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News from Freiburg
American Friends
On 30 June I read in the Badische Zeitung's daily column:
50 Years Ago the headline American
Friends. In 1960 the then US-Ambassador Walter Cecil Rowling in
Bonn visited Freiburg to give a speech at the university about
American-German relations. At the following reception at the
Rathaus Freiburg’s Lord Mayor Josef Brandel praised the US for
having supported the people of Freiburg during the difficult
years following the war. He continued jokingly:
But what would
America be without Freiburg?
 What
he meant was
Martin Waldseemüller's map from 1507 of the then known world
that showed the name Amerika for the first time. Martin a
scholar from Freiburg had named the territories in the West
somewhat wrongly after Amerigo Vespucci a
discoverer from Florence. Dowling's reaction:
I didn't know that the Freiburg-American relations were as old
as that.
Picture from Wikipedia
PS: In 1901 the only known original of the map was discovered
in the library of Prince Johannes zu Waldburg-Wolfegg in
Wolfegg Castle* in Württemberg. It
remained there until 2001 when the heir of
Waldburg-Wolfegg-Waldsee family needed
money and sold the map to the United States Library of Congress
for ten million dollars. Our chancellor Angela Merkel
symbolically turned over the Waldseemüller map on April 30,
2007, within the context of a formal ceremony at the Library of
Congress, in Washington, DC. In her remarks, the chancellor
stressed that the U.S. contributions to the development of
Germany in the postwar period tipped the scales in the decision
to turn over the Waldseemüller map to the Library of Congress as
a sign of transatlantic affinity and as an indication of the
numerous German roots to the United States.
*I visted the place recently
A Streetcar Named
Städtepartnerschaften
As an upbeat to the 5th Market Place of
Freiburg's Partner Cities Bürgermeister Otto Neideck christened
a tramway of Freiburg's transport sytem
illustrating the city's various partnerships. It will run the town reminding
the Freiburgers
of our many sister
cities. The photo above shows the graphical presentation of
Madison.
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Neideck talking whilst
Freddie, Monika and Georges are enjoying their orange juice. The
photographer actually took a glass of sparkling wine from Baden
thus saving it from being splashed over the tramway
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In the case of Besançon's presentation all
French clichés are served: Baguette, croissant, red wine, beret
Basque and TGV. In the background the Bürgermeister is still
talking whilst the driver being anxious to put the tram into
service.
Under the watchful eyes of Mr. President and
Mayor Dave and his wife Dianne the Master (How
does one call a female master?) of
Freiburg-Madison's booth, Sigi, proudly presents her team. From
left to right: Diane, student from Michgan State University,
George and Sigi (FMG) and Hether, University of Iowa. The
students who spend an Academic Year in Freiburg (AYF) traditionally help during the annual Market Place of Freiburg's Partner Cities.
Tea Party Patriots on the March
In a political environment where many things went out of control
– the wars that America fights, the derailing of the
international financial system, the environmental catastrophe
in the Gulf of Mexico – a government has to adjust to face old
and new challenges. But how much government?
Enter the Tea Party Patriots who fight the Obama administration
on all fronts. Prof. Kathleen Canning informed an amazed
audience about the right wing movement in the States questioning
whether the President is an American (Barack,
the Magic Negro), moving the public health insurance close to
the Nazi euthanasia program and calling adversaries socialists
or even threatening them with physical attacks. Whilst Kathleen
was somewhat afraid about this political polarization in
the US we Europeans still consider the States as bulwark of
democracy.
The discussion that followed was one of the most lively ones we
ever had at our Stammtisch. For some of my personal thoughts you
may like to visit
my Blog.
The Freiburg Schülerjazzorchester
conducted by Herbert Schiffels, active
member of the FMG, will perform for the benefit of the
Haiti earth quake victims
Banks in the States and Germany following the
financial crisis
Following an historic review of the still looming financial crisis Toni
Schlegel told the audience that solid reforms of the international
finance and banking system are still missing. The harping on manager
bonuses is intended to calm the man in the street but doesn't cure the
fundamental problems.
Instead, due to the continuing crisis the big
banks make again record gains in managing the
bonds governments issue to finance their debts. In the States small banks still suffer and go bankrupt whilst
in Germany saving banks make good profit due to the fact that clients
transfer their money from the big banks to smaller local depositories.
There is a risk that the big players having seen that governments
are willing to invest enormous sums to avoid their
bankruptcy will continue to take great financial risks in
order to maximize their profit.
Mike von Schneidemesser, guest of honor
Yesterday night (February 9th) Toni Schlegel invited Mike von Schneidemesser
presently in Freiburg to dine at the
Greiffeneggschlössle. Some of his
friends joined in the party. Mike was honored for his efforts he had made
in September
2009 in Madison making our stay so memorable and for his care he
ardently devotes to the partnership between Madison and Freiburg. The
quality of the photos is that you may expect from an iPhone without a
flash.
 
The table is all set waiting for Mike.
He was flanked by two distinguished ladies.
The 48ers - Fugitives of the Baden Revolution in the US
 The
first Stammtisch in 2010 dealt with the 48ers i.e. those persons who
in the years 1848/49 stood up in many European countries
for democratic changes in government.
Following the mostly bloody supression
of these revolts many revolutionaries flew to the States. Being part of the general insurrection the period in
Baden was
the longest in Germany. It started already in September 1847 in
Offenburg and ended with the fall of the last stronghold Rastatt on Juli
1849. Carl Schurz known to all of you was the
last officer who escaped from Fort Ratstatt actually through the sewer
system. However in the old times a fugitive called Franz Sigel was even more
popular in the States than Schurz. During the Civil War
Franz rallied the German offspring
singing I'm going to fight mit Sigel behind Lincoln.
Popular Sigel at the Riverside Park in
New York
A MS Powerpoint slide show on the Web will present
to you - understanding some German or just looking at the pictures
- the fugitives from Baden who became part of the American
heritage. Please note the presentation will only fully work
(thanks to
Bill G.) in MS Explorer.
Clicking on this
Link
will open a window. Follow the instructions and start the presentation
by clicking on Presentation in the lower right corner of the
screen. From her on clicking the left hand
button on your mouse will carry
you though the slide show. Sometimes you may experience longer
loading times.
The FMG honors two outstanding members
The FMG General Annual Assembly on 12 January declared Mrs. Charlotte Weber and Mr. Walter Kolb
honorary members.
Following the creation of the partnership between the cities of Madison and Freiburg in 1988 the FMG was founded
as the supporting Organization one year later. Walter Kolb became its first president.
At that time the FMG was lucky to have won a
US expert as Walter had spent a longer period in the States as
early as 1952 in the framework of the YMCA. Today he is still active and
organizes the popular hiking tours for the American students of the
Academic Year in Freiburg. Mrs. Charlotte Weber has many relatives
living in the States. As a founding member of the FMG she has during all
these years rarely missed an event. With her never ending enthusiasm for
the German-American friendship she significantly contributed to the
success of the FMG.
The photo shows from left to right: President Toni Schlegel, our
honorary members Charlotte Weber and Walter Kolb with their documents
and Frauke Feix as vice-president of the FMG
FMG's Traditional Christmas Dinner
On the 2nd of December the FMG had its traditional Christmas Dinner at
the Greiffeneggschlössle. See what you have missed:
The bird served by Greiffenegg's manager Edeltraut Biehre had changed from a turkey to a
goose, the traditional German feast for Christmas before we discovered
that a turkey has more meat and less fat (Photo courtesy ©TS). The
following menu was served with the bird:
Tureen of Red Deer on Cranberry Sauce Served with a Small Waldorf Salad
*
Saltimbocca of Angler Fish on Lemonized Risotto
*
Crisp Roasted Goose with Appled Red Cabbage, Potato Dumplings and Sweet
Chestnut
*
Mousse of Gingerbread with Caramelized Kumquats
We enjoyed the excellent serve and the good talks throughout the
evening.
Thanksgiving in Freiburg
As usual the
Carl-Schurz-Haus took in charge the arrangement of the
annual Thanksgiving Dinner in Freiburg at the
Two days before the official date already at the 24th of November, we had the following
excellent dinner:
Lettuce from the Market with Roasted Pumpkin Seed and Walnuts
*
Stuffed Turkey with Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans, Corn
and Cranberries
*
Pumpkin Pie
I hope we Europeans got it right that the menu may compare favorably with what you are going to eat today.
Happy Thanksgiving
to everybody!
Mind you eating is not over yet as we are looking forward to the MFG's
official Christmas Dinner (see above) next week.
Food Court in Madison?
 Today October 23 we read in our local Newspaper about a Food Court to be
built in Madison. According to the Badische Zeitung Mayor Dave got the
idea last year when visiting Freiburg and in particular the Markthalle.
This roof covered food market was built into the premises of the former
print shop for the deceased Freiburger Zeitung. The market houses
eateries with local and exotic food e.g. from North Africa and India as
well as a bar with French champagne or domestic sparkling and local non
sparkling wine. The place
is extremely popular among Freiburgers. Ted Petith Madison's coordinator
for renewable energies who is presently in Freiburg also announced the
creation of a solar info center in Madison. Time has come in particular
with the Obama administration supporting efforts in making renewable energy
available.
Right: Happy? Halloween in Freiburg's Food Court
Below are some photos of Freiburg's Food Court:
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Main entrance with fruit and vegetables leading
to the food gallery
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The food gallery with booths left and right at
10:30 a.m. waiting for the hungry customers
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Marcel from France (left) is preparing his Champagne
Express (right) whilst an early thirsty male customer is already attracted. The ladies in the back rather opt for Japanese noodles and sushi.
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Visit to Madison
A group of eleven members of the Freiburg-Madison Gesellschaft
Freiburg spent ten days in the US. We flew from Frankfort to
Chicago on 6 September and stayed three days in the Windy City.
From 9 through 12 September the group was generously received in
Freiburg's sister city Madison. We the participants would like to thank all those
members of the Sister City Committee and beyond who made our
stay such a memorable experience.
On our way back to Old Europe we
stopped in Washington. Also here our friends from Madison had
cared for us arranging a guided tour of the Capitol Building.
Some of us even listened to a Senate Session. We were back
in Frankfort in the morning of 16 September. The flight and
landing was like the whole trip smooth without any hick-up.
Look up the picture gallery
about our experience.
Fourth of July Party!
 The Carl-Schurz-Haus set the pace
followed by
Freiburg's Madison Gesellschaft:
 We came together and fired up the grill
and celebrated
Independence Day with a rockin’ 4th of July party and
live music. Highlight of the evening was a jam Session with the
living legend Perry Robinson, „the most gifted
clarinetist in Modern Jazz" (New York Times) and musicians
of the FunkReich band: Frederic Heisler, drums
and Emanuel Teschke, bass.
The weather was not too hot (80 F) and although the days before gusty
thunderstorms had spoiled many a party in Freiburg with several inches
of rain including hail this afternoon and evening were spared.
 The
attendance at the Ganter Hausbiergarten was high thus people had to
queue up (sorry stand in line) for German beer and partly American food.
The flag on the right intrigued many as in this new graphical
presentation the counting of stars becomes difficult in particular after
a couple of beers.
And we had the visit of Carla and Dick from Madison honoring with their
presence our Independence Day party in Freiburg. Thank you for
coming and giving a genuine American touch to the festivity.
4th Market Place of Freiburg's Partner Cities
 Those
of you who attended last year's 3rd Market Place of Freiburg's Partner
Cities are possibly aware that this event takes place at the
Rathausplatz every year.
In 2008 the City of Madison had been guest of honor due to the 20th
anniversary of our partnership. This year three cities shared a round
date to celebrate. Here, flanked by the European and German flag you can
admire the colors of France, the United Kingdom and the Ukraine hanging
from the balcony of the Rathaus. They stand for Besançon (50th
anniversary of partnership with Freiburg), Guildford (30 years) and Lviv
(Lemberg, 20 years).
The tent with the booths of all the participating partner cities was
well visited but in our case the stand was even better attended as the
following photo shows. During three days Sigi and Mike did a ten hour job and never forgot
the human touch (here engumschlungen or rather don't tell Mike's wife).
Thank you so much both for promoting German-American friendship and
presenting beautiful Madison to all those visitors!
The featured ice cream with cranberry sauce was well accepted and the
message of the healthy effects of these fruits if not already known was
spread around. I wouldn't be surprised if there will not be a noticeable
boost in US-export of those berries.
The winter weather in Madison isn't better than in Chicago
On April 3rd Barack Obama was in Strasbourg at the G-20 meeting. In a
big sports arena that was filled to the last seat he
took the opportunity to talk to students from both sides of the Rhine
river followed by a question and answer session. Toni in a
delegation from Freiburg's Carl-Schurz-Haus mingled with the young and
the President of the United States shook hands with the President of the
Freiburg-Madison Gesellschaft. After that Toni small talked with
Michelle who confirmed that the winter weather in Madison isn't better
that in her home town Chicago. A burning question remains: did Toni wash
his right hand since then or does he prefer to keep the historic hand
shake.
Obama's 100 Days: An Appreciation
Our April Stammtisch had very few attendants. We were asking ourselves
questions: Yes, it was the 1st of April, so had we been fooled? Obama
had not had his full 100 days, maybe people were vexed by our boldness.
And he was in London, but that could not be the reason for the empty
Stammtisch. Toni's idea was that the soccer match between Wales and
Germany the very evening kept people glued in front of their television.
We shall possibly never find out why we had so few...
The Madison University Choir in Freiburg
On Monday 16 March we read in the Badische Zeitung that the Madison
University Choir was in Freiburg on the invitation of Freiburg's Bach
Chor. Until 17 March they will perform a capella in various places.
We would much have liked to meet these charming people.
Fabian Schwär back in Freiburg
At the March Stammtisch Sebastian Schwär reported about his stay in
Madison's City Clerk's Office. He assembled a Powerpoint
presentation about renewable energies and got an excellent appreciation.
Mayor Dave wrote: We applaud what Germany is doing, and hope to
replicate some of your successes her in Madison.
The Economic Crisis in the US and Germany
At the March Stammtisch Toni Schlegel and Wolfgang Meier-Rudolf tried
very hard to explain to a full house of lay-women and -men the origin of
the financial crisis and its follow-up the economic decline. Time was
too short to go into every nitty-gritty detail of the current economic
situation although the excellent presentation and moderate discussion
went on for more than two hours.
At the end two burning questions remained: How come that - whilst the
printing of green-backs in the State is at its maximum - the dollar is
going so strong in comparison to the Euro and will - with the American
citizens rather paying back their debts than consuming - the US again
become the stimulus for a new economic growth.
Bill meets Dieter
Former US President Bill Clinton and Freiburg’s Lord Mayor Dr. Dieter
Salomon shook hands at the yearly meeting of the Clinton Global
Initiative (CGI) held in Austin, Texas with 1300 students from the US
and other countries attending.
Salomon had been invited as the only
Mayor of a Green City to take part in panel discussion about “CO2
neutral” cities. Both gentlemen agreed that in an economic crises
economy and ecology are not mutually exclusive but are both essential.
Salomon had nearly missed the meeting when he was stranded at
John Dulles Airport on the night of Friday 13th !! due to a technical
problem with his connecting flight. The company offered him a seat to
Austin on a
plane on Saturday evening. In a joint American-German effort he could
finally be booked on a Saturday morning flight just in time not to miss
the historic handshake.
Green City but not Green Capital
While the Oscars were celebrated in Los Angeles another sort of prize
was distributed in Europe's capital: Brussels. The Green Capital Award for 2010 went to
Stockholm, Sweden whereas Hamburg, Germany was attributed the prize for
2011. Freiburg as the smallest city of the contenders did not make it but was nevertheless
among the last eight candidates for the prize. The European Community thus acknowledged Freiburg’s role as a Green City.
Epilogue: In a ceremony in Brussels the prize for Hamburg was
handed over to the city's Senator for Environment Anja Hajduk. On the
photo she proudly presents the flowery Cup to the cameras in front of a flag of the
former GDR (East Germany) ! ? showing the hammer and the pair of compasses.
English at an Early Age
The American Center in Freiburg, the Carl-Schurz-Haus is a well accepted cultural institution.
Last fall its long time Director Professor Eva Manske retired and
was succeeded by Dr. Christine Gebhardt a well known specialist for American Culture
and History at the University of Dortmund.
At our February’s Stammtisch
Gerhardt’s closest collaborator Uta Schröder presented the history of
Freiburg’s Carl-Schurz-Haus and its cultural and educational program. She emphasized the English language
program for pre-school children and kids during their first grades. In Freiburg’s
environment that is particularly focused on French due to the nearness of
France parents have discovered the opportunity the Carl-Schurz-Haus
offers for initiating their
children in English. The success of the program is particularly due to the
employment of native speakers with experience in children's education.
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