Together but Apart: German (Dis)Unity 32 Years after Unification
2022-09-30 10:00 - 11:00 (America/New_York)
Most people on both sides of the former border between the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) consider unification a success. Living standards have risen in the East. The mass exodus from East to West has been halted and even reversed. But, more than three decades after unification, the project has not been completed, and Germany is still a divided country in many ways. This can be seen in the economy and in the political landscape: Economic growth in the East still lags that of the West, and many easterners are expressing their discontent by supporting the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Join us on September 30 for a virtual discussion with two award-winning journalists who grew up in the former GDR about the “parallel societies” that have developed in contemporary Germany. Both from the Free State of Saxony, Vladimir Balzer grew up in Leipzig and is with Deutschlandfunk and Anja Heyde was born in Leisnig and is a well-known television host and journalist. Vladimir Balzer is a journalist and moderator at Deutschlandfunk Kultur. He grew up in Leipzig and studied German, art history, and journalism in Dublin, Venice, and Leipzig. He spent study periods in Italy and the USA. He began his career as a presenter, reporter, and editor at Deutschlandradio and MDR. Mr. Balzer hosts, among others, the daily programs “Fazit – Kultur vom Tage” and “Studio 9” on Deutschlandfunk Kultur.
Anja Heyde is a well-known German television host and journalist. From 2008 to 2017, she was the host of ZDF’s Morgenmagazin. She also hosted “Made in Germany” on Deutsche Welle’s television station and MDR’s “Fakt Ist!” Her reporting can be seen on Auslandsjournal, ZDF’s Blickpunkt, and election coverage.

Putin’s War in Ukraine: A Shock for Germany
2022-09-30 12:00 - 14:00
On September 30, the ACG will host a discussion and luncheon with Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger, Journalist and former Foreign Editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (1985 ACG Legislative Aide Fellow).
Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger (1985 ACG Legislative Aide Fellow) is a journalist who previously served as the Foreign Editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. His writing has focused on the United States, European, transatlantic, and international politics. Mr. Frankenberger holds a master’s degree in Political Science, Economics, and American Studies from Frankfurt University. In 1980, he participated in an exchange program with the University of Mississippi. From 1982 to 1985 he was a research associate at the Center for North-American Studies at Frankfurt University. Mr. Frankenberger was a Congressional Fellow in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1985 to 1986 and a Marshall Fellow at Harvard University in 1990. He has lectured at several American universities. In 2011, he was a Bosch Fellow at the Transatlantic Academy in Washington, D.C. Since he joined the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany’s leading national daily, in 1986, he served in various capacities, as European, International, and Editorial Page Editor. Mr. Frankenberger was a Member of the Trilateral Commission and of the Scientific Council of the Institute for European Politics in Berlin. He also served on the Advisory Board of the Federal Academy for Security Policy in Berlin and is associated with several organizations that deal with the transatlantic relationship.

Building Resilient Societies in Germany and the United States
2022-10-03 11:00 - 13:00
As citizens lose confidence in democratic institutions and practices, democracies around the world are facing unprecedented internal and external challenges – such as the rise of populism and political polarization at home and the rise of autocracies abroad. These challenges have the potential to disrupt how we live. In Germany and the United States, decision-makers and opinion leaders consider how to build resilient societies by restoring trust and strengthening institutions and practices at the state and local level. They work to be more inclusive and to ensure that no one is left behind.
Join us on German Unity Day for welcoming remarks by Muhterem Aras, President of the Baden-Württemberg State Parliament, and German Consul General in New York David Gill, followed by thoughts from Winfried Kretschmann, the Minister-President of the State of Baden-Württemberg, about how to build resilient societies in challenging times.
In response to Minister President Kretschmann’s remarks, a panel will discuss what can be done at the state and local level. The panel will include Dr. Danyal Bayaz, Minister of Finance for the State of Baden-Württemberg; Sabrina Saunders Mosby, President and CEO of Vibrant Pittsburgh; and Lisa Schroeder, President and CEO of The Pittsburgh Foundation – and be moderated by Dr. Steven E. Sokol, President and CEO of the American Council on Germany.
The discussion will be followed by an informal lunch. This event is hosted by the State of Baden-Württemberg with support from the American Council on Germany and the German Consulate in New York.

Germany’s Zeitenwende – and What it Means for Europe
2022-10-04 07:30 - 09:00
On October 4, the Chicago Warburg Chapter will host a breakfast briefing with Metin Hakverdi, Member of the Bundestag (SPD) Metin Hakverdi joined the Social Democratic Party in 2002 and has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2013. He serves on the Bundestag’s Committee on European Union Affairs and on the Budget Committee. He is the Chairman of the USA/North America Working Group within the SPD Parliamentary Group and a member of the German-American Parliamentary Friendship Group in the German Bundestag. Before being elected to the Bundestag, Mr. Hakverdi was a member of the Parliament of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg from 2008 to 2013, where he was on the Budget Committee and the Committee of Public Companies and Assets.
Mr. Hakverdi attended high school in Simi Valley, California, in 1985/86 and studied law at the Christian-Albrecht University in Kiel and at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law. He was a distinguished visitor at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies in 2019 and a 2020 John F. Kennedy Memorial Policy Fellow at Harvard’s Center for European Studies (CES). He is a member of the Atlantik-Brücke e.V.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Germany?
2022-10-04 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 Tuesday, October 4, at 9:00 am ET for a Kaffeepause 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.

State Leadership On Affordable Housing And Sustainable Urban Development
2022-10-05 11:00 - 12:00
While global challenges are addressed by national governments, increasingly subnational actors such as states, communities, and cities have 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 focuses on the role of state representatives from both countries in addressing common transatlantic challenges at the state and local level.
In recent years, many cities in Germany and the United States have experienced dramatic increases in real estate values such that affordable housing is no longer available for both lower-income and many middle-class residents. The rise in prices is caused by a range of issues including housing shortages or high demand in regions with strong job markets. Coupled with rising energy prices, affordable housing and sustainable urban development have become critical issues for communities in both countries. To ensure that urban areas remain vibrant and diverse, policymakers need to explore new policy tools that address zoning, taxes and subsidies, and smart growth, among other issues. How are U.S. states and German Länder helping their urban communities confront these challenges?
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 Dr. Anke Frieling (CDU), Hamburg Parliament; Mathias Schulz (SPD), Berlin House of Representatives; and Marvin E. Holmes, Jr. (D), Maryland House of Delegates. Dr. Anke Frieling has been a member of the Hamburg Parliament since 2020 and is deputy chair of the CDU parliamentary group in Hamburg. As the spokesperson for urban development and science, she is committed to ensuring that living, working, research, and education remain attractive for Hamburg’s citizens today and in the future. Dr. Frieling studied business administration at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and earned her doctorate at Freie Universität Berlin. She has held leadership positions with various companies in Berlin, Frankfurt, and Hamburg.
Marvin E. Holmes, Jr. has been a member of the Maryland House of Delegates for almost 20 years and currently serves as Chair of the Housing and Real Property Subcommittee, Chair of the Affordable Housing Committee within the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus, and is a member of the Land Use & Ethics Subcommittee. Before his election to the General Assembly, Delegate Holmes served on the Board of Directors, Economic Development Corporation. He is a proud graduate of Tuskegee University with a degree in Engineering and Construction Management and an accomplished realtor and President & CEO of ME Holmes, LLC where he enjoys helping people find the perfect home especially when affordability is an issue across the nation.
Mathias Schulz has been a member of the Berlin House of Representatives since 2021 and is the spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group for urban development, for queer policy, for federal affairs and for Brandenburg. Mr. Schulz, who is a trained locomotive driver and attorney, currently also works in the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV).

Sustainable Urban Development Study Tour
2022-10-09 08:00 - 2022-10-15 17:00
The ACG will hold the Sustainable Urban Development Study Tour in Atlanta and Detroit.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Germany?
2022-10-10 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 10, at 9:00 am ET for a Kaffeepause with Gordon Repinski, Deputy Editor-in-Chief at ThePioneer. Gordon Repinski serves as the Deputy Editor-in-Chief at ThePioneer. He is a graduate of the German School of Journalism. He worked for five years as a correspondent for Der Spiegel (including in Washington D.C. and Berlin). Most recently, the award-winning journalist (Otto Brenner Prize 2010, Arthur Burns Prize 2011) headed the main city bureau of the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND). At ThePioneer, he covers the SPD, the Greens, and global politics, among other things.

Germany, Russia, and Ukraine: How does this Conflict End?
2022-10-10 11:00 - 12:00
The West has shown unity and commitment to Ukraine that would not have been forecast a year ago. The post-Cold War institutions are proving resilient and Putin’s desire to divide the democratic Allies has paradoxically bolstered the unity and resolve within NATO, the European Union, and the international community writ large. But, as temperatures drop and heating (and electricity) prices rise, will this unity hold? The government in Berlin may come under renewed pressure following the decision by the Kremlin to halt natural gas exports.
On the battlefield, Ukraine’s army is gaining momentum but much of the land it has recaptured in the east and the south of the country has been raised and abandoned. The Russian Defense Ministry says it has 200,000 new recruits, but they have yet to be seen. And, the U.S. commitment to provide more military aid to Ukraine has heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow – with Russia’s Ambassador to the United States calling this an “immediate threat” to Moscow.
The American Council on Germany and the Tennessee World Affairs Council are continuing their series of virtual events titled In Focus: Russia’s War in Ukraine to provide continued updates on and insights into the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine that has rocked the world order. Join us on Monday, October 10 for a discussion with security experts Dr. Liana Fix and Lieutenant General Ben Hodges about the war in Ukraine. Dr. Liana Fix is a CFR Fellow for Europe, based in Washington, DC. Previously, she served in the International Affairs Department of the Körber Foundation in Berlin. She is a political scientist and historian, and her work focuses on Russia and Eastern Europe, European security, arms control, and German foreign policy. She will be focusing on transatlantic policy toward Russia while at GMF. Dr. Fix has published widely in academia, think tanks, and national and international media. She holds a doctorate degree from the Justus Liebig University Giessen and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Lieutenant General Ben Hodges served as Commanding General, United States Army Europe from 2014 to 2017 before his retirement from the Army in early 2018. General Hodges has also served in a variety of Joint and Army Staff positions including Tactics Instructor; Chief of Plans, 2nd Infantry Division in Korea; Aide-de-Camp to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe; Chief of Staff, XVIII Airborne Corps; Director of the Pakistan Afghanistan Coordination Cell on the Joint Staff; Chief of Legislative Liaison for the United States Army; and Commander, NATO Allied Land Command (İzmir, Turkey).
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After his first assignment as an Infantry Lieutenant in Garlstedt, Germany, he commanded Infantry units at the Company, Battalion, and Brigade levels in the 101st Airborne Division, including Command of the First Brigade Combat Team “Bastogne” of the 101st Airborne Division in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (2003-2004). His other operational assignments include Chief of Operations for Multi-National Corps-Iraq in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (2005-2006) and Director of Operations, Regional Command South in Kandahar, Afghanistan (2009-2010).

The ‘Democratic Fallout’ of the War in Ukraine
2022-10-11 11:00 - 12:00
With a forced referendum in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine and the proclaimed annexation of these four territories by Russia, democracy and sovereignty of a former Soviet state are once again undercut by hegemonial aspirations and big power competition. At the same time, Russians are fleeing their homeland in large numbers after the announced that he would draft 300,000 reservists. These developments as well as the challenges posed to democratic institutions and practices in Central and Eastern Europe – and beyond – raise questions concerning the broader implications of the war in Ukraine.
Join ACG and 1014 for another discussion as part of their virtual series Democracies und Pressure: Challenges for the Global Liberal Order. We will be joined by Dr. Alexander Cooley, Claire Tow Professor of Political Science and Vice Provost for Academic Centers and Libraries at Barnard College and Academy Adjunct Faculty at Chatham House, and Prof. Dr. Gwendolyn Sasse, Director of the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS) and Einstein Professor for the Comparative Study of Democracy and Authoritarianism at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Alexander Cooley is the Claire Tow Professor of Political Science at Barnard College. From 2015-2021 he served as the 15th Director of Columbia University’s Harriman Institute for the Study of Russia, Eurasia, and Eastern Europe. Professor Cooley’s research examines how external actors—including emerging powers, international organizations, multinational companies, NGOs, and Western enablers of grand corruption—have influenced the development, governance, and sovereignty of the former Soviet states, with a focus on Central Asia and the Caucasus. Cooley is the author and/or editor of eight academic books including, Dictators without Borders: Power and Money in Central Asia (Yale University Press 2017), co-authored with John Heathershaw, and more recently, Exit from Hegemony: the Unravelling of the American Global Order (Oxford University Press, 2020), co-authored with Daniel Nexon.
In addition to his academic research, Professor Cooley serves on several international advisory boards engaged with the region and has testified for the United States Congress and Helsinki Commission. Cooley’s opinion pieces have appeared in New York Times, Foreign Policy, and Foreign Affairs and his research has been supported by fellowships and grants from the Open Society Foundations, Carnegie Corporation, and the German Marshall Fund of the United States, among others. Cooley earned both his MA and Ph.D. from Columbia University.
Gwendolyn Sasse has been the Director of ZOiS since October 2016. Since April 2021, she has been Einstein Professor for the Comparative Study of Democracy and Authoritarianism at the Department of Social Sciences of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Prior to that, she was Professor of Comparative Politics at the Department of Politics and International Relations and at the Oxford School for Global and Area Studies at the University of Oxford. She maintains her connection with Oxford as a Senior Research Fellow at Nuffield College. She is also a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the think tank Carnegie Europe. Her academic career began with the study of history, Slavonic studies, and political science at the University of Hamburg and led her to an MSc and Ph.D. in political science at the London School of Economics. After that, she took up a post as Assistant Professor at the Central European University, and then as Lecturer/Senior Lecturer at the London School of Economics before moving to Oxford in 2007 where she became a full professor in 2013.

Niedersaschen at the Polls: What do the Results Mean?
2022-10-12 11:00 - 12:00
Over the weekend, voters in Niedersachsen took to the polls. Initial results give the Social Democrats under the leadership of Minister President Stephan Weil a win, even though they dropped nearly four percentage points since 2017. The Greens and the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) saw an upswing in support since the last state election. The Christian Democrats lost traction and the Free Democrats may not even clear the five percent hurdle. Given the results, the Social Democrats may break with the Christian Democrats and form a government with the Greens.
Considered a litmus test for the national mood, this state election sends mixed messages for Ampelkoalition at the federal level. Join the ACG for a discussion with journalist Claudia Wohlsperger about the election results – and what they mean for the State of Lower Saxony and at the federal level. Claudia Wohlsperger is a journalist and reporter with Norddeutscher Rundfunk, where she focuses on regional politics and economic issues. She has been with NDR for over eight years. She has also worked as a journalist and editor at ARD.
She holds a BA from Maastricht University and a MA in Journalism, Media, and Globalization from the University of Hamburg. She also studied at Aarhus University and in Budapest.

Germany’s Zeitenwende and the War in Ukraine: How does the Bundeswehr React?
2022-10-14 08:00 - 10:00
On October 14, the ACG and the German Consulate in New York will host a breakfast briefing with General Markus Laubenthal , Deputy Inspector General of the Bundeswehr.
Lieutenant General Markus Laubenthal has been the Deputy Inspector General of the Bundeswehr since April 2020. Prior to this, he was the Director General for Forces Policy at the Federal Ministry of Defense. And, before that Lieutenant General Laubenthal was commander of the 1st Armored Division in Oldenburg between 2017 and 2018 and chief of staff of U.S. Army Europe in Wiesbaden from 2014 to 2017. In other assignments, he served as commander of Armored Brigade 12 in Amberg (2012 to 2014) and Tank Battalion 203 in Hemer (2003 to 2005), a trainee at the Joint Services Command and Staff College in the United Kingdom (2001 to 2002) and a youth officer in Schwerin (1991 to 1993), among others. From 1997 to 1999, he was a participant in the 40th Army General Staff Course at the German Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Hamburg.
From summer 2013 to winter 2014, Laubenthal served as Chief of Staff ISAF-International Security Assistance Force Regional Command North in Mazar-e Sharif/Afghanistan and from fall 2002 to spring 2003 as Military Assistant to the Deputy Commander Operations and Assistant Chief of Staff Operations at Headquarters Kosovo Force in Pristina.

Germany’s Zeitenwende: Setting New Priorities in Foreign, Security, and Energy Policy
2022-10-14 12:00 - 14:00
On October 14, the Charlotte Warburg Chapter and the World Affairs Council of Charlotte will host a discussion and luncheon with Ambassador (ret.) Stefan Schlüter, Program Director at the Diplomatic Academy of the German Foreign Office in Berlin. Stefan Schlüter served in the German Foreign Office until the summer of 2017 and is now a Program Director at the Diplomatic Academy in Berlin. After studying political science at the University of Hamburg, Mr. Schlüter joined the German Foreign Office in 1979. His first foreign assignments brought him to Buenos Aires and Algiers. From 1986 to 1990, he served as the spokesman of the German Embassy in Tel Aviv before returning to the Foreign Office in Bonn as desk officer for the Maghreb countries. From 1992 to 1995, he served as Deputy Consul General in Los Angeles before returning to Bonn as Deputy Director for the southern part of Latin America. From 2000 to 2004, he was posted to the United States a second time, and served as Deputy Consul General in New York City before moving to Buenos Aires as Deputy Chief of Mission. In 2007, he returned to the Foreign Office in Berlin to assume the position of Director for Conflict Prevention, Peace-Building, Democracy Promotion, and State-Building, furthering German projects in this field worldwide. In 2010, he was appointed Ambassador to the Eastern Caribbean Region, residing in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, before moving on to his last assignment as Consul General in San Francisco in 2014.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Germany?
2022-10-17 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 17, at 9:00 am ET for a Kaffeepause with Malte Lehming, Opinion Writer for Tagesspiegel. Malte Lehming works as a writer for the Tagesspiegel, where he heads the opinion page. From late 2000 to 2005, he was the newspaper’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the Tagesspiegel in 1991 as foreign policy editor — focusing on security policy, transatlantic relations, and the Middle East. From 1989 to 1991, he worked as a personal assistant and speechwriter for former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. Mr. Lehming studied philosophy, German literature, and European history in Hamburg.

The Three I’s: Invasion, Inflation, and Interest Rates
2022-10-18 12:00 - 14:00
On October 18, the ACG will host a discussion and luncheon with Andreas Dombret, Former Executive Board Member of the Deutsche Bundesbank.

Dr. Andreas Dombret is a German-American banker who served as a member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank from 2010 until 2018. In that capacity, he held responsibility for Banking and Financial Supervision, Risk Controlling, and the Bundesbank’s Representative Offices abroad. He was also a member of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the Supervisory Board of the Single Supervisory Mechanism of the European Central Bank as well as the German Financial Stability Committee. Earlier in his career, Dr. Dombret was the Vice-chairman of Bank of America Global Investment Banking in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa as well as head of the German, Austrian, and Swiss branches. After retiring from the Board of the Bundesbank, Dr. Dombret continued to serve on the Board of the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements until the end of 2018 and subsequently assumed a portfolio of advisory mandates. Among them are consultancy firm Oliver Wyman, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), and the London-headquartered equity research firm Autonomous. He is also an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Dr. Dombret completed his MBA at Westfälische Wilhelms University Münster and earned his doctorate at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg. He holds dual German and American citizenship.

Transatlantic Trends 2022: Public Opinion in Times of Geopolitical Turmoil
2022-10-19 11:00 - 12:00
The geopolitical turmoil of 2022 presents a multitude of challenges for the transatlantic community. How is public opinion responding to these challenges?
Transatlantic Trends 2022 presents the results of surveys conducted in 14 countries throughout the transatlantic community: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Divided into four sections, Transatlantic Trends provides a detailed picture of public opinion on core and contemporary issues: global order, transatlantic relations, international security and defense, and relations with China. The findings are meant to be a helpful tool for policymakers, business leaders, experts, academia, and the media.
Transatlantic Trends is a project co-led by the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) and the Bertelsmann Foundation (North America), Inc., with the generous support of the BBVA Foundation, the Jean Monnet Centre Montréal, the Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD), the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation Türkiye, and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in France.
Join the American Council on Germany for a presentation of the key findings of this year’s survey on October 19th. We’ll be joined by Bruce Stokes, Visiting Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Bruce Stokes is a visiting senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and senior editor of the 2022 Transatlantic Trends public opinion survey. He also co-authored the recent GMF study Designing Ukraine’s Recovery in the Spirit of the Marshall Plan.
From 2019-2021 he was the executive director of GMF’s Transatlantic Task Force: Together or Alone? Choices and Strategies for Transatlantic Relations for 2021 and Beyond. Previously, he was the director of Global Economic Attitudes at the Pew Research Center in Washington, DC, where he created and helped author Pew’s annual global attitudes survey. He is a former international economics correspondent for the National Journal, a Washington-based public policy magazine. He is also a former senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he is a member, and is an associate fellow at Chatham House.
He is co-author of the book America Against the World: How We Are Different and Why We Are Disliked (Times Books, 2006), and author of numerous German Marshall Fund, Council on Foreign Relations, and Pew Research studies.
Mr. Stokes is a graduate of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Red Wave or Blue Triumph? German Views of the United States before the Midterms
2022-10-20 11:00 - 12:00
With less than a month until the mid-terms, there are no clear indications which way the election will go. The Democrats are fighting to hold their narrow majority in Washington and the Republicans are hoping to win majorities in the House and Senate. Where does the U.S. democracy stand in times of a lingering pandemic, inflation, energy crisis, culture wars, and concerns over voting rights? How will a new generation of politicians and voters shape the midterms?
Join the ACG for a discussion with German journalists Annett Meiritz and Juliane Schäuble about the U.S. midterms – and how the election is being perceived in Europe. Both guests have been reporting from the U.S. for almost five years – not just from inside the Washington bubble but from all over the country. In September they published a book together: „Guns n’ Rosé: The Rise of Conservative Women in the U.S.” In it, they explore the female conservative movement in the United States, a highly relevant voting group that increasingly shapes politics and society. Annett Meiritz is the U.S. Correspondent for Germany‘s leading business, trade, and finance daily Handelsblatt. She covers the U.S. Administration and Congress, usually from an economic angle. Previously she worked as Parliamentary Correspondent for Germany‘s leading news portal Spiegel Online, based in Berlin. She holds a B.A. degree in Modern History and Media Science and was educated to be a Journalist at Berlin Journalism School.
Juliane Schäuble is the U.S. Correspondent of Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin’s biggest newspaper. Before she moved to Washington, DC, in June 2018 she was the head of the political department of the paper where she was responsible for the front page and the political section. She has more than twelve years of experience in the business and the political department of Der Tagesspiegel.
Ms. Schäuble earned her Master’s in Political Science at the University in Potsdam, Germany. Her studies included one semester at American University in Washington, DC, where she took classes in American foreign policy and worked part-time for the “American Council of Young Political Leaders” (“Washington Semester Program”).

Germany’s Zeitenwende: Setting New Priorities in Foreign, Security, and Energy Policy
2022-10-21 14:30 - 16:00
On October 21, the Dallas Warburg Chapter, the University of Dallas, and the Dallas Goethe Institut will host a discussion with Ambassador (ret.) Stefan Schlüter, Program Director at the Diplomatic Academy of the German Foreign Office in Berlin.
University of Dallas
Gorman Lecture Center – Gorman A
1811 Maher Lane
Irving, TX 75062
There is no charge to attend this event and no need to RSVP. Parking lots A, C and F are close to the building.
Stefan Schlüter served in the German Foreign Office until the summer of 2017 and is now a Program Director at the Diplomatic Academy in Berlin. After studying political science at the University of Hamburg, Mr. Schlüter joined the German Foreign Office in 1979. His first foreign assignments brought him to Buenos Aires and Algiers. From 1986 to 1990 he served as the spokesman of the German Embassy in Tel Aviv before returning to the Foreign Office in Bonn as desk officer for the Maghreb countries. From 1992 to 1995 he served as Deputy Consul General in Los Angeles before returning to Bonn as Deputy Director for the southern part of Latin America. From 2000 to 2004, he was posted to the United States a second time and served as Deputy Consul General in New York City before moving to Buenos Aires as Deputy Chief of Mission. In 2007 he returned to the Foreign Office in Berlin to assume the position of Director for Conflict Prevention, Peace-Building, Democracy Promotion and State-Building, promoting German projects in this field world-wide. In 2010 he was appointed Ambassador to the Eastern Caribbean Region, residing in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago before moving on to his last assignment as Consul General in San Francisco in 2014.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Germany?
2022-10-24 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 24, at 9:00 am ET for a Kaffeepause with radio journalist and podcast host Dr. Esme Nicholson. Dr. Esme Nicholson is a radio journalist and podcast host based in Berlin. She regularly reports on Germany for the U.S. broadcaster National Public Radio (NPR) and hosts a number of podcasts for the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung and for the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP). She’s a published academic author on Michael Haneke and has a doctorate in Modern Languages. Dr. Nicholson’s book on Cold War radio history in Berlin is forthcoming.

Germany, Russia, and the War in Ukraine
2022-10-25 12:00 - 14:00
On October 25, the ACG will host a discussion and luncheon with Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, Senior Advisor at Human Rights First and Retired Commanding General of the United States Army Europe.
Lieutenant General Ben Hodges served as Commanding General of United States Army Europe from 2014 to 2017 before his retirement from the Army in early 2018. Based in Frankfurt, he is currently a Senior Advisor to Human Rights First. General Hodges has also served in a variety of Joint and Army Staff positions, including Tactics Instructor; Chief of Plans, 2nd Infantry Division, in Korea; Aide-de-Camp to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe; Chief of Staff, XVIII Airborne Corps; Director of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Coordination Cell on the Joint Staff; Chief of Legislative Liaison for the United States Army; and Commander of NATO Allied Land Command (İzmir, Turkey). After his first assignment as an Infantry Lieutenant in Garlstedt, Germany, he commanded Infantry units at the Company, Battalion, and Brigade levels in the 101st Airborne Division, including Command of the First Brigade Combat Team “Bastogne” of the 101st Airborne Division in Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003-2004). His other operational assignments include Chief of Operations for Multi-National Corps – Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom (2005-2006) and Director of Operations, Regional Command South, in Kandahar, Afghanistan (2009-2010).

Germany’s Zeitenwende: Setting New Priorities in Foreign, Security, and Energy Policy
2022-10-25 18:00 - 20:00
On October 25, the Phoenix Warburg Chapter will host a discussion and dinner with Ambassador (ret.) Stefan Schlüter, Program Director at the Diplomatic Academy of the German Foreign Office in Berlin Stefan Schlüter served in the German Foreign Office until the summer of 2017 and is now a Program Director at the Diplomatic Academy in Berlin. After studying political science at the University of Hamburg, Mr. Schlüter joined the German Foreign Office in 1979. His first foreign assignments brought him to Buenos Aires and Algiers. From 1986 to 1990, he served as the spokesman of the German Embassy in Tel Aviv before returning to the Foreign Office in Bonn as desk officer for the Maghreb countries. From 1992 to 1995, he served as Deputy Consul General in Los Angeles before returning to Bonn as Deputy Director for the southern part of Latin America. From 2000 to 2004, he was posted to the United States a second time and served as Deputy Consul General in New York City before moving to Buenos Aires as Deputy Chief of Mission. In 2007, he returned to the Foreign Office in Berlin to assume the position of Director for Conflict Prevention, Peace-Building, Democracy Promotion, and State-Building, furthering German projects in this field worldwide. In 2010, he was appointed Ambassador to the Eastern Caribbean Region, residing in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, before moving on to his last assignment as Consul General in San Francisco in 2014.

Can Europe Remain a Strong Ally for the United States?
2022-10-26 18:00 - 20:00
On October 26, the ACG and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung will host a discussion and dinner with Hermann Gröhe, Member of the German Bundestag (CDU) and former German Federal Minister of Health.
Hermann Gröhe is the Deputy Chairman of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group and the Deputy Chairman of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. From 2013 to 2018, he was the Federal Minister of Health of Germany. Before this, between 2009 and 2013, he served as the Secretary-General of the CDU. From 2006 to 2008, Mr. Gröhe was the spokesperson of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group in the First Committee of Inquiry, and from 2005 to 2008, he also acted as legal counsel to the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group. As Federal Minister of Health, he put antimicrobial resistance on the G7 and G20 agenda and advanced Germany’s global health commitments. He gained international recognition for his efforts to fight the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014.

Germany’s Zeitenwende: Setting New Priorities in Foreign, Security, and Energy Policy
2022-10-27 12:00 - 13:00
On October 27, the Seattle Warburg Chapter and the World Affairs Council in Seattle will host a discussion and luncheon with Ambassador (ret.) Stefan Schlüter, Program Director at the Diplomatic Academy of the German Foreign Office in Berlin.
Stefan Schlüter served in the German Foreign Office until the summer of 2017 and is now a Program Director at the Diplomatic Academy in Berlin. After studying political science at the University of Hamburg, Mr. Schlüter joined the German Foreign Office in 1979. His first foreign assignments brought him to Buenos Aires and Algiers. From 1986 to 1990, he served as the spokesman of the German Embassy in Tel Aviv before returning to the Foreign Office in Bonn as desk officer for the Maghreb countries. From 1992 to 1995, he served as Deputy Consul General in Los Angeles before returning to Bonn as Deputy Director for the southern part of Latin America. From 2000 to 2004, he was posted to the United States a second time, and served as Deputy Consul General in New York City before moving to Buenos Aires as Deputy Chief of Mission. In 2007, he returned to the Foreign Office in Berlin to assume the position of Director for Conflict Prevention, Peace-Building, Democracy Promotion, and State-Building, furthering German projects in this field worldwide. In 2010, he was appointed Ambassador to the Eastern Caribbean Region, residing in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, before moving on to his last assignment as Consul General in San Francisco in 2014.

Germany’s Zeitenwende: How It’s Being Viewed in Different Regions of the U.S.”
2022-10-31 12:00 - 14:00
On October 31, the ACG will host a discussion and luncheon with Ambassador (ret.) Stefan Schlueter, Program Director at the Diplomatic Academy of the German Foreign Office in Berlin.
Stefan Schlüter just completed a speaking tour to North Carolina, Texas, Arizona, Washington, and Minnesota with the ACG. He met with a range of people, and will reflect on his trip. Mr. Schlüter served in the German Foreign Office until the summer of 2017 and is now a Program Director at the Diplomatic Academy in Berlin. After studying political science at the University of Hamburg, Mr. Schlüter joined the German Foreign Office in 1979. His first foreign assignments brought him to Buenos Aires and Algiers. From 1986 to 1990 he served as the spokesman of the German Embassy in Tel Aviv before returning to the Foreign Office in Bonn as desk officer for the Maghreb countries. From 1992 to 1995 he served as Deputy Consul General in Los Angeles before returning to Bonn as Deputy Director for the southern part of Latin America. From 2000 to 2004, he was posted to the United States a second time and served as Deputy Consul General in New York City before moving to Buenos Aires as Deputy Chief of Mission. In 2007 he returned to the Foreign Office in Berlin to assume the position of Director for Conflict Prevention, Peace-Building, Democracy Promotion and State-Building, promoting German projects in this field world-wide. In 2010 he was appointed Ambassador to the Eastern Caribbean Region, residing in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago before moving on to his last assignment as Consul General in San Francisco in 2014.

Building European Sovereignty in Times of Geopolitical Turmoil
2022-11-01 10:00 - 11:00
In recent years, Europe has faced major foreign policy challenges – including the 2008 global financial crisis, the migration crisis of 2015, the COVID-19 pandemic, and now the war in Ukraine. At the same time, Europe has had to grapple with issues such as China’s global ambitions and the rise of populism.
In a European context, foreign policy is shaped at the national level, but it is coordinated to some degree within the frameworks of the European Union, NATO, and to a certain degree, other multilateral frameworks such as the G7 and the United Nations. How has the war in Ukraine impacted European foreign policy, and what are the prospects for the future development of European foreign and security policy against the backdrop of this conflict? How do countries manage to balance national interests and policies with coordinated multilateral efforts? Join the American Council on Germany for a discussion about European sovereignty with Dr. Jana Puglierin, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and head of its Berlin office. Dr. Jana Puglierin is a Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and has been Head of its Berlin office since January 2020. Her work focuses on German and European foreign, security, and defense policy, as well as Germany’s role in Europe and transatlantic relations. She also directs ECFR’s Re:shape Global Europe project, which seeks to develop new strategies for Europeans to understand and engage with the changing international order.
She headed the Alfred von Oppenheim Centre for European Policy Studies at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) from December 2015 to December 2019 and was a research fellow with its Berlin Future Forum from September 2013 to November 2015. Before joining DGAP, she worked as an adviser for a member of the Bundestag on disarmament, arms control, and non-proliferation, as well as 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. In the summer of 2010, she held a lectureship at the Chemnitz University of Technology.
After her Abitur in Siegen in 1997, she spent a year in Paris – where she completed the Cours de civilization française de la Sorbonne. She then studied political science, public law, and sociology at the University of Bonn from 1998 to 2003, as well as at Venice International University for a semester in 2002. In studying for her doctorate at the University of Bonn, she focused on the life and thought of political scientist John Herz and conducted research in the United States.
Dr. Puglierin was an associate at Stiftung Neue Verantwortung in Berlin from October 2010 to October 2011. In November 2017, she was a visiting fellow at the American-German Situation Room, a joint initiative of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies and the German Marshall Fund. She was part of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s Working Group of Young Foreign Policy Experts between 2007 and 2016.

Fake News, Cybersecurity, and Election Manipulation
2022-11-02 08:00 - 09:30
On November 2, the ACG and the Hasso Plattner Insitute will host a breakfast briefing with Professor Dr. Christoph Meinel, Managing and Scientific Director of the Hasso Plattner Institute and Dean of the Digital Engineering Faculty at Potsdam University.
Professor Dr. Christoph Meinel is Managing and Scientific Director of the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Engineering (HPI) as well as the Founding Dean of the Digital Engineering Faculty at the University of Potsdam. He is the Chair of Internet Technologies and Systems and teaches courses on IT Systems Engineering on HPI’s MOOC platform openHPI, and at the HPI School of Design Thinking. His research currently focuses on security engineering, knowledge engineering, and Web 3.0–Semantic, Social, Service Web. He is also scientifically active in Design Thinking research. Dr. Meinel is the author or coauthor of more than 25 books, anthologies, and numerous conference proceedings. He has had more than 550 (peer-reviewed) papers published in scientific journals and at international conferences and holds a number of international patents. He is a member of the National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech), Director of the HPI-Stanford Design Thinking Research Program, Honorary Professor at the TU Beijing and Dalian University of Technology, Visiting Professor at Shanghai University, Concurrent Professor at the University of Nanjing, and a member of numerous scientific committees and Supervisory Boards.

Navigating Troubled Water: The Transatlantic Partnership in the Face of Multiple Crises
2022-11-04 07:30 - 09:00
On November 4, the ACG will host a breakfast briefing with Sigmar Gabriel, former Foreign Minister, former Vice Chancellor, and Chairman of Atlantik-Brücke.
Sigmar Gabriel has been Chairman of Atlantik-Brücke e.V. since June 2019. He was the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 2009 to 2017, which made him the party’s longest-serving leader since Willy Brandt. Before leaving politics in 2018, he held three respective positions at the level of Federal Minister: In addition to serving as Vice-Chancellor of Germany (2013-2018), Sigmar Gabriel was Minister for Foreign Affairs (2017-2018), Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy (2013-2017), and Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (2005-2009).
In 2005, he was first elected to the Bundestag representing Salzgitter-Wolfenbüttel in Lower Saxony – and remained a member of Parliament until 2018. Earlier in his career, he served as Minister-President of Lower Saxony from 1999 to 2003. In the 1990s, he was Chairman of the Environmental Committee in Lower Saxony’s Parliament and a member of the SPD Executive Committee. In the 1980s, Sigmar Gabriel, who is certified as a high school teacher, assumed various responsibilities in adult education and was elected to Lower Saxony’s Parliament. He has been active in politics since 1976, when he joined a socialist youth organization.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2022-11-07 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 7, 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 – 2002 as a US correspondent based in Washington D. C. In 2001, she was a Bucerius Fellow at the de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University. From 2002 – 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.

Watching China from Berlin: Does Germany’s Zeitenwende Extend to Relations with China?
2022-11-08 11:00 - 12:00
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is in Beijing today. He is the first European leader to visit China since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – and his trip with a dozen German CEOs has sparked some controversy. This visit comes on the heels of Scholz’s decision to push through the approval of Chinese shipping giant COSCO’s bid for a stake in a Hamburg port terminal over the objections of cabinet members, Germany’s intelligence services, and international partners. And, it comes in the run-up to the release of a new national security strategy and a China strategy, both of which are slated to be released before the end of the year (or in January).
Join us for a virtual discussion with Noah Barkin, Senior Visiting Fellow at the German Marshall Fund and Managing Editor at Rhodium Group, about Germany’s evolving position on China. Noah Barkin is a Visiting Senior Fellow in the Asia Program at the German Marshall Fund based in Berlin. He specializes in Europe’s relationship with China and the implications of China’s rise in the transatlantic relationship. He is also the managing editor in the China practice at Rhodium Group. Prior to joining GMF, he had a 25-year career as a journalist in Berlin, Paris, London, and New York. His work has appeared on Reuters, where he served as a bureau chief, regional news editor, and roving Europe correspondent. In 2019, he was a visiting fellow at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) in Berlin and the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies in Washington (AICGS). He is also a host on KCRW, an NPR-affiliated radio station in Berlin, and the author of a book on the euro. A native Californian, Noah has a bachelor’s degree in political science and French from UC Berkeley and a master’s in international affairs from Columbia University.

Kaffeepause: What's Abuzz in Berlin?
2022-11-14 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 14, at 9:00 am ET for a Kaffeepause with journalist Miriam Hollstein, (2008 ACG McCloy Fellow) Chief Reporter for T-Online in Berlin. Miriam Hollstein serves as the Chief Reporter for T-Online in Berlin. Prior to this position, she served as the Chief Political Reporter for FUNKE Zentralredaktion from November 2020 to December 2021. 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 of 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.
