| Alumni Meeting of the "Germany Close Up" Program |
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On Monday, December 3, 2012, the German Historical Institute opened its doors for an Alumni meeting of the "Germany Close Up" Program. Since 2007 young Jewish-Americans have had the opportunity to get to know Germany for themselves. The program is organized by the New Synagogue Berlin-Centrum Judaicum Foundation and subsidized by the Transatlantic Program of the German Federal Government's European Recovery Program. Every year ten to twelve groups of young professionals, students, journalists, and rabbis visit Berlin and other places in Germany for approximately ten days. For detailed information see Germany Close Up. 35 alumni from the larger Washington area attended the event at the German Historical Institute. GHI deputy director Uwe Spiekermann, Dagmar Pruin, director of the "Germany Close Up" program, and Charlotte v. Friedeburg, first secretary of the political department of the German Embassy, welcomed the group and stressed the relevance of building bridges between the U.S. and Germany. The meeting offered the alumni the opportunity to meet and network with leading representatives of German and German-American institutions in Washington. Pia Bungarten (Friedrich Ebert Foundation), Claus Gramckow (Friedrich Naumann Foundation), Klaus Brodersen (Goethe-Institut), and Jackson Janes (AIGCS) presented brief overviews of the transatlantic activities of their organizations. Although the overview was impressive, Jackson Janes's remark that good relations between Germany and the United States should not be taken for granted, was a thoughtful challenge for intense discussions. The German Historical Institute was proud to host such a distinguished group. The event was a pleasant addition to the GHI's activities to encourage studies in German-Jewish and American-Jewish history. Since 2009 the GHI is sponsoring the Junior Scholar Conference in German-Jewish History, while Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German American Business Biographies, 1720 to the present has already published more than two dozen biographies on Jewish American entrepreneurs. 
GHI deputy director Uwe Spiekermann welcoming the alumni. On the podium (from left to right) Claus Gramckow, Jackson Janes, Pia Bungarten, Dagmar Priun, and Klaus Brodersen
Alumni of the “Germany Close Up” program listening to the presentations of the panelists
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