Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2023-08-21 09:00 - 10:00 (America/New_York)
The ACG regularly hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse. Join us on Monday, August 21 at 9:00 am ET for a Kaffeepause with Simon Book, Editor for Der Spiegel and 2016 ACG Kellen Fellow. Simon Book serves as an Editor in the Economics Department for Der Spiegel. He joined Spiegel in July 2020 and is responsible for the topics of trade and consumer goods. Before that, he was a reporter for Handelsblatt from 2013 to 2016 and WirtschaftsWoche from 2016 to 2020. He studied in Passau and was trained at the German School of Journalism. In 2016, he received a Kellen Fellowship from the American Council on Germany, during which time he researched transatlantic trade policy.

Education and Workforce Preparedness: Keys to Strengthening Transatlantic Relations and Meeting 21st Century Challenges
2023-08-23 18:00 - 20:30
On August 23, the ACG will host a discussion and reception with Dr. Jens Brandenburg, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Education and Research and Member of the German Bundestag (FDP).
For more information, please email events@acgusa.org.
Dr. Jens Brandenburg (2019 ACG Young Leader) has been Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Education and Research since December 2021. He has been a Member of the German Bundestag representing the constituency of Rhein-Neckar since 2017. In the 19th legislative term, he was spokesperson of the Free Democratic Party’s Parliamentary Group for vocational training, lifelong learning, and LGBTI rights. He also served as spokesperson of his parliamentary group on the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment and on the Study Commission “Vocational Training in the Digital Work Environment.”

Dr. Brandenburg has volunteered for better educational opportunities and diversity in society, including on the Board of Trustees of the Deutsche AIDS-Stiftung (since 2019), on the Board of Trustees of the Bundesstiftung Magnus Hirschfeld (since 2018), as chairman of the Baden-Württemberg branch of the Young Liberals (2010-2013), in the Free Democratic Party (since 2006), with the Liberal Students Groups from 2005 to 2009, and in the SchLAu information campaign on gender diversity and identity issues at schools in North-Rhine Westphalia (2001-2005). He also spent a year in Little Rock, AR as a high school student.

Dr. Brandenburg has a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from the University of Mannheim and an M.A. in Political Science. He finished his Doctorate in 2015 at the Graduate School of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Mannheim. During his studies he worked at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES) and in various departments at the University of Mannheim. Prior to becoming a member of the German Bundestag, he worked for a global management consulting firm (2014-2017).

Germany’s Zeitenwende and Defense Spending
2023-08-25 12:00 - 14:00
On August 25, the ACG will host a discussion and luncheon with Thomas Hitschler, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Defense and Member of the German Bundestag (SPD).
For more information, please email events@acgusa.org.
Thomas Hitschler has been Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Defense since December 2021. He has been a Member of the German Bundestag (SPD) since 2013, representing the Südpfalz in Rhineland-Palatinate.

In the run up to the 2021 election, Mr. Hitschler was elected to lead the SPD’s campaign in Rhineland-Palatinate. During the negotiations to form the “traffic light” coalition of Social Democrats, Greens, and Free Democrats, he was a member of his party’s delegation in the working group on homeland security, civil rights, and consumer protection.

From 2014 to 2021, Mr. Hitschler served on the Bundestag’s Defense Committee, where he was the SPD parliamentary groups rapporteur on the infrastructure of the Bundeswehr. From 2018 to 2021, he was also a member of the Committee on Home Affairs. In 2020, he joined the Parliamentary Oversight Panel (PKGr), which provides parliamentary oversight of Germany’s intelligence services BND, BvF, and MAD. In addition to his committee assignments, Mr. Hitschler has been a member of the German delegation to the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly since 2019.

Mr. Hitschler began his career in local politics, serving as a senior staff member to the Mayor of Landau. He studied Political Science, Public Law, and History in Mannheim and Würzburg.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2023-09-11 09:00 - 10:00
The ACG regularly hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse. Join us on Monday, September 11 at 9:00 am ET for a Kaffeepause with Steven Erlanger, Chief Diplomatic Correspondent in Europe for The New York Times. Steven Erlanger is the Chief Diplomatic Correspondent in Europe for The New York Times, a position he assumed in 2017. He is based in Berlin. As of earlier this year, he is based in Berlin.
In over 40 years of career as a journalist, he has covered news in over 120 countries, from the war in Kosovo to Brexit. In 2002, Mr. Erlanger shared the Pulitzer Prize for reporting on his work on Al Qaeda and again received the prize in 2017 for a series on Russia.
Between 1975 and 1983, he was a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University. Beginning in 1976, he also worked as an Editor and Correspondent at the Boston Globe. From 1983 through 1987, he was the Globe’s European Correspondent in London. Beginning in 1988, he served as Bureau Chief for the New York Times in London, Paris, Jerusalem, Berlin, Prague, Moscow, and Bangkok.
In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, Mr. Erlanger has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Robert Livingston Award for international reporting for a series of articles about Eastern Europe in 1981, the German Marshall Fund’s Peter Weitz Prize for excellence and originality in reporting and analyzing European and transatlantic affairs in 2000, and the Karl Klasen Journalists Prize for coverage of Germany and Europe and promoting trans-Atlantic understanding in 2017.
Mr. Erlanger’s writing has been featured in many publications such as The Economist, The Spectator, The New Statesman, The New Republic, The Financial Times, Foreign Policy, The National Interest, and the Columbia Journalism Review.

Structural Change and Revitalization in Post-Industrial Regions
2023-09-13 11:00 - 12:30
While global challenges are addressed by national governments, increasingly subnational actors such as states, communities, and cities have needed to step up to take action when traditional nation-states have been unable to make progress due to political polarization and partisan gridlocks. This trend has also characterized transatlantic relations and the German-American partnership. The German-American State Legislator Dialogue was initiated to focus on the role of state representatives from the United States and Germany in addressing common challenges.
The decline of certain industrial sectors poses particular challenges at the state level in both Germany and the United States. The effects of structural transformation – brought on by geopolitical and geo-economic developments, digitalization, and the increasing focus on decarbonization – are notable in regions such as the Ruhr area (Ruhrgebiet) in Germany and the Rust Belt in the United States. As entire industries have folded, a lack of labor opportunities has led to an exodus of skilled workers and young people. This has accelerated an overall decline in public infrastructure and threatens social cohesion. Policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic have taken varied approaches to an overarching economic restructuring, offering an instructive comparative learning opportunity. In this panel discussion with state legislators from both countries, we will discuss the myriad consequences for affected regions, highlight various measures being taken to sustain regions hit hard by post-industrialization, and explore ways to ensure that such transformations can be successfully managed in the future.
Join the American Council on Germany and the Aspen Institute Germany for our next State-to-State: German-American State Legislator Dialogue for a discussion with German and American state legislators, including Senator Dave Argall (R), Pennsylvania State Senate; Wibke Brems (Alliance 90/Die Grünen), Member of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia; and Romina Plonsker (CDU), Member of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. Senator Dave Argall represents the 29th District, which includes 102 municipalities in northeastern Pennsylvania. As a member of the Senate’s majority leadership team and the proud grandson of Cornish, Welsh, and German farmers, coal miners, and factory workers, Senator Argall’s top legislative priority is revitalizing our downtowns and older industrial neighborhoods. In the Senate, he chairs the Education Committee, one of the most active legislative committees at the Capitol. Senator Argall earned a bachelor’s degree from Lycoming College and a Ph.D. in public administration from Penn State. His studies included an Eisenhower Fellowship to review the economic and political transformations in Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall. His doctoral dissertation reviewed the benefits and drawbacks of Pennsylvania’s tax-free “Keystone Opportunity Zones” for economic development. Senator Argall has served as a part-time public policy instructor for more than 30 years at Lycoming College, Penn State, and at Lehigh Carbon Community College.
Wibke Brems is the Chair of the Green Party in the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. She is a qualified electrical engineer specializing in renewable energies. She has been a Member of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2010 and was the Spokesperson for Energy Policy and Climate Protection, Mining Safety, and Anti-nuclear Policy of the parliamentary group until her election as Chair of the Green Party. Wibke Brems has been a member of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen since 1998. Between 1999 and 2021, she was active in various functions at the municipal level, for example, as a council member in Gütersloh. As an engineer, she worked in the photovoltaic industry until her entry into the state parliament, first independently and later as head of technical support at a medium-sized solar company. Wibke Brems was born in Bremerhaven in 1981 and has lived in Gütersloh since the age of 7.
Romina Plonsker has been a Member of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2017 and has been the CDU Spokesperson for Europe and International Affairs since 2022. Additionally, she has been a member of the State Executive Committee of the CDU North Rhine-Westphalia since 2016 and the district Chairwoman of the CDU Rhein-Erft since 2021. In 2020, she was elected to the council of the Rhein-Erft district as well as Deputy Chairwoman of the CDU distict council faction. Romina Plonsker’s work on the Committee for Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy is shaped by the guiding principle of making North Rhine-Westphalia a climate and environmentally-friendly industrial location. Additionally, she serves on the Supervisory Boards of RWE Power AG, Wirtschaftsförderung Rhein-Erft GmbH, and the Zukunftsagentur Rheinisches Revier GmbH. Romina Plonsker completed both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Business Administration at the University of Cologne.

Europe’s New Disorder and Germany’s Zeitenwende
2023-09-13 18:00 - 21:00
On the evening of September 13, the ACG will host the inaugural Dr. Richard M. Hunt Memorial Lecture with Dr. Josef Joffe, Professor of International Politics at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Dr. Josef Joffe teaches international politics at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Previously he taught at Stanford and Harvard, where he earned his Ph.D. in Government. A renowned journalist and author, Dr. Joffe has served as Editorial Page Editor of the Süddeutsche Zeitung and Executive Editor and Co-Publisher of Die Zeit. His essays have appeared in the New York Review of Books, New York Times Book Review, Times Literary Supplement, Commentary, New York Times Magazine, New Republic, Politico, and Prospect (London). His op-ed pieces have appeared in The New York Times, Financial Times, the Times of London, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal. He has authored and co-authored ten books in English and German. His scholarly articles have appeared in Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, International Security, The American Interest, American Purpose, and Foreign Policy. Dr. Joffe is a Founding Member of the American Academy in Berlin. He serves on the Boards of Ben Gurion University, Bard College Berlin, the Hamburg Symphony, Youth for Understanding, the Leo Baeck Institute, and the Editorial Boards of American Interest (Washington) and International Security (MIT). Dr. Joffe holds Honorary Degrees from Swarthmore College (2002) and Lewis and Clark College (2005) and was awarded the German Federal Order of Merit in 1996.
The Dr. Richard M. Hunt Memorial Lecture Series honors late ACG Vice Chairman Dr. Richard M. Hunt, who was deeply committed to strengthening ties between Germany and the United States and gave exceptional support to the ACG for 50 years. He was the first and longest-serving President in the organization’s history, from 1972 to 1988, and subsequently served as Vice Chairman until his passing on April 10, 2020. During his tenure, Rick Hunt worked tirelessly behind the scenes to help create the American-German Young Leaders Conference, launched in 1973, and the McCloy Fellowship program, launched in 1975 – both of which remain central to our work today. He also helped shape the biennial German-American Conference. These programs are just a fraction of his lasting legacies to the Council. His wise counsel, keen knowledge of German-American relations, faith in younger generations, and warm, unassuming manner are sorely missed. We will be joined for this special evening by Rick and Pricilla Hunt’s three children, Dr. Helen Hunt Bouscaren, Susan Hunt Hollingsworth, and William (Bill) Edwards Hunt.

Germany’s New Security Outlook: Key Elements of the National Security Strategy and the China Strategy
2023-09-19 17:30 - 19:00
The ACG will host a discussion and reception with Minister of State Tobias Lindner of the Federal Foreign Office.

Dr. Tobias Lindner has been a State Minister at the German Federal Foreign Office since 2021 and a member of the Bundestag since 2011. Dr. Lindner has dedicated his career to issues of defense, security, and foreign affairs. He has served as a member of the German Green Party (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) since 1998 and has been actively involved in shaping defense policy and promoting transparency within the armed forces. From 2018 to 2021, he was the speaker for the Green Party’s positions on defense policy, Chairman of the Parliament’s Defense Committee, as well as a member of the Budget Committee.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2023-09-25 09:00 - 10:00
The ACG regularly hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse. Join us on Monday, September 25 at 9:00 am ET for a Kaffeepause Paul-Anton Krüger, Parliamentary Correspondent in the Berlin Bureau of the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Paul-Anton Krüger has been the Parliamentary Correspondent in the Berlin Bureau of the Süddeutsche Zeitung since the 2021 federal election. Previously he reported on political affairs and served as Deputy Head of the Foreign Policy Department, focusing on the Middle East and international security for three years. Before that, he spent four years in Cairo and was a correspondent covering large parts of the Arab world and Iran.
After graduating from the Alte Landesschule in Korbach, he studied journalism in Berlin and Munich. In August 2005, he joined the Süddeutsche Zeitung as a volunteer, worked as an editor from 2008, and as head of the foreign policy department from 2011. In the fall of 2007, Mr. Krüger was a guest editor at the Chicago Tribune as part of the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship, the German-American journalism scholarship of the International Journalism Programs e.V.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2023-10-02 09:00 - 10:00
The ACG regularly hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse. Join us on Monday, October 2 at 9:00 am ET for a Kaffeepause with Brent Goff, Chief Anchor at DW News and Host of “The Day with Brent Goff.” Brent Goff is the Chief Anchor at DW News and Host of “The Day with Brent Goff.” He joined DW in 2000 and has become one of the most recognized on-air personalities. Prior to joining DW, Brent worked as a producer for CNN. He was both a Fulbright Scholar and a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow in Germany. Brent grew up in rural North Carolina, and his first job in TV journalism was at a small TV station in Missouri. He holds an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Dealing with Disinformation: Current Forms of Disinformation, Actors, and Spheres of Influence
2023-10-04 11:00 - 12:00
Over the last decade, widespread disinformation – distributed through the internet, over social media, and especially through messengers – has influenced our political systems and societies in an unprecedented way. When it comes to disinformation, what is the current state of affairs? What have we learned about the resiliency of our institutions? Are we ready for the impact AI will have on already fragile systems? The American Council on Germany and the German Consulate General of New York are launching a new online series to discuss these questions titled “Dealing with Disinformation.”
On October 4, at 11:00 am ET, the American Council on Germany and the German Consulate General of New York will kick off the series with a virtual discussion on how actors use disinformation campaigns to influence public opinion, divide societies, and disrupt democratic processes. We will be joined by Lutz Güllner, Head of Strategic Communications and Information Analysis at the European External Action Service, and Nina Jankowicz, Vice President at the Centre for Information Resilience and former Head of the Disinformation Governance Board of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Lutz Güllner is the Head of the Division for Strategic Communications and Information Analysis in the European External Action Service. He leads a team of about 40 persons dealing with issues related to disinformation and foreign manipulative interference. In his work, he focuses on addressing disinformation threats for the EU and for the EU’s neighborhood region. Prior to his current position, he served as Head of the EEAS’s foreign and security policy communication team (2017-2019) and as Head of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Trade’s communication team (2013-17). He was also Deputy Head of the Trade Strategy Unit and responsible for the coordination of EU-US trade and economic relations. In 2009 and 2010, Mr. Güllner was spokesperson for the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton. He was also the Commission’s spokesperson for trade policy. In previous positions, he was in charge of economic relations between the EU and Russia. Prior to joining the European Commission, he worked as a public affairs consultant in Brussels.
Nina Jankowicz is an internationally recognized expert on disinformation and democratization and the author of two books: How to Lose the Information War (Bloomsbury 2020) and How to Be A Woman Online (Bloomsbury 2022), an examination of online abuse and disinformation and tips for fighting back. She currently serves as the Vice President at the UK-based Centre for Information Resilience, a non-profit focused on countering disinformation. Ms. Jankowicz has advised governments, international organizations, and tech companies, and testified before the U.S. Congress, UK Parliament, and European Parliament.
In 2022, Ms. Jankowicz was appointed to lead the Disinformation Governance Board, an intra-agency best practices and coordination entity at the Department of Homeland Security; she resigned from the position after a sustained disinformation campaign caused the Biden Administration to abandon the project. From 2017-2022, she held fellowships at the Wilson Center, where she was affiliated with the Kennan Institute and the Science and Technology Innovation Program and led accessible, actionable research about the effects of disinformation on women, minorities, democratic activists, and freedom of expression around the world. In 2016-17, she advised the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on disinformation and strategic communications under the auspices of a Fulbright-Clinton Public Policy Fellowship. Early in her career, she managed democracy assistance programs to Russia and Belarus at the National Democratic Institute.

The Implications of the EU’s AI Act: A View from Germany
2023-10-04 18:00 - 19:30
The ACG will host a discussion and reception with Paula Cipierre, Head of Privacy and Public Policy for Palantir Technologies and 2023 ACG McCloy Fellow on Global Trends.

Paula Cipierre is the Head of Privacy and Public Policy at Palantir Technologies. She advises the company and its customers on strategic and ethical questions about developing and deploying Palantir software. She has researched and worked at the intersection of data protection, data ethics, and the digital world for over a decade. A vocal proponent of interdisciplinary thinking and lifelong learning, she holds several humanities and social sciences degrees from universities in Europe and the United States, including an LLM in Information Technology Law from the University of Edinburgh. She recently co-wrote a book about what we can learn from art to shape the future with software.

Science Diplomacy, Academic Freedom, and the New Role of Universities
2023-10-05 08:00 - 09:30
On October 5, the ACG, the American Friends of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the German Center for Research and Innovation will host a breakfast briefing with Prof. Dr. Julia von Blumenthal, President of the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin.

Prof. Dr. Julia von Blumenthal has been the President of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin since October 1, 2022. From 1989 to 1996, she studied Political Sciences, Law, and Slavonic Studies (Russian Studies) in Heidelberg and Hamburg. She received her Doctorate in 2001 and her Habilitation in Political Sciences in 2007 from the University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg (today the Helmut Schmidt University).
After a visiting fellowship in Canberra and a deputy professorship at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg, she held a fixed-term professorship for German and comparative politics at the Justus Liebig University Giessen. Prof. Dr. von Blumenthal has been a Professor of German Politics at the Department of Social Sciences of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin since 2009. She has served as Dean of Studies and afterwards as Dean of the Faculty of Arts III. In 2014, she became the Founding Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. From October 2018 to October 2022, she was President of the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder). As a political scientist, she has researched German politics, especially on federalism and parliaments and on the role of higher education institutions in integrating refugees.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2023-10-09 09:00 - 10:00
The ACG regularly hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse.
Join us on Monday, October 9 at 9:00 am ET for a Kaffeepause on the day after state elections in Bavaria and Hesse with Michael Watzke, Bavarian Correspondent for Deutschlandradio. He’ll talk about the impact of the elections at the state and national level. Michael Watzke has been the Bavarian Correspondent for Deutschlandradio since 2010. He first embarked on a career in journalism by working on the school paper (Die Waage) in Remscheid and later worked as a free-lancer for the Rheinischen Post and at WDR’s regional studio in Wuppertal. He studied Journalism at the German Journalist School in Munich and Political Science and Communications at the LMU Munich and at American University in Washington DC. After completing his studies, Mr. Watzke worked as a journalist, editor, and moderator and, from 2002 until 2010, as Lead Reporter for Antenne Bayern. He was awarded an Arthur F. Burns Fellowship in 2014 and worked at WNYC.

Dealing with Disinformation: How Is Disinformation Shifting Democratic Processes and International Relations?
2023-10-12 11:00 - 12:00
Disinformation is a cause for tremendous concern to countries around the world – including democracies. Information manipulation has become more common – and far more sophisticated – in recent years. There are domestic and foreign actors who engage in disinformation campaigns to disrupt democratic processes or otherwise make money by intentionally spreading false or misleading information. How resilient are nation-states and the international order? What can be done to address disinformation at the national and multilateral levels?
Join the American Council on Germany and the German Consulate General New York for the second installment of the series on “Dealing with Disinformation.” German diplomat and former journalist Ralf Beste and Melissa Fleming, Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications at the United Nations, will discuss the impact of disinformation on international relations during a webinar on Thursday, October 12, at 11:00 am ET. Ralf Beste is a German diplomat and former journalist. He currently serves as the Director-General for Culture and Society at the German Federal Foreign Office. From September 2019 until March 2022, he was Germany’s Ambassador to Austria. Prior to that, he was Deputy Director of the Policy Planning Staff in the Foreign Office, where he was responsible for the 2014 “Review of German Foreign Policy.” He became the Director of the Policy Planning staff in 2017.
From 1996 until 2000, he was the Parliamentary Correspondent for the Berliner Zeitung – first in Bonn and then in Berlin. In 2001, he moved to the Berlin Bureau of Der Spiegel, where he reported on foreign and security policy and the Greens.
Mr. Beste studied History in Bochum, Bielefeld, and Baltimore and holds Master’s degrees from Bielefeld University and The Johns Hopkins University.
Melissa Fleming is Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications at the United Nations, having taken up her post in September 2019.
Ms. Fleming leads the UN’s Department of Global Communications, which is responsible for informing global audiences about the state of the world and engaging them to build support for the Organization’s work and goals.
In this role, Ms. Fleming oversees the UN’s strategic communications operations, including its multilingual news and digital media services, public outreach programmes, and global campaigns.
Under her leadership, the UN Department of Global Communications engages in far-reaching efforts to address misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech. She is leading on the development of a Code of Conduct for Information Integrity on Digital Platforms.
Previously, Ms. Fleming served 10 years at the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) as Head of Global Communications. Prior to that, she was the Spokesperson and Head of Media and Outreach at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). She also headed the Press and Public Information team at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Ms. Fleming is a TED speaker, the author of the book  A Hope More Powerful than the Sea, and the host of the award-winning UN podcast Awake at Night.
Ms. Fleming holds a Master of Science in Journalism from the College of Communication, Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts in German Studies from Oberlin College.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2023-10-16 09:00 - 10:00
The ACG regularly hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse.
Join us on Monday, October 16 at 9:00 am ET for a Kaffeepause with journalist Alfred Schmit. Alfred Schmit works as a journalist in Berlin. Since December 2018, he has been a radio correspondent in ARD’s capital studio in Berlin. Previously, he worked as London correspondent for ARD radio, for SWR Radio in the Economics department in Stuttgart and as newswriter for the German national TV news, tagesschau, in Hamburg. Mr. Schmit’s topics primarily include economics, finance, and consumer issues. Previously, the radio journalist worked at DEUTSCHE WELLE as presenter for the English-language section and a correspondent’s deputy in Bonn. A political scientist by training, he graduated from the Universität Heidelberg and completed journalism training at the Institute for the Promotion of Young Journalists in Munich (ifp). Mr. Schmit also spent a year studying in the United States at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania.

Kaffeepause: Special Edition - The Polish Election
2023-10-23 09:00 - 10:00
Join us on Monday, October 23, for a special edition of the regular Kaffeepause. We’ll discuss the results of Poland’s election and the future of German-Polish relations with former German Ambassador to Poland Rolf Nikel. Ambassador Rolf Nikel has served as the Vice President of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) since September 2020, when he was elected to this office by DGAP’s general assembly.
Before joining DGAP, Amb. Nikel spent more than 40 years working for the German Foreign Office. From July 2014 until the end of June 2020, he was Germany’s ambassador to Poland. From 2011 to 2014, he was the Federal Government Commissioner for Disarmament and Arms Control. Prior to that, he served in the Federal Chancellery – as deputy head of its foreign and security policy division (2006 to 2011) and head of its United Nations and Global Issues Group (2005 to 2006). During his diplomatic career, he also worked at German embassies in Moscow, Nairobi, Paris, and Washington, DC, where he headed the political department.
Rolf Nikel studied political science, economics, and international law in Frankfurt; Durham, North Carolina; and Paris. He was also a fellow at Harvard University.

Germany’s Zeitenwende and Nuclear Deterrence
2023-10-24 10:00 - 11:00
With Russia’s war in Ukraine, we have seen a fundamental shift in Germany’s foreign, security, and energy policy. Putin’s nuclear threats and saber-rattling has also led to a reexamination of Germany’s approach to nuclear defense. Prior to the current conflict, there was little discussion about nuclear defense.
In a new book titled “Deutschlands nukleare Interessen” (Germany’s Nuclear Interests), security expert Dr. Karl-Heinz Kamp reexamines Germany’s nuclear defense policy and highlights the need for German parliamentarians and policymakers to have a nuanced understanding about nuclear matters and the role of deterrence. Join us on October 24 at 11 am ET for a virtual discussion with Dr. Kamp. Dr. Karl-Heinz Kamp is a Lecturer at the University “Roma Tre” in Rome and an Associate Fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in Berlin. Previously, he served as Special Envoy of the Political Director in the German Ministry of Defense. From 2013 to 2015, he was the Academic Director at the Federal Academy for Security Policy (BAKS) in Berlin and then served as the Academy’s President until 2019.
He started his career in 1986 at the German Council of Foreign Affairs (DGAP) in Bonn. In 1988, he was a Research Fellow at the Center for Science and International Affairs (CSIA) at Harvard‘s John F. Kennedy School of Government. In September 1988, he joined the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Bonn, where he became Head of the Foreign- and Security Policy Research Section in 1992 and later the Director of its International Planning Staff. From 2003 to 2007, he was the Security Policy Coordinator of the Foundation in Berlin. From 1997 to 1998, Dr. Kamp was on a temporary assignment with the Planning Staff of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From November 2007 to October 2013, he served as the Research Director of the NATO Defense College (NDC) in Rome to build up NATO’s Research Division.
Dr. Kamp is a member of numerous international institutions and academic bodies. In 2009, Secretary Madeleine Albright selected him as one of the Advisors for the NATO Expert Group on the New Strategic Concept. Since 2016, he is also the co-editor of the strategic journal “Sirius,” and he has published more than 400 articles on security policy issues in books and journals.

How has the War in Ukraine Changed Germany’s Energy and Climate Policy?
2023-10-26 12:00 - 14:00
The ACG and the Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Washington DC will host a discussion and luncheon with Sascha Müller-Kraenner, Executive Director/CEO of Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V. (Environmental Action Germany).
Sascha Müller-Kraenner has served as Executive Director/CEO of Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V., DUH (Environmental Action Germany) since January 2015. Environmental Action Germany is an independent non-profit organization that was founded in 1975 and is focused on environmental and consumer protection. It is a leading environment and consumer advocacy organization that works mostly at the German state and national and on the European level.
Mr. Müller-Kraenner is also a founding partner and board member of Ecologic Institute, a non-profit applied environmental policy research institute with offices in Berlin, Brussels, and Washington, DC. Before assuming his current role, he held various positions with The Nature Conservancy between 2007 and 2014, and earlier in his career, he worked for the Heinrich-Böll Foundation.
Mr. Müller-Kraenner studied Philosophy in Munich and graduated with honors in Biology and Public Law from the University of Bayreuth.

The Israel-Hamas Conflict and its Broader Implications: A View from Germany
2023-11-01 12:00 - 13:00
On October 7, in a series of coordinated attacks, the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented assault on Israel, with hundreds of gunmen infiltrating communities near the Gaza Strip. More than 1,400 Israelis were killed and more than 200 people – including civilians – were taken to Gaza as hostages. In response, Israel has carried out air and artillery strikes, begun a counter-offensive, and cut off electricity and most water supplies. The fighting is causing death and destruction in the region – and causing reverberations around the world. On Monday, the UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting regarding the situation. This comes after a meeting on Friday when 120 countries voted in favor of a UN resolution calling for a “sustained humanitarian truce” in Gaza. The United States voted against the resolution. Germany – and 14 other EU member states – abstained, showing that the EU countries cannot find a common position.
More than three weeks into the conflict, join the American Council on Germany on November 1 for a virtual discussion about the broader implications of the conflict with Middle East expert Prof. Dr. Eckart Woertz, Director of the GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies and Professor for Contemporary History and Politics of the Middle East at the University of Hamburg. Prof. Dr. Eckart Woertz has been the Director of the GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies and Professor of Contemporary History and Politics of the Middle East at the University of Hamburg since October 2019. Prior to that, he was a Senior Research Fellow at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB). Earlier in his career, he served as Director of Economic Studies at the Gulf Research Center (GRC) in Dubai. He began his career in finance, working for banks in Frankfurt, Mainz, and Dubai. He has also held positions with the Barcelona Institute of International Studies, the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po, and at Princeton University.
Prof. Dr. Woertz studied Economics, Political Science, and Islamic Studies at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, the Free University of Berlin, the Institut Français d’Études Arabes de Damas, and the University of Damascus.

German-American Economic Relations: A German Perspective
2023-11-01 18:00 - 19:30
The ACG and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung will host a discussion and reception with Julia Klöckner, Member of the German Bundestag, Spokeswoman on Economic Policy for the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group, and Former Federal Minister.
Julia Klöckner has been a member of the German Parliament (Bundestag) since 2021, representing the constituency of Kreuznach. She serves as the Spokeswoman on Economic Policy for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group and as a Deputy Member of the Committee on Culture and the Media. She previously served as the Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture under the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021.
After training as a journalist, Ms. Klöckner’s was among other things an Editor at the Meininger Verlag publishing house, and later Editor-in-Chief of Sommelier magazine, which she co-founded. During this time, she also remained active in local politics. She made her first foray into national politics in 2002, when she first entered the Bundestag. In 2011, she went to serve in the state parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate and as Chairwoman of its CDU parliamentary group from 2011 to 2018. Throughout her career, Ms. Klöckner has held several senior leadership roles within the CDU, including as federal treasurer since 2022 and deputy federal chairwomen from 2012 to 2022.

Navigating Crises, Conflict, and Competition: A European Perspective on the Future of Transatlantic Relations, Multilateralism, and the World Order
2023-11-02 08:00 - 21:30
The ACG and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung will host a Breakfast Briefing with Klaus Welle, Chairman of the Academic Council at the Martens Centre for European Studies (Brussels) and Former Secretary-General of the European Parliament.
Klaus Welle served as the Secretary-General of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2022. He is currently the Chairman of the Academic Council at the Martens Centre for European Studies (Brussels) and the inaugural ‘Leader in Residence’ at the Moynihan Center at the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at The City College of New York.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Welle served in various roles at the European Parliament including Head of the Cabinet of the President (2007-2009), Director-General for Internal Policies (2004-2007), and Secretary-General for the European People’s Party (EPP) in Parliament (1999-2003). He also served as the Secretary-General for the EPP and the European Union of Christian Democrats (EUCD) and the Head of the European and Foreign Policy Department at the CDU Central Office.
Mr. Welle holds a degree in Economics from the University of Witten/Herdecke and is the recipient of grants from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German Academic Scholarship) and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2023-11-06 09:00 - 10:00
The ACG regularly hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse. Join us on Monday, November 6 at 9:00 am ET for a Kaffeepause with Bojan Pancevski, Germany Correspondent, The Wall Street Journal. Bojan Pancevski is The Wall Street Journal’s Germany correspondent, covering all aspects of Europe’s largest economy and its influence on the rest of the continent and beyond. He also covers Europe at large across major themes.
Before joining the WSJ, he covered Europe for the Times and the Sunday Times of London from Brussels and Vienna, focusing on a broad range of subjects including the war in eastern Ukraine, the 2015 migration crisis, the rise of the Islamic State in Europe, Russian meddling in Europe and Britain’s departure from the European Union.

Supporting Israel, Understanding Palestinians: How the War in Gaza has Sparked Dark Reminders of the Past in Germany
2023-11-09 11:00 - 12:00
Since the end of World War II, one term has shaped German politics more than any other: “Never again.” Yet, once again, Jews fear for their lives.
The October 7 terror attacks on Israel by Hamas have evoked agonizing memories. World leaders like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Joe Biden have drawn parallels between the assault and the Holocaust. Biden even described the attacks on a dance party and farming communities, which left more than 1,400 people dead, as “the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.”
Since the attacks, Jews in Germany have faced violence on German streets and authorities say antisemitic crimes have increased. Homes and businesses have been marked with the Star of David, a dark reminder of the 1930s. The conflict in Gaza has polarized communities. There have been pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian demonstrations that have gotten violent.
On November 9, we will talk with award-winning journalist and ACG fellow Vladimir Balzer about the mood in Germany following the violence in Gaza. Vladimir Balzer is an award-winning journalist and moderator at Deutschlandfunk Kultur. He grew up in Leipzig and studied German, art history, and journalism in Dublin, Venice, and Leipzig. He studied abroad in Italy and the United States. He began his career as a presenter, reporter, and editor at Deutschlandradio and MDR. Mr. Balzer hosts, among other programs, the daily programs “Fazit – Kultur vom Tage” and “Studio 9” on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. In 2022, he was selected to be a Kellen Fellow by the American Council on Germany.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2023-11-13 09:00 - 10:00
The ACG regularly hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse. Join us on Monday, November 13 at 9:00 am ET for a Kaffeepause with Berlin Correspondent for Die Zeit, Petra Pinzler (2010 Kellen Fellow).
Petra Pinzler is a journalist with the German weekly DIE ZEIT based in the Berlin office. She writes on the EU and foreign policy as well as economic affairs and development. She has been with DIE ZEIT since 1994, first as an economics editor based in Hamburg, then from 1998 to 2002 as a US correspondent based in Washington, DC. In 2001, she was a Bucerius Fellow at the de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University. From 2002 to 2007, she was the paper’s European Correspondent based in Brussels.
She studied economics and politics at the University of Cologne and journalism at the Cologne Journalism School. Ms. Pinzler has won a number of awards for her work including the Robert Bosch Foundation Journalism Prize in 1999, the Karl Klasen Prize in 2003, and the Journalism Prize for Development Policy in 2006. In 2010, she was awarded a Kellen Fellowship from the American Council on Germany.

Can AI Be Creative?
2023-11-14 18:00 - 19:30
On November 14, the ACG, DWIH, and HPI will host a discussion and reception with Professor Gerard de Melo, Full Professor at the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Engineering and Chair for Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Systems at the University of Potsdam.
While creativity is often considered a uniquely human trait, there have recently been notable advances in Generative AI systems that readily produce increasingly convincing pictures, literature, as well as music. This raises important debates about the role of humans and machines in the creative process. This presentation will delve into fundamental concepts of creativity and how they relate to AI, highlighting how machines are trained to generate new content based on massive amounts of human data. In addition, this talk will address the ongoing debate surrounding authorship, and intellectual property.
Gerard de Melo is a full professor at the Hasso Plattner Institute and the University of Potsdam in Germany, where he leads the AI and Intelligent Systems research group. Previously, he was an assistant professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey as well as at Tsinghua University in Beijing and a post-doctoral research scholar at ICSI/UC Berkeley.
Professor de Melo has published over 200 academic papers on various aspects of AI, covering technical issues as well as societal and philosophical issues such as bias, transparency, and knowledge.

Democracy vs. Autocracy: Threats to Western Democracies through Autocratic Regimes
2023-11-16 18:00 - 19:30
The ACG will host a discussion and reception with Thomas Haldenwang, President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV)).
Thomas Haldenwang currently serves as the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV)), a key domestic intelligence agency in Germany with the mission of fighting extremist adversaries of the federal constitution.
Mr. Haldenwang started working at the BfV in 2009, became Vice President in 2013, and then President in 2018. Prior to working for the BfV, he worked as a legal officer for the Federal Ministry of Interior and the Federal Office of Administration. He studied Law at the University of Marburg. He is a prominent German civil servant and intelligence officer who has dedicated his career to national security and counterintelligence.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2023-11-20 09:00 - 10:00
The ACG regularly hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse. Join us on Monday, November 20 at 9:00 am ET for a Kaffeepause with Anja Wehler-Schöck, Head of International Politics for Der Tagesspiegel.
Anja Wehler-Schöck has been Head of International Politics at der Tagesspiegel since August 2022. Prior to that, she worked as editor-in-chief of the IPG Journal, a debate platform for issues of international and European politics. She previously worked as a social affairs officer at the German Embassy in Washington and headed the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung’s office for Jordan and Iraq in Amman from 2012 to 2017.

Germany’s Foreign Policy Outlook in Times of Crisis and Conflict
2023-11-21 08:30 - 10:00
On November 21, the Denver Warburg Chapter of the ACG and the Denver Council on Foreign Relations will host a roundtable discussion with Ralf Beste, Director-General for Culture and Society at the German Federal Foreign Office, on“Germany’s Foreign Policy Outlook in Times of Crisis and Conflict.”
Ralf Beste is a German diplomat and former journalist. He currently serves as the Director-General for Culture and Society at the German Federal Foreign Office. From September 2019 until March 2022, he was Germany’s Ambassador to Austria. Prior to that, he was Deputy Director of the Policy Planning Staff in the Foreign Office, where he was responsible for the 2014 “Review of German Foreign Policy.” He became the Director of the Policy Planning staff in 2017.
From 1996 until 2000, he was the Parliamentary Correspondent for the Berliner Zeitung – first in Bonn and then in Berlin. In 2001, he moved to the Berlin Bureau of Der Spiegel, where he reported on foreign and security policy and the Greens.
Mr. Beste studied History in Bochum, Bielefeld, and Baltimore, and holds Master’s degrees from Bielefeld University and The Johns Hopkins University.

Land of the Free? Wie der Kampf um die Freiheit Amerikas Zukunft bestimmt
2023-11-27 08:30 - 10:00
Der American Council on Germany und Freunde des ACG werden ein Frühstück und eine Diskussion mit Julian Heißler, Washington Korrespondent der WirtschaftsWoche und Autor von Traum und Albtraum: Amerika und die vielen Gesichter der Freiheit. Julian Heiβler, Jahrgang 1983, berichtet seit Januar 2018 für die WirtschaftsWoche aus Washington DC. Zuvor schrieb er mehrere Jahre in Berlin für verschiedene Medien über die deutsche Bundespolitik. Er studierte Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft, Politikwissenschaft und Philosophie an der Freien Universität zu Berlin und absolvierte das Masterprogramm Journalismus der Hamburg Media School.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2023-11-27 09:00 - 10:00
The ACG regularly hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse. Join us on Monday, November 27 at 9:00 am ET for a Kaffeepause with Matthew Karnitschnig, Chief Europe Correspondent for Politico. Matthew Karnitschnig is POLITICO’s chief Europe correspondent, based in Berlin. He joined the publication in 2015 from the Wall Street Journal, where he spent 15 years in a variety of positions as a reporter and editor in the U.S. and Europe.
In a career spanning two decades, Mr. Karnitschnig has been on the front lines of some of the defining political and economic stories of our time. In 2008, he covered the fall of Lehman Brothers and the financial crisis that ensued. He was part of a team of Journal reporters that won a Gerald Loeb award and was named a Pulitzer finalist for National Reporting in 2009.
He subsequently spearheaded the WSJ’s coverage of the eurozone debt crisis as the paper’s Germany bureau chief and European economics editor. He led the team that was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting in 2011 and won an Overseas Press Club award in 2012.
Mr. Karnitschnig previously worked as a journalist for BusinessWeek, Reuters, and Bloomberg.
The son of an Austrian father and an American mother, he grew up in Arizona, where he got his start reporting as a stringer for the Phoenix Gazette during high school.
