Alumni chapter events in March in Hamburg, Berlin, Washington DC and New York
March was a busy month for RIAS Berlin Commission alumni chapters in Germany and the United States.
Two of the biggest alumni chapters, in Hamburg and Berlin, held a series of interesting evening events with local organizations in Germany’s two largest cities to talk about transatlantic issues while alumni chapters in Washington DC and New York City held get-togethers at popular restaurants with German participants on the spring program to the United States. The idea behind the alumni chapters is to keep the spirit of the RIAS Berlin Commission alive for former participants, RIAS media prize winners, guest speakers to RIAS programs and friends of RIAS. There are no membership fees and the chapters as well as their meetings and events are organized locally by a network of volunteers.
There were about 25 American alumni members and RIAS media prize award winners such as Bill Whitaker of CBS in both of the U.S. cities who joined the 14 German RIAS participants for spirited discussions on Friday March 8 in Washington DC and on Friday March 15 in New York City. The events were organized thanks to the energy from U.S. chapter leaders Marissa Melton, Michael Garguilo, Clare Toeniskoetter and Stacey Samuel as well as U.S. coordinator KC Schillhahn. The alumni events in Hamburg — organized by chapter leaders Nadine Gries and Michail Paweletz — and Berlin — which was organized by Vladimir Balzer, Petra Gute and Anja Heyde — were also well attended. The Cologne alumni chapter is planning an evening get-together on April 3.
In Hamburg, RIAS Berlin Commission board member Melissa Eddy, who is also a correspondent
for The New York Times in Berlin, took part in a lively panel discussion on March 20 with Jiffer Bourguingon, a former correspondent for Der Spiegel in Washington DC, at an alumni meeting at the Villa Heine at the Elbe. The event was held in cooperation with the Business Club Hamburg for the first time and widely considered a great success with about 10 Hamburg-area RIAS alumni attending, including two-time RIAS fellow Ingo Zamperoni, and another 12 guests from the Business Club Hamburg. Melissa Eddy talked about her work in Germany for The New York Times, the mission of the RIAS Berlin Commission and her ties to the organization — where she as a board member she volunteers her time to help pick participants for programs in the United States. She also regularly gives talks to American participants coming to Germany.
Other topics included and discussed in the Q&A were President Trump and the media, the Nordstream 2 pipeline and the growing field of Democratic candidates ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
RIAS alumni taking part in the Hamburg get-together were:
Charlotte Horn
(NDR)
André Schünke (
ARD/NDR)
Ingo Zamperoni
(ARD)
Peter Eichenberg
(NDR)
Edith Heitkämper
(NDR)
Stephan Brünjes
(NDR)
Heike Keuthen
(NDR)
Patrick Döcke
(ARD)
Katja Schultze-Brüggemann
(NDR)
Kai Küstner
(NDR)
Michail Paweletz
(ARD)
Nadine Gries
(NDR)
In Berlin, the local Alumni Chapter joined the new American Academy Director Terry McCarthy for a “fireside chat” at the historic villa in the banks of Wannsee on Wednesday evening, March 6. More than a dozen members of the Berlin chapter gathered in the splendid library of the American
Academy to talk about current issues as well as learn more about the subjects from current resident fellows:
Fred Donner, Professor of Near Eastern History in The Oriental Institute and Department of Near Estern Language and Civilizations at the University of Chicago, who is researching “Arabyc Papyri for the Early Islamic Period (7th century)”. He talked about how that was connected to Islam today.
George Frampton, Co-Founder and CEO, Partnership for Responsible Growth, Washington DC, talked about his project “Carbon Pricing: The Future of US Climate Policy”.
RIAS alumni taking part in the Berlin get-together were:
Petra Gute
(RBB)
Anja Heyde
(ZDF)
Vladimir Balzer
(Deutschlandfunk)
Rita Lauter
(Zeit Online)
Dirk Steinmetz
(frei)
Karl Hinterleitner
(ZDF)
Ute Kindler
(frei)
Elena Kuch
(HH) NDR
Kristin Joachim
(ARD Hauptstadtstudio)
Michael Rötzscher
(RBB)
Mirja Fiedler
(Deutsche Welle)
Michael Stempfle
(ARD Hauptstadtstudio)
Gerlind Vollmer
(Deutsche Welle)
Dorte Störmann
(RBB)
Jasmin Teerforth
(Leiterin Bewegtbild / Redaktion der Bundeswehr)
Michael Wagenbach
(ZDF)
Caroline Kuban
(Deutschlandfunk)
