Newsroom/Programs & exchange·November 14, 2019·3 min read

Record-breaking RIAS Alumni program in Berlin 2019

The RIAS Berlin Commission completed its week-long senior editor and alumni program onNovember 11 for 30 US alumni — setting a record for the largest group.

Monika Grütters, minister of state for culture and media in Germany, meets RIAS Berlin Commission journalists to talk about the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Grütters had earlier spoken at an event at the Tränenpalast, or palace of tears, where East Germans leaving to the West said farewell to their loved ones. Photo: Stephan Klonk

Many of the journalists used the fellowship to work on stories for their networks back in the United States, taking advantage of the talks with journalists such as Tom Brokaw (NBC), Dirk Emmerich (NTV), Anja Heyde (ZDF) and Andreas Weise (ZDF) as well as visits to the Berlin Wall memorial on Bernauer Strasse and a look at where some of the tunnels dug beneath the Wall were for their stories.

Some of the other highlights included a talk with Monika Grütters, Germany’s minster for culture, about the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall after a ceremony at the Tränenpalast, and a talk with Robert Zoellick who helped negotiate the “2+4” talks with the two Germanys and the United States, Soviet Union, Britain and France that paved the way for German unification a year later.

Meeting NTV correspondent Dirk Emmerich on top of the NTV/RTL offices in Berlin

The American journalists also attended a festive ceremony by the local Berlin city government commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall and a speech by Mayor Michael Müller and got a tour of the famous East Side Gallery by artist Kani Alavi, who painted one of the Berlin Wall slabs in 1990 and has since then fought to preserve the 1.3-kilometer long open air art gallery that attracts millions of tourists to Berlin each year. The week in Berlin was capped with front row access to a massive open-air celebration at the Brandenburg Gate watched by 500,000 spectators and millions of people on television. Here are some of their stories and reports for their networks back home.

The Americans also had numerous chances to meet German alumni from RIAS and renew friendships with German journalists that they have hosted in the United States over the past decades.

The next major alumni program will take place in Washington DC from October 18 to October 24, 2020. Up to 30 German alumni will be invited to take part on a cost-sharing basis.

Meeting artist Kani Alavi at his painting on the East Side Gallery

There will be several get-togethers with the Washington DC
alumni chapter and with U.S. alumni based in the United States. Anyone interested in applying for that should contact their local alumni chapter and priority will be given to alumni who have been active alumni members, donate to RIAS and/or will be working on stories for their networks back home in Germany.

More stories