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 …
Post-Unification German Studies: Momentum Gained or Lost?
Carl Bildt, until recently Sweden’s foreign minister, told Thomas Friedman of the New York Times in 2003: “For a generation Americans and Europeans shared the same date: 1945. A whole …
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Support Our WorkGermany’s Foreign Policy of Reconciliation
Now available in paperback, AGI Society, Culture & Politics Director Dr. Lily Gardner Feldman’s book, “Germany’s Foreign Policy of Reconciliation: From Enmity to Amity,” highlights Germany as a model for …
Apprenticeship Loyalty in Hannover
Today we went to the MMBbS, an information technology and media vocational training school two hours south of Berlin by train, and learned about the school that was built on …
The Day the Berlin Wall Really Fell
Contrary to popular lore, the Berlin Wall did not fall on November 9, 1989. Nor did it fall in Berlin. It fell on October 9 some 120 miles away, in …
October 3: Lessons for the Future of Europe
This week Germany again marks its anniversary of formal unification on October 3. Next month, on November 9, we will remember how the division of Germany ended, seeing dramatic pictures …
Mars vs. Mercury: Germany, America, and the Global Order
Germany and America: Two Reluctant Pivotal Powers Germany and the United States rank as the two most influential and powerful Western liberal nations in a world challenged by the rise …
Safe as Houses: Comparing Housing Finance Policies in the U.S. and Germany
The recent financial crisis demonstrated that housing is a key sector of the U.S. economy, with the potential to bring down the entire global economy. The crisis also recast the …
2009 and 2014: Reflections
Time flies. I am struck by how recent the events of the twentieth anniversary of the Mauerfall feel. A rainy, but magical, memory. At first blush, 2009 seems a more …
