Joachim Gauck: Träume vom Paradies
The Presidential Office in Germany is a unique product of German history. It is a curious mixture of past monarchies and postwar symbolism of the Federal Republic. The office seeks …
Opposing Islamization: The PEGIDA Movement in Germany
Founding and Background Since October 20, 2014, Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident (PEGIDA, Patriotische Europäer Gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes) has organized weekly Monday demonstrations or evening …
Renewing Resolutions: The 2015 Agenda in Germany
At the dawn of 2015, Germany could look back and clearly identify its inheritances from 2014. As always, there were many surprises and challenges in the past year and their …
Remembering MdB. Andreas Schockenhoff
Andreas Schockenhoff passed away recently, and AGI mourns a great loss. As a member of the Bundestag, Andreas was a frequent participant in our programs and a deeply committed transatlantic …
Rethinking Trust: U.S.-German Relations Beyond the NSA Affair
In political rhetoric, trust is a powerful trope.[1] Various speeches, policy papers, and internal notes use the term trust and emphasize its crucial meaning for bilateral partnerships. The benefits of …
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Support Our WorkA World in Flux: German American Relations in a Changing American Order
This year’s AGI Annual Symposium is framed around the idea of “A World in Flux”: the relative decline of the West’s economic power; the need to adapt our work forces …
Dealing with a Violent Past and Reconciliation as a Challenge for Policymakers and Civil Society Actions Experience from the Church’s Reconciliation Work between Germans and Poles
Twenty-five years after the Kohl-Mazowiecki meetings and joint mass that inaugurated “official” German-Polish reconciliation after 1989, German-Polish reconciliation is viewed as an instructive example both in Europe (Polish-Ukrainian relations) and East Asia (Japanese-Korean relations).
To Err on German Unity…
Looking back after twenty-five years to those extraordinary events leading to German unification and the establishment of democratic regimes in Eastern Europe, I am often reminded of the American icon …
Tuition Fees in Germany
In the 2013-2014 academic year, tuition fees for undergraduate students at American universities averaged a whopping $5,410 (€4,353) each semester—and this does not include housing, dining costs, or personal expenses.1 …
The Miracle of Leipzig
This is a story about the secret of freedom—courage. Germans in Leipzig courageously faced down a regime that had killed fellow citizens, whose only crime was to seek freedom and …
Freedom Cannot Be Taken for Granted
In the fall of 1989, I studied at the Karl-Marx-University in Leipzig. As a student of theology, I was able to participate in the demonstrations on the street as well …
Replicating Germany’s “Dual system”?
Just off the main thoroughfare of Berlin’s Friedrichstrasse is the inconspicuous headquarters of the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts. As the tourists pose for pictures outside Checkpoint Charlie – a …
