RIAS fellows spend busy week in Berlin on fall exchange program
September 10, 2022
RIAS fellows spend busy week in Berlin on fall exchange program
On an exchange program to learn more about Germany, the European Union and NATO, a group of 10 American journalists from across the United States spent a whirlwind week in Berlin during the first half of their two-week RIAS Berlin Commission fellowship. The journalists from TV and radio stations as well as academia from across the United States but especially from outlets in the Midwest and South had up to five meetings per day with German journalists, politicians, political analysts, artists, think tank experts, Ukrainian refugees and immigrants to Western Europe’s largest country.
They had the chance to ride along the Berlin Wall bike trail through the heart of the city that was divided by the Cold War, talked to NPR Berlin correspondent Rob Schmitz and tour the Reichstag parliament building as well as watched its spectacular multimedia light show beamed on parliament buildings across the Spree River.
They also met German journalists Jan Philipp Burgard, Vladimir Balzer, Marcus Pindur, Erkan Arikan, Michael Kolz and Deutsche Welle Director General Peter Limbourg along with Canadian anchor Terry Martin. The Americans, many of whom were one their first trip outside the United States, also had the chance to visit the US Embassy near the Brandeburg Gate for illuminating high-level meetings and the Stasi memorial prison in east Berlin where political prisoners were kept during the dark days of the Cold War.
Also talking with the Americans were German-Iranian artist Kani Alavi, who talked about the history of the East Side Gallery open air art exhibit along a mile-long stretch of the Berlin Wall.
They also visited Potsdam in formerly Communist East Germany as well as the Sachsenhausen concentration camp before listening to a American Swing Dance band led by Andrej Hermlin. The group will be traveling to Hamburg on Sunday for more meetings with German journalists, to Cologne on Tuesday and finishing their journey with three days in Brussels and meetings with EU and NATO officials on Thursday and Friday.
