American Council On Germany

The Corona Crisis as a Catalyst for Greater Transatlantic Cooperation on China
2021-08-20 11:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York)
The spread of the Covid-19 from Wuhan to the rest of the world underscores just how interconnected – and interdependent – the world has become. The spread of new variants also makes clear that no one is safe as long as the virus is rampant in other parts of the world. Addressing the pandemic can only be done together with China. All countries should have a vested interest in great cooperation when it comes to overcoming the pandemic.
The current crisis is just one of many issues that connect Europe and the United States with China. Join the American Council on Germany for a virtual discussion with Bundestag Member Nils Schmid, the Foreign Policy Spokesperson for the SPD, about the need for Europe to develop a common approach to China and opportunities for greater transatlantic cooperation vis-à-vis China. Nils Schmid has been a Member of the German Bundestag since September 2017. He is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and has been the foreign policy spokesperson for the SPD parliamentary caucus since 2018. He is also a deputy member of the Committee on Transport and Digital Infrastructure. In addition, he is a member of the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly.
In 1997, Mr. Schmid became a member of the state assembly of Baden-Württemberg. After his reelection in 2001, he became fiscal policy spokesperson for the SPD’s state assembly caucus. In 2006, his caucus elected him as deputy chairman. In 2009, the state party elected him chairman of the Baden-Württemberg SPD. He held that office until 2016. From 2011 to 2016, he was Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs of the state of Baden-Württemberg as well as Deputy Minister-President.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2021-08-23 09:00 - 10:00
Each week, the ACG hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse in Berlin. Next week we will discuss the inner circle around the three main candidates for chancellor, Annalena Baerbock, Armin Laschet, and Olaf Scholz.
Join us on Monday, August 23 at 9:00 am ET for a discussion about the key advisors in the run-up to next month’s German federal election with political journalist Corinna Emundts. Corinna Emundts (2004 ACG Kellen Fellow) is a political journalist in Berlin. From 2008 to 2013, she was head of the Berlin editorial department of tagesschau.de. Since February 2013, she is the coordinator of and correspondent for tagesschau.de in ARD’s Berlin studio. As a freelance political correspondent, she wrote and reported from Berlin between 2004 and 2008 for the Hamburg weekly newspaper Die Zeit and “tagesschau.de” as well as Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandradio. Before that, the political scientist and winner of the Theodor Wolff Prize in 1995 worked as an editor and reporter for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau, and Die Woche.

The Growing Political Divide in the United States and Germany
2021-08-27 18:00 - 20:00
Roundtable discussion on the growing political divide in the U.S. and Germany with Luisa Emmi Beck, Berlin Correspondent for the Washington Post and 2020 ACG McCloy Fellow.
This discussion will take place in person, masks are recommended.
More information here: https://www.gaimn.org/acg-roundtable/

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2021-08-30 09:00 - 10:00
Each week, the ACG hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse in Berlin.
Join us on Monday, August 30 at 9:00 am ET for a discussion with journalist Miriam Hollstein, Chief Political Reporter for FUNKE Zentralredaktion. We’ll begin by getting her take on the first debate between the three candidates for chancellor, which takes place Sunday. Miriam Hollstein serves as the Chief Reporter for FUNKE Zentralredaktion. She wrote for the Berliner Zeitung while still a student and worked as an editor for Internationale Politik. She worked as a foreign reporter for the Welt am Sonntag, and from 2006-2014 was a WELT-Gruppe’s domestic policy editor and reporter. From 2015-2020 she worked for the Bild am Sonntag, first as domestic policy and then from 2018 as chief reporter politics. Her reporting brought her into regular contact with the office of the German Chancellor. Since March 2020 she works as a freelance writer and moderator.
In 2009 she published the first graphic biography of Angela Merkel, entitled “Miss Tschörmanie,” together with illustrator Heiko Sakurai. She appears regularly on the German news program „Phoenix“, where she speaks on political and societal issues. She regularly travels internationally for reporting assignments. In addition, she was a 2005 Marshall Memorial Fellow, a 2008 ACG McCloy Fellow, and was recognized in 2015 by the DEFA Stiftung (German Film Corporation Foundation) for her contribution to the preservation of German film heritage.

Defending Democracy Abroad: Afghanistan and the End of Western Nation-Building?
2021-09-08 11:00 - 12:00
After the Western military withdrawal, the rapid takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban ends two decades of Western efforts to rebuild the nation based on democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. Now, the gains in education, social and economic welfare as well as the legal system are at stake for millions of Afghans. Women are afraid to lose their rights yet again, refugees are trying to flee the country. Why did nation-building fail in Afghanistan? Did the West pursue the wrong approach? Does Afghanistan mark the end of the West’s efforts to promote and defend democracy abroad?
Join the American Council on Germany and 1014 for a transatlantic conversation with Judy Dempsey, Editor-in-Chief at Carnegie Europe; Dr. Markus Kaim, Senior Fellow at the German Institute for International Security Affairs (SWP); and Dr. Kori Schake, Director of Foreign and Defense Policy at the American Enterprise Institute. Judy Dempsey is a nonresident senior fellow at Carnegie Europe and editor in chief of the Strategic Europe blog. She is also the author of the book The Merkel Phenomenon(Das Phänomen Merkel, Körber-Stiftung Edition, 2013).
She worked for the International Herald Tribune from 2004 to 2011 as its Germany and East European Correspondent and from 2011 to September 2013 as a columnist. Dempsey was the diplomatic correspondent for the Financial Times in Brussels from 2001 onward, covering NATO and European Union enlargement. Between 1990 and 2001, she served as Jerusalem bureau chief (1996–2001), Berlin correspondent (1992–1996), and Eastern European correspondent in London (1990–1992) for the Financial Times. During the 1980s, Ms. Dempsey reported on Central and Eastern Europe for the Financial Times, the Irish Times, and The Economist. Ms. Dempsey graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, where she studied history and political science.
Dr. Markus Kaim is Senior Fellow in the International Security Division of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs – Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP). He has taught and held fellowships at universities on both sides of the Atlantic: As DAAD Professor of German and European Studies at the University of Toronto (2007-2008), as Acting Professor of Foreign Policy and International Relations at the University of Constance (2007), as Visiting Fellow at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies/ Johns Hopkins University (2005), as Adjunct Professor at the Department for Political Science, University of Zurich (since 2012) and as Guest Instructor at the Hertie School, Berlin (since 2012). He studies political science, history, philosophy, and comparative religion in Bonn and Jena.
Dr. Kori Schake is a senior fellow and the director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Before joining AEI, she was the deputy director-general of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. She has had a distinguished career in academia and government, working at the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the National Security Council at the White House.
Dr. Schake is the author of five books and has been widely published in policy journals and the popular press, including in CNN.com, Foreign Affairs, Politico, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. She is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and War on the Rocks.
Dr. Schake has a Ph.D. and MA in government and politics from the University of Maryland, as well as an MPM from the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. Her BA in international relations is from Stanford University.

What’s Next in Afghanistan? A View from Germany
2021-09-09 09:00 - 10:00
Following the swift takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, the international community has been in a state of shock. In Germany, in particular, many people are asking what the lasting impact of Germany’s military and civilian engagement over the past 20 years will be. And, questions loom regarding the future of Afghanistan.
Join the American Council on Germany for a discussion about the current situation in Afghanistan and future prospects for the region with Bundestag member Omid Nouripour, who serves as the foreign affairs spokesperson for the Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary group in the German parliament. With thanks to the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung for supporting this event. Omid Nouripour is a German politician of the Alliance ’90/The Greens who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since 2006. He is his parliamentary group’s spokesman on foreign affairs and is a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. He has been closely involved in Germany’s efforts in Afghanistan and has been dealing with the country for the past 15 years as a German parliamentarian.

Reflecting on 9/11: Twenty Years Later
2021-09-10 13:00 - 14:00
This month marks the 20 anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington – and two decades of conflict. In the days following the attacks, two young German journalists worked tirelessly to piece together the developments leading up to September 11, 2001. Their experiences then have influenced their careers, and one might even say that they have been following some of the leads immediately after 9/11 ever since. Journalists and authors Souad Mekhennet and Elmar Theveßen have become leading terrorism experts.
In 2012, they won Germany’s prestigious Deutsche Fernsehpreis for their two-part documentary “9/11: The Day the World Changed.” Produced ten years after the terrorist attacks, the program analyzes the profound global impact of the day on politics and society. Join the American Council on Germany for a discussion with Souad Mekhennet and Elmar Theveßen on the impact of 9/11 today. Souad Mekhennet is a correspondent for The Washington Post’s national security desk, and she has reported on terrorism for the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, and NPR. She was a 2012 Nieman fellow at Harvard University and a visiting fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Ms. Mekhennet first reported for The Post in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, delving into the backgrounds of the Hamburg cell and writing on the al-Qaeda threat in Europe, North Africa, and the Gulf. She was part of The Post’s coverage of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. In 2004, she began a long interlude at the New York Times, where she produced some of the most distinguished reporting on the Bush administration’s war on terrorism. Ms. Mekhennet returned to The Post as a contributor in 2014 and became a staff writer in 2017. With her colleagues, she helped unmask Jihadi John. She reported the death of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the leader of the group that staged the Paris attacks, 15 hours ahead of a government announcement and the rest of the media.
Ms. Mekhennet has written four books, most recently her critically acclaimed memoir, “I Was Told to Come Alone: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad.” It was included in the 2017 longlist for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction and received the Daniel Pearl Award for Courage and Integrity in Journalism. Her other books include: “Islam”; “The Eternal Nazi: From Mauthausen to Cairo, the Relentless Pursuit of SS Doctor Aribert Heim,” co-written with Nicholas Kulish; and “The Children of Jihad: The New Generation of Islamist Terror in Europe,” co-written with Claudia Sautter and Michael Hanfeld.
Elmar Theveßen is a German journalist and author and has served as the bureau chief of ZDF’s studio in Washington, DC. since March 2019. He is an expert on international security and terrorism and studied history, political science, and German studies at the University of Bonn as well as foreign policy and journalism at American University in Washington, DC.
From 1991 to 1995, Mr. Theveßen was tv-journalist for politics in ZDF-studio Bonn. Until 2001 he worked as a tv-journalist for ZDF-studio in Washington, DC. From 2001 to 2002 he worked as tv-journalist for Frontal21 at ZDF. Since 2007 Mr. Theveßen was ZDF’s Deputy Editor-in-Chief and managing editor for the current affairs department in Mainz.
He is the author of seven books, including four on terrorism and Al-Qaida.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2021-09-13 09:00 - 10:00
Each week, the ACG hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse in Berlin.
Join us on Monday, September 13 at 9:00 am EDT, for a discussion on the morning after the second television debate between the three candidates for Chancellor with Bloomberg Opinion columnist Andreas Kluth. Andreas Kluth is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. Between March of 2017 and February of 2019, he was editor-in-chief of Handelsblatt Global, the English-language edition of Germany’s leading business newspaper. For the two decades before that, he wrote for The Economist — in London, Hong Kong, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, and Berlin.

Germany after Angela Merkel: Her Legacy and the Leadership Transition
2021-09-14 12:00 - 13:00
On September 26, Germans will vote in federal elections that will determine the composition of the Bundestag. The new majority in the parliament – most likely a coalition of three parties – will elect the next German Chancellor, marking the end of 16 years of leadership by Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Join us for an online conversation about Chancellor Merkel’s legacy, the outlook for the elections, and the likely implications for Germany of this historical leadership transition with Stefan Kornelius, Foreign Editor of the Süddeutsche Zeitung and author of a biography of Angela Merkel.
This event is a partnership between the American Council on Germany, Atlantik-Brücke, Cleveland Council of World Affairs, and the World Affairs Councils of America (WACA). It is part of WACA’s Wunderbar Together 2021 Engage America Series on “Germany’s Elections and the Future of Transatlantic Relations.” Wunderbar Together is a comprehensive and collaborative initiative funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and implemented by the Goethe-Institut. Stefan Kornelius has been Foreign Editor of the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung since 2000. In his reporting career, he has covered Germany’s Christian Democratic Party (CDU), the chancellorship of Helmut Kohl, and defense issues in Europe. From 1996 to 1999, he served as the paper’s Washington correspondent. His biography of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, entitled Angela Merkel, the Chancellor and her World, has been translated into 13 languages.
Steven E. Sokol is the President of the American Council on Germany (ACG). Previously, he served as President and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh from July 2010 until April 2015. Prior to that, he was the Vice President and Director of Programs at the ACG for seven years. Educated in the United States and Germany, Dr. Sokol has more than 20 years of experience working with nonprofit organizations in both countries.

The Remarkable Odyssey of Angele Merkel: The Future of German Politics in a Post-Merkel Era
2021-09-15 12:00 - 13:00
In 2005, Angela Merkel made history as the first woman to be elected chancellor of Germany. Over the 16 years she has served, Merkel has undeniably established Germany as a preeminent leader in Europe and the world. However, when Germany holds its federal elections this month, Merkel will not be running for re-election. As Germany enters its final days before the election, this event will unpack Merkel’s legacy and look towards the future of German politics.
Join acclaimed writer Kati Marton – author of The Chancellor, a riveting political biography and an intimate human story of Chancellor Merkel’s rise and reign – for a discussion about the last two decades of German political history and the pressing question of where Germany is headed in a post-Merkel era. Kati Marton is the author of several books and an award-winning former NPR and ABC News correspondent.
You can pre-order a copy of THE CHANCELLOR by Kati Morton with a signed bookplate from Chevalier’s Bookshop here, or unsigned copies are available here.
This event is hosted by the Los Angeles World Affairs Council and Town Hall.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2021-09-20 09:00 - 10:00
Each week, the ACG hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse in Berlin.
Join us on Monday, September 20 at 9:00 am EDT, for a discussion about the television debate between the three candidates for Chancellor and what to expect in the final days before the federal election with ACG Young Leader alumnus Matthias Deiß, Deputy Director of ARD’s television studio in Berlin. Matthias Deiß is the Deputy Director of ARD’s Hauptstadtstudio in Berlin and deputy editor-in-chief of television. From 2018 to 2021, he served as the editorial director for ARD’s political magazine Kontraste. Prior to this, he worked from 2012 to 2017 as a TV correspondent with ARD. He studied communications and political science at the University of Munich and at the German School of Journalism in Munich.

Behind the Numbers: Polling and the German Election
2021-09-20 11:00 - 12:00
In February, the Christian Democrats were riding high in the polls. By May, they had dropped some 10 percentage points and the Greens had surged to a temporary peak. Trailing by two or more percentage points throughout the year, in August the Social Democrats swept past the Greens and the Christian Democrats to take a strong lead in the polls. Much of the jockeying in the polls has to do with the candidates for Chancellor and how they are resonating with the public.
The race to succeed Angela Merkel in Germany’s federal election in less than two weeks is still wide open. Experienced analysts and casual observers have been closely following the polling data in the run up to September 26 in the hope that it might reveal how the election might play out. But few have watched the polling numbers as closely as Dr. Cornelius Hirsch, an Intelligence Analyst with POLITICO Europe and a co-founder of pollofpolls.eu which was acquired by POLITICO. Join the American Council on Germany for a discussion about the polls in the last days of campaigning. Dr. Cornelius Hirsch joined POLITICO Europe as an Intelligence Analyst in May 2019. Previously, he co-founded pollofpolls.eu, a polling data website which was acquired and integrated into POLITICO’s website. Poll of Polls offers professional polling aggregations for all upcoming national elections in Europe.
In 2020, Dr. Hirsch completed his doctoral studies in economics and social sciences at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien) focusing on international trade, globalization, and the impact of both on rural areas. He holds an M.Sc. in agricultural economics from Humboldt-University Berlin and a B.Sc. in economics from the Free University Berlin.

Black, Red, Green: What to Expect in the German Federal Election
2021-09-21 12:00 - 13:00
On the eve of the German federal election, a panel of experts will weigh in on the various issues concerning German voters, the legacy of outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel, the potential impact of this election on the EU and Germany’s relationship with the U.S., and the significance of the Green Party mounting their first ever candidate for the Chancellorship.
Join the American Council on Germany for this discussion, moderated by ACG President Steven E. Sokol, hosted by the University of Pittsburgh European Studies Center and the Jean Monnet in the USA series, an initiative of several EU-funded Universities across the United States. The panelists are Dr. Kai Arzheimer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Mainz; Prof. Marcel Lewandowsky, DAAD Visiting Assistant Professor at the Center for European Studies at the University of Florida; Dr. Jana Puglierin, Head of ECFR’s Berlin office and a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations; and Dr. Jae-Jae Spoon, Professor of Political Science and Director of the European Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh.
This event is hosted by the University of Pittsburgh European Studies Center. Dr. Kai Arzheimer is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Mainz. His main research interests are the comparative analysis of micro data and comparative political sociology, elections and electoral behavior, extreme right/radical right/populist right parties in Europe, and German politics. During 2017-18, he was the Hannah Arendt Visiting Chair in German and European Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy & Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. From 2006-2009, he was a Lecturer in German and West European Politics/DAAD Lektor in the Department of Government at the University of Essex.
Marcel Lewandowsky is a DAAD Visiting Assistant Professor at the Center for European Studies at the University of Florida. His research and teaching focuses on comparative politics with special regard to parties and party systems, populism in Europe and the political system of Germany. He received his doctoral degree in 2013 with a study on German regional election campaigns from the University of Bonn, Germany. From 2012 to 2013, he was a lecturer at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg, and from 2013 until summer 2019, Prof. Lewandowsky worked as a lecturer at the University of the Federal Armed Forces, Hamburg. Prior to his application at the University of Florida, he served as a professor pro tempore at the NRW School of Governance of the University of Duisburg-Essen.
Dr. Jana Puglierin has been the head of ECFR’s Berlin office and a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations since January 2020. Before joining ECFR, Puglierin headed the Alfred von Oppenheim Center for European Policy Studies at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). Prior to this, she was an advisor on disarmament, arms control, and non-proliferation in the German Bundestag, where she also worked on matters relating to German and European foreign and security policy. Between 2003 and 2010, she was a researcher and lecturer to the chair of political science and contemporary history as well as in the program for North American studies at the University of Bonn. She was also an associate at Stiftung Neue Verantwortung in Berlin from October 2010 until October 2011. Dr. Puglierin earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in political science, international and European law, and sociology from the Friedrich-Wilhelms University of Bonn.
Dr. Jae-Jae Spoon is a Professor of Political Science and Director of the European Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh. She is co-editor of the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties (JEPOP) and Research & Politics (R&P). Her research focuses on comparative electoral behavior primarily in Europe. She is interested in understanding political party strategies and their outcomes for the party, its elected officials, and voters, and how party type and size, institutions, and context influence parties’ decision‐making at both the domestic and European levels. Professor Spoon received her PhD from the University of Michigan in 2005. Before coming to Pittsburgh, she taught at the University of Iowa and the University of North Texas and was a visiting researcher at the University of Mannheim.

The Race to Replace Angela Merkel
2021-09-22 11:00 - 12:00
There has been a lot of uncertainty surrounding Germany’s federal election. But one thing is clear: Angela Merkel is not running again. As the traditional catch-all Volksparteien – the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats – have lost traction in recent years, three candidates compete to replace her.
In the final days before Germans take to the polls in an historic election which marks the end of the “Merkel Era,” join the American Council on Germany for a discussion with veteran political observer and journalist Dr. Christoph von Marschall to discuss the candidates, possible coalitions, and what this election means for Germany, Europe, and the transatlantic relationship. Dr. Christoph von Marschall is Chief Diplomatic Correspondent of the German daily Der Tagesspiegel, published in Berlin. He has been with the paper since 1991. From 2005 to 2013, he was Washington Bureau Chief and White House Correspondent. Before that, he served as the newspaper’s Editorial Page Editor.
His most recent book is “Wir verstehen die Welt nicht mehr. Deutschlands Entfremdung von seinen Freunden” (Herder Verlag 2018), which analyzes the foreign policy challenges facing Germany and Europe. He has also written several books on Barack Obama and the differences in political culture between Germany and the United States, including “What’s the Matter with America? Why They Hate What We Love” and “The New Obama. What to Expect from the Second Term.”
He holds a PhD in East European History from the University of Freiburg, Germany.

The Rise of Olaf Scholz and the Social Democrats
2021-09-24 13:00 - 14:00
Since the beginning of August, the Social Democrats have seen a jump from 16 to 26 percent in opinion polls in the final weeks of Germany’s federal election campaign. The SPD’s Kanzlerkandidat Olaf Scholz is largely credited with this turnaround. In snap polls following each of the three television debates between the three candidates for chancellor, Scholz was dubbed the winner for projecting continuity after Angela Merkel leaves office. After the most recent debate this past Sunday, 42 percent of viewers found him to be the most convincing. The CDU’s Armin Laschet ranked second with 27 percent, followed by the Green’s Annalena Baerbock at 25 percent.
Olaf Scholz has several key advisors yet few of them are as close to him as Wolfgang Schmidt, who currently serves as State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance. Their political careers have been intertwined for 20 years, and since early this year Schmidt has been an outspoken advocate for his boss. He believes Olaf Scholz is the best person to succeed Angela Merkel. Join us for a discussion about the turnaround of the SPD and the career of Olaf Scholz. Wolfgang Schmidt has served as State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry of Finance since March of 2018. In this capacity, he is responsible for economic and fiscal policy strategy, international economy, and finance. Previously, he worked directly with Olaf Scholz and served as State Secretary of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Commissioner of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg to the Federation, to the European Union, and for foreign affairs. From 2014 to 2015, he chaired the Conference of the Länder Ministers for European Affairs and from 2015 to 2018 he was a member of the European Committee of the Regions.
Trained as a lawyer and active as a Juso (Young Social Democrat), earlier in his career Mr. Schmidt served as Chief-of-Staff to the SPD Secretary-General, Chief-of-Staff to the First Parliamentary Secretary of the SPD parliamentary group, and Chief-of-Staff and Head of the Policy and Planning unit at the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

The Polls Have Closed in Germany: An Election Readout
2021-09-27 09:00 - 23:00
With less than a week to go, the race to succeed Angela Merkel as Germany’s next chancellor has become a nail-biter. The results of Germany’s federal election will determine the coalition talks for a new German government and the ultimate course of the country’s political future.
To unpack one of Germany’s most unpredictable and transformative elections in recent history, we would like to invite you to an exclusive virtual readout hosted by the American Council on Germany, Atlantik-Brücke e.V., and The German Marshall Fund of the United States. Our experts will provide timely analysis of the results and consider the multifaceted implications of the outcome, including Germany’s role on the world stage and the future of the transatlantic relationship.
Our speakers include: The Hon. Marieluise Beck, Director for East-Central and Eastern Europe, LibMod and Former Member of the German Bundestag (Alliance 90/The Greens); Steven Erlanger, Chief Diplomatic Correspondent in Europe, The New York Times; Amb. John B. Emerson, Chairman of the American Council on Germany and Former Ambassador of the United States to Germany; The Hon. Sigmar Gabriel, Chairman, Atlantik-Brücke e.V. and Former Member of the German Bundestag (SPD), Vice Chancellor, and Foreign Minister; Janina Mütze, Co-Founder and CEO, Civey; Ruprecht Polenz, President, The German Association for East European Studies and Former Member of the German Bundestag (Christian Democrats); Julia Reuschenbach, Associate Lecturer and Political Scientist, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn; and Anna Sauerbrey, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Der Tagesspiegel.

After the German Election: What Can the World Expect from Berlin?
2021-09-29 11:00 - 12:00
As the dust settles after Germany’s historic election and parties engage in complex negotiations to form a governing coalition, questions will abound concerning the foreign policy priorities of the new government – and what the end of the Merkel era means for Germany, Europe, and the world. What are the key issues that will shape Germany’s role on the world stage in the years to come?
Join the ACG and the Freunde des American Council on Germany e.V. for an analysis of the results of the German federal election and their foreign policy implications with Dr. Stefan Fröhlich, Professor of International Politics and Political Economy at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and ACG Board member Dr. Charles Kupchan, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and Professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University. The event will be moderated by ACG Young Leader alumna Sonja Gillert, who serves as the Head of Audio for Welt. Stefan Fröhlich is Professor of International Politics and Political Economy at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. He is currently also a guest professor at the College of Europe (in Brugge and Natolin) at Oxford University, and at the Universities of Bonn and Zurich. His fields of research include EU foreign, economic, and security policy; transatlantic relations; German foreign, economic, and security policy; and international political economy. He is a frequent commentator on international affairs for German and international media.
Dr. Fröhlich was Director of the postgraduate European Studies Program at the Center for European Integration Studies in Bonn from 1998 to 2002 and spent time in Washington, DC, as a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins (2002-03); the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (2007); and the German Marshall Fund’s Transatlantic Academy (2016-17).
He is a board member of the German Atlantic Council (Berlin), Center for European Integration Studies (Bonn), German Council on Foreign Relations (Berlin), German Society for Political Science, Association for European Integration (Berlin), and the Institute for European Politics (Berlin). He is the author of numerous books and more than 200 articles on German and European foreign policy and transatlantic relations.
He studied Political Science, Economics, as well as American and Spanish Literature in Bonn, Paris, and Washington (MA 1985; Ph.D. 1989; “Habilitation” (Dr.phil.habil.) 1996).
Dr. Charles Kupchan is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and professor of international affairs at Georgetown University in the Walsh School of Foreign Service and Department of Government.
From 2014 to 2017, Dr. Kupchan served as special assistant to the president and senior director for European affairs on the staff of the National Security Council (NSC) in the Barack Obama administration. He was also the director for European affairs on the NSC during the first Bill Clinton administration. Before joining the Clinton NSC, he worked in the U.S. Department of State on the policy planning staff. Previously, he was an assistant professor of politics at Princeton University.
Dr. Kupchan is the author of Isolationism: A History of America’s Efforts to Shield Itself From the World (2020), No One’s World: The West, the Rising Rest, and the Coming Global Turn (2012), How Enemies Become Friends: The Sources of Stable Peace (2010), The End of the American Era: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Geopolitics of the Twenty-first Century (2002), Power in Transition: The Peaceful Change of International Order (2001), Civic Engagement in the Atlantic Community (1999), Atlantic Security: Contending Visions (1998), Nationalism and Nationalities in the New Europe (1995), The Vulnerability of Empire (1994), The Persian Gulf and the West (1987), and numerous articles on international and strategic affairs.
Dr. Kupchan has served as a visiting scholar at Harvard University’s Center for International Affairs, Columbia University’s Institute for War and Peace Studies, the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, the Centre d’Étude et de Recherches Internationales in Paris, and the Institute for International Policy Studies in Tokyo. From 2006 to 2007, he was the Henry A. Kissinger Scholar at the Library of Congress and a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. From 2013 to 2014, he was a senior fellow at the Transatlantic Academy.
Moderator: Sonja Gillert (2019 ACG Young Leader) is the head of audio for Welt. Previously, she served as an editor in the paper’s foreign policy department in Berlin, where she focuses on Latin America, Iran, and China. In 2015 she spent three months in China with the Media Ambassador China Germany Program.
She attended the journalist training program at Axel Springer Academy in Berlin and previously worked as a freelance journalist at three of Germany’s major radio stations. In 2009 she earned her MA in Political Science and German Literature at Bonn University. Sonja Gillert also studied at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, for one semester in 2008. In 2009, she spent three months in Costa Rica volunteering for an environmental project.

The World's Most Important Election: Bundestag 2021
2021-09-29 19:00 - 20:30
On September 26, 2021, German federal elections will be held to elect the 20th Bundestag – the first in 16 years without Angela Merkel standing as leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Join us for an online conversation about the implications of these elections for Germany, the European Union, and the world, with Jeff Rathke, President of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS) at the Johns Hopkins, and Sophia Besch, a senior researcher with the Centre for European Reform.
This event is hosted by the World Affairs Council of Maine.

All Eyes on Germany: An Analysis of the German Election
2021-09-30 12:00 - 13:00
All eyes are on Germany. After 16 years as Chancellor, Angela Merkel is stepping away from the political spotlight. The September 26 election is critical for Germany – and for the European Union.
According to the latest polls, no party will win an outright majority in the Bundestag, and a coalition government of as many as three parties is likely. ​
Join us for a conversation with ACG Young Leader alumna Dr. Constanze Stelzenmüller, one of the top analysts of Germany and German-American relations, about the election results, the negotiations to form a coalition government, and what all of this will mean for Germany, Europe, and the transatlantic partnership.
This event is hosted by the World Affairs Council of Atlanta.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2021-10-04 09:00 - 10:00
Each week, the ACG hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse in Berlin.
Join us on Monday, October 4 at 9:00 am EDT, for a discussion about the results of the federal election and coalition talks with Matthew Karnitschnig, Chief European 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 Business Week, Reuters and Bloomberg.
The son of an Austrian father and American mother, he grew up in Arizona, where he got his start reporting as a stringer for the Phoenix Gazette during high school.

The Domestic And Foreign Policy Priorities Of An Ampel Coalition Under Olaf Scholz
2021-10-08 11:00 - 12:00
Following the September 26 German federal election, an Ampelkoalition – or “traffic light” coalition of the Social Democrats, Greens, and Free Democrats – looks increasingly likely. But, it is not a given. There are other coalition possibilities. As these parties – plus the Christian Democrats – explore possible coalition options, there are questions about where the parties align and where they differ, and what the priorities of a new government might be.
Join the American Council on Germany for an online conversation with author and journalist Martin Klingst to explore the domestic and foreign policy priorities of a governing coalition led by the SPD’s Olaf Scholz. Martin Klingst studied law in Freiburg, Geneva, and Hamburg before embarking on a career in journalism in 1987, beginning with NDR. He spent much of his career with DIE ZEIT – including as Senior Political Correspondent in Berlin and before that U.S. Correspondent and Washington Bureau Chief. From 2020 to June 2021, he was Chief Speechwriter and Head of Strategic Communication in the Office of the German Federal President.
Mr. Klingst is the author of “Trumps Amerika: Reise in ein weißes Land” and “Guido Goldman: Transatlantic Bridge Builder.” He is currently a non-resident Fellow at the German Marshall Fund and an advisor to Atlantik Brücke.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2021-10-11 09:00 - 10:00
Each week, the ACG hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse in Berlin.
Join us on Monday, October 11 at 9:00 am EDT, for a discussion about German politics with former NPR international correspondent Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, who now hosts the podcast “Common Ground.” Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is the host of the podcast Common Ground and is based in Berlin. Prior to this, she served as Special Correspondent for NPR. Her reports can be heard on NPR’s award-winning programs, including Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and read at NPR.org. From 2012 until 2018, she was NPR’s bureau chief in Berlin. She won the ICFJ 2017 Excellence in International Reporting Award for her work in Central and Eastern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Afghanistan.
She was also based in Cairo for NPR and covered the Arab World from the Middle East to North Africa during the Arab Spring. In 2006, she opened NPR’s first bureau in Kabul, from where she provided listeners with an in-depth sense of life inside Afghanistan, from the increase in suicide among women in a country that treats them as second-class citizens to the growing interference of Iran and Pakistan in Afghan affairs. For her coverage of Afghanistan, she won a Peabody Award, Overseas Press Club Award, and the Gracie in 2010. She received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award from Colby College in 2011 for her coverage in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
Ms. Nelson spent 20 years as a newspaper reporter, including as Knight Ridder’s Middle East Bureau Chief. While at the Los Angeles Times, she was sent on extended assignment to Iran and Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. She spent three years as an editor and reporter for Newsday and was part of the team that won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for covering the crash of TWA Flight 800.
A graduate of the University of Maryland, Nelson speaks Farsi, Dari, and German.

Twenty-Eighth Annual John J. McCloy Awards Dinner
2021-10-13 18:00 - 22:00
The American Council on Germany’s Twenty-Eighth Annual John J. McCloy Awards Dinner honoring Oliver Bäte, Chairman of the Board of Management of Allianz SE, with the 2021 McCloy Award, and Robert B. Zoellick, Lead U.S. Official for the Two-Plus-Four Negotiations on German Unification and Former President of the World Bank, U.S. Trade Representative, and Deputy Secretary of State, with the 2021 Transatlantic Leadership. Award

After Angela: Germany in the Post-Merkel Era
2021-10-14 19:00 - 20:00
On September 26, Germans took to the polls in a historic election. Voters who have never known a Chancellor other than Angela Merkel voted for the first time. Change and continuity are both on the agenda and four political factions – the Social Democrats, Christian Democrats, Greens, and Free Democrats – are jockeying to form a new government and with it the chance to set German foreign and domestic priorities for a generation to come. Who will win out and where will the next governing coalition lead Germany?

Join the German Society of Pennsylvania and the American Council on Germany’s Philadelphia Warburg Chapter for an in-person conversation with German journalist and author, Martin Klingst, on German politics after Merkel.

The event will take place Thursday, October 14th at 7:00 pm at the German Society’s historic home at 611 Spring Garden Street in Philadelphia. Some parking is available, and the building is accessible by public transportation. The discussion will also be live-streamed for remote viewing.

If you would like to attend, register here or call our office at (215) 627-2332. Please indicate if you will be attending in person or online. Those attending in person will be required to present documentation that they have been vaccinated against Covid-19.

History, Remembrance, and the Use of Public Space
2021-10-15 12:00 - 13:00
A few years after the Wall came down, the Berlin city government launched a competition for a work of public art honoring the memory of Berlin Jews who perished in the Holocaust. The conceptual artists Renata Stih and Frieder Schnock submitted their idea, and won the competition. In 1993, they installed Orte des Erinnerns (Places of Remembrance), a permanent, decentralized memorial along the streets of Berlin’s district of Schöneberg documenting the anti-Semitic laws and decrees enacted incrementally by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945.
Stih & Schnock are conceptual artists based in Berlin. Their work explores how memory functions in the social sphere – and how it can be reflected in museums and urban spaces. Recognized internationally, articles about their collaborative work have appeared in the New York Times, New Yorker, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. They have also lectured at major U.S. universities including the Art Institute of Chicago, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Emory, and Brown Universities. As part of 1014’s “Past & Future: A Weekend of Architecture, Culture, and Community,” the American Council on Germany will host a conversation with Renata Stih and Frieder Schnock on collective memory in society and the use of public space. Stih & Schnock is a Berlin-based artist duo, formed by Renata Stih, a professor in Berlin and Lüneburg and a member of Berlin’s art in public space advisory commission, and Frieder Schnock, an artist, art advisor and a former curator at the Museum Fridericianum in Kassel. Their works deal primarily with collective memory in society. Human rights issues and the Holocaust are recurring reference points in their artistic interventions.
Renata Stih (painting, sculpture, art theory, College of Art in Karlsruhe/Germany) currently teaches art and technology, film, and media at Beuth University of Technology in Berlin and at Leuphana University in Lüneburg, and has published widely on art, film, and architecture. Frieder Schnock studied art and art history at the College of Art in Karlsruhe/Germany, TU Karlsruhe, FU Berlin, and College of Art Braunschweig, where he earned his PhD in art history. He developed the professionalization program at Berlin’s Artist Association with 1000 participants per year and teaches visual studies at Beuth University of Technology in Berlin and is a professor at Leuphana University.
Renata Stih and Frieder Schnock have been artists-in-residence and have also regularly lectured at U.S. universities and colleges, including Brown University, Princeton University, Columbia University, Rhode Island School of Design, UTexas Austin, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, University of Chicago, Maryland Institute College of Art, University of California, LA, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Zurich University of the Arts, among other. Their works have been exhibited at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, the Jewish Museum of New York, the Museum London (Ontario), the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Boca Raton Museum of Art, and at New York University.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2021-10-18 09:30 - 10:30
Each week, the ACG hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse in Berlin.
Join us on Monday, October 18 at 9:30 am ET to discuss populist movements in Germany and the recent resignation of Sebastian Kurz in Austria with Emily Schultheis, freelance journalist and recent fellow with the Institute of Current World Affairs. Emily Schultheis is a freelance journalist and recent fellow with the Institute of Current World Affairs, based between Vienna and Berlin. She writes primarily about German and Austrian politics and the rise of populist far-right parties across Europe. Over the course of her political reporting career, her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, Politico, The Guardian, Politico Europe, The Associated Press, Foreign Policy, Slate, BBC Online, The Los Angeles Times, CNN, CBS News, NBC News, National Journal, Der Tagesspiegel, Deutsche Welle and Spiegel International, among others.
From 2011 to 2017, she covered U.S. national politics and elections from Washington, first for Politico and then for the National Journal and CBS News. She is also a previous recipient of the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship, the Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship, and the East-West Center Jefferson Fellowship for her reporting on international politics and populism.

Bundestagswahl 2021: Post-Election Recap and the Path Forward
2021-10-20 12:00 - 13:30
On October 20, Peter Beyer, Member of the German Bundestag and Coordinator for Transatlantic Relations for the Foreign Ministry, will join the Los Angeles Warburg Chapter for a roundtable discussion on the recent federal election in Germany. Peter Beyer has been the Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation since April 2018. He has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2009 and a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 1996. Mr. Beyer is also a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, where he serves as Special Rapporteur on Transatlantic Relations. He is Executive Vice President of the Southeast Europe Association. Prior to his current roles, he served as Managing Chairman of the Heiligenhaus town branch of the CDU and a member of the Heiligenhaus town council from 2008 to 2009. In addition, he was an elected member of the Executive Committee of the Mettmann county branch of the CDU. Before joining the public sector, he worked as an attorney specializing in industrial property law in the Cologne office of Mayer Brown LLP, the Los Angeles office of Murchison & Cumming LLP, and the Chicago office of Brinks, Hofer, Gilson & Lione LLP. Mr. Beyer completed his undergraduate studies at the Universities of Düsseldorf and Bonn, and received his Master in Law at the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2021-10-25 09:30 - 10:30
Each week, the ACG hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse in Berlin. Join us on Monday, October 25 at 9:30 am ET to discuss Olaf Scholz and the SPD with Christiane Hoffmann, Journalist for Der Spiegel. Christiane Hoffmann is a journalist for Der Spiegel. She joined Der Spiegel in January of 2013, where she was deputy head of the Berlin bureau, serving in this role until December 2018. She has held various positions in Germany and abroad for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, including as a correspondent in Moscow from 1996 to 1999, as a correspondent in Tehran from 1999 to 2004, and as a correspondent in Berlin from 2010 to 2012.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2021-11-01 09:00 - 10:00
Each week, the ACG hosts a discussion with a journalist based in Germany on the topics making the headlines and shaping political discourse in Berlin.
Join us on Monday, November 1 at 9:00 am ET to discuss the latest developments in coalition talks and COP26 with Rob Schmitz, International Correspondent at NPR. Rob Schmitz is NPR’s international correspondent based in Berlin, where he covers the human stories of a vast region reckoning with its past while it tries to guide the world toward a brighter future. From his base in the heart of Europe, Schmitz has covered Germany’s levelheaded management of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of right-wing nationalist politics in Poland, and creeping Chinese government influence inside the Czech Republic.
Prior to covering Europe, Schmitz provided award-winning coverage of China for a decade, reporting on the country’s economic rise and increasing global influence. His reporting on China’s impact beyond its borders took him to countries such as Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand. Inside China, he’s interviewed elderly revolutionaries, young rappers, and live-streaming celebrity farmers who make up the diverse tapestry of one of the most fascinating countries on the planet. He is the author of the critically acclaimed book Street of Eternal Happiness: Big City Dreams Along a Shanghai Road (Crown/Random House 2016), a profile of individuals who live, work, and dream along a single street that runs through the heart of China’s largest city. The book won several awards and has been translated into half a dozen languages. In 2018, China’s government banned the Chinese version of the book after its fifth printing. The following year it was selected as a finalist for the Ryszard Kapuściński Award, Poland’s most prestigious literary prize.
Mr. Schmitz has won numerous awards for his reporting on China, including two national Edward R. Murrow Awards and an Education Writers Association Award. His work was also a finalist for the Investigative Reporters and Editors Award. His reporting in Japan — from the hardest-hit areas near the failing Fukushima nuclear power plant following the earthquake and tsunami — was included in the publication 100 Great Stories, celebrating the centennial of Columbia University’s Journalism School. In 2012, Schmitz exposed the fabrications in Mike Daisey’s account of Apple’s supply chain on This American Life. His report was featured in the show’s “Retraction” episode. In 2011, New York’s Rubin Museum of Art screened a documentary Schmitz shot in Tibetan regions of China about one of the last living Tibetans who had memorized “Gesar of Ling,” an epic poem that tells of Tibet’s ancient past.
From 2010 to 2016, Mr. Schmitz was the China correspondent for American Public Media’s Marketplace. He’s also worked as a reporter for NPR Member stations KQED, KPCC, and MPR. Prior to his radio career, Schmitz lived and worked in China — first as a teacher for the Peace Corps in the 1990s, and later as a freelance print and video journalist. He also lived in Spain for two years. He speaks Mandarin and Spanish. He has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish literature from the University of Minnesota, Duluth, and a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
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A New Government; A New Foreign Policy? What to Expect from Berlin after Angela Merkel
2021-11-01 17:30 - 19:00
On November 1, the ACG will host a discussion and reception with Dr. Markus Ziener, Helmut Schmidt Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. With support from 1014.
Please Note: Proof of vaccination is required to attend. Dr. Markus Ziener is a Professor of Journalism at the Hochschule für Medien, Kommunikation und Wirtschaft (HMKW), University of Applied Sciences, in Berlin. He teaches political theory and economics, mass media, journalistic writing, and the history of the press. He is also the global affairs correspondent of the newspaper The Straits Times in Singapore and a regular contributor to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and Deutschlandfunk/Deutschlandradio.
From 2006 to 2012, he was Washington Bureau Chief of Handelsblatt, Germany’s business daily. Prior to that, he worked as a field reporter, covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has also served as Handelsblatt’s correspondent in Moscow (1994–1999) and Eastern Europe (1990–1994). From 1999 to 2001, he was foreign editor with the Financial Times Deutschland.
Originally from Darmstadt, he obtained his Ph.D. in politics at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, examining financial crises and reforms in Poland. He also spent time at Duke University through a GMF fellowship for foreign journalists.
