New German Ambassador Peter Wittig visits the GHI

May 14, 2014

Dr. Peter Wittig, the new German Ambassador to the United States, who assumed his position in Washington at end of April, made his first visit to the German Historical Institute on May 15, 2014. GHI Director Prof. Dr. Hartmut Berghoff welcomed the high-ranking visitor, who started his career as a historian. Ambassador Wittig wrote his dissertation on the history of the British Fabians and was an assistant professor of history at the University of Freiburg before joining the diplomatic ranks. He worked for the German Foreign Office in Madrid, New York, Berlin, Beirut, Nicosia, before being appointed Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations in New York.

Prof. Berghoff's presentation of the GHI's research agenda, in particular the "Immigrant Entrepreneurship" project, met with great interest on the part of the Ambassador. After a tour of the GHI's building and talks with various members of staff, Prof. Berghoff, Ambassador Dr. Wittig, and the head of the German Embassy's cultural department, Carsten Rüpke, had an extended conversation about future collaborations of the German Embassy and the German Historical Institute. Director Berghoff expressed his and the GHI staff's deep appreciation for this inaugural visit and expressed his confidence that collaboration between the Embassy and the Institute is going to flourish in the future.