, it is a major player in the transatlantic transportation of goods and people. There is more, however, to the relationship than pure economics. There is also a special emotional side -- based on the collective memories of those millions of emigrants and their search for political freedom and a new life in America. Hapag was a part of the personal fates of millions of people -- people who took pride in their roles in building America: its democracy, its society, and its economy. Hapag also always stood out for its commitment to international relations.

And in our times, Hapag-Lloyd has shown extraordinary support for German-American relations. German reunification was important for Germany, but it was also celebrated in the United States -- indeed the German-American partnership is one of the greatest success stories in modern history. Thanks to Hapag-Lloyd, a dramatic and emotional symbol of that partnership – a piece of the Berlin Wall -- stands today in front of the United Nations building in New York.

The horrible attacks of September 11 created an outpouring of support and sympathy all over the world. Many individuals and companies donated money to the families of the victims. In light of its close historical and contemporary connections with the U.S. and in special recognition of the help Germany received from the United States after World War II, Hapag-Lloyd decided – quickly and unbureacratically -- to provide help to the victim’s families. It is with the highest respect and appreciation -- that we acknowledge the very generous donation of 1.5 million Deutschmarks. It is especially noteworthy that company employees spontaneously decided to forgo their company Christmas gifts so an equivalent value could be donated to a September 11th fund.

Based on the very special historical and ongoing relationship of this company to the United States, it is very appropriate that the first Hamburg-America-Friendship-Prize be awarded to Hapag-Lloyd in recognition of the outstanding contributions this company, management and employees alike, have made to the advancement of German-American relations.

I applaud Hapag-Lloyd, and I would like to ask Mr. Michael Behrendt, chairman of the executive board of Hapag-Lloyd, to come forward and to accept the very first Hamburg-America Friendship Prize.