Programs and Events
Selected Events 2004
The Consulate sponsors and supports many special programs and events throughout the year.
American German Business Club Holds Christmas Luncheon at Amerika Haus
December 15, 2004. Consul General Peter Bodde and Public Affairs Officer Charles Walsh joined American German Business Club President Philip Haleen for the AGBC's annual Christmas luncheon. Before the party, Prof. Dr. Michael Heise, Chief Economist Allianz Group, engaged the 100 invited guests in a discussion on "The USA and Germany: Economic and Political Prospects for 2005."
Photo from left: Public Affairs Officer Charles Walsh, Prof. Dr. Michael Heise, Chief Economist Allianz Group, Philip Haleen, President of AGBC Frankfurt, and Consul General Peter Bodde(more)
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December 14, 2004. The U.S. Consulate General Frankfurt donated a collection of books for children about American History, US culture and values to the kindergarten of the European Central Bank (ECB). The collection contains 85 titles on sports, music, art/literature, women’s and African American history as well as biographies of distinguished Americans, and will help the children to get to know the United States of America, its people and institutions in a playful way. The books represent the foundation of the international library at the kindergarten and will be used in connection with a new English language program that will start in 2005 in cooperation with the Berlitz language school Frankfurt.(more)
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November 18, 2004. Amerika Haus Frankfurt, in cooperation with one of Germany’s largest publishing houses, S. Fischer, and Frankfurt Airport corporation (Fraport), organized a reading with Chicago writer Audrey Niffenegger who read from her NY Times-bestselling debut novel “The Time Traveler’s Wife” that has just been published in Germany. Vice Consul Jeffrey Arnold opened the event that was set in the futuristic Airport Forum, and introduced Ms. Niffenegger to some 60 participants who actively engaged in a discussion with Ms. Niffenegger following the reading.(more)
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November 16, 2004. Renowned crime authors Sara Paretsky and Valerie Wilson Wesley drew an enthusiastic crowd of over 120 fans at a reading and literary discussion of their latest works on November 16 at Kulturforum Wiesbaden. Sara Paretsky read from her book "Blacklist" and Valerie Wilson Wesley from "The Devil Riding." Consul Charles Walsh, Director of the Amerika Haus in Frankfurt, and Rita Thies, Cultural Commissioner of Wiesbaden, opened the event, which was the highlight of the 5th Crime Festival organized annually by the city of Wiesbaden.(more)
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November 2,3 2004. Some 1200 invited guests joined Consul General Peter Bodde, consulate officials and staff for one of Germany's largest parties to celebrate the 2004 U.S. Elections at Amerika Haus Frankfurt. The event that lasted from 22:30 in the evening of November 2 through 8:30 in the morning of November 3, was organized in cooperation with CNN and the American German Business Club Frankfurt, and sponsored by Starbucks, McDonalds, Coca Cola, Marriott and others. American and German experts provided background on U.S. election campaign strategies and swing states as well as analysis of the first results. The Sterling F. Webber Trio entertained the guests in the course of the night. Click here for information on the US Elections 2004(more)
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October 7, 2004. In cooperation with the Hesse Center for Political Education, Hanser Verlag and the German-British Society, Amerika Haus Frankfurt arranged a lecture by Timothy Garton Ash of Oxford University on “Free World – Why a Crisis of the West Reveals the Opportunity of our Time." Mr. Ash outlined how the recent crisis in transatlantic relations can be used constructively to develop joint policies in the interest of the West and the developing world.(more)
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October 7, 2004. On October 7 2004, U.S. Ambassador to Germany Coats visited Rheinland-Pfalz Minister President Kurt Beck at the State Chancellery in Mainz to discuss the Global Defense Posture Review and related issues. U.S. President George Bush announced a plan for Global Defense Posture Review on August 16, 2004. Photo Credit: Klaus Benz, PresseBild
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October 6, 2004. Lord Mayor Petra Roth and Consul General Peter Bodde co-hosted Frankfurt’s second annual celebration of German-American Friendship Day at city hall "Römer" on October 6. 400 guests attended the festive ceremony and the following reception. The Consul General’s remarks emphasized the U.S. government's commitment to Frankfurt demonstrated by the expanding role of the Consulate as a regional center for American diplomacy.(more)
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October 6, 2004. The wife of the U.S. ambassador to Germany, Marsha Coats, along with the wife of Frankfurt's Consul General, Tanya Bodde, represented two of the 270,413 visitors at this year's International Book Fair in Frankfurt. Mrs. Coats and Mrs. Bodde visited the booth of the U.S. Consulate General which displayed the state department's book sets for youth audiences as well as its essay collection "Writers on America" and the Arabic language magazine Hi! in line with this year’s theme on Arab literature.(more)
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September 29, 2004. Consul General Peter Bodde hosted a reception for 50 senior contacts from the political, business and academic communities in southwestern Baden-Württemberg at the historic City Hall in Freiburg. In the presence of Freiburg’s Lord Mayor Dr. Dieter Salomon the Consul General thanked his guests for their unmatched hospitality and their strong and active role in supporting the German-American partnership on the political, economic and educational levels.(more)
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September 26, 2004. On September 26, the Information Resource Center Frankfurt and American Citizen Services presented their services and products at the 4th annual Newscomers Festival “Welcome to Hessen” in Wiesbaden to an audience of nearly 5000 newcomers to Hesse. Organized by the Hessen Economics Ministry, the festival informs newcomers to the region about services available in the region.
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September 23, 2004. On September 23 Amerika Haus Frankfurt hosted a speech by Historian Peter Hayes of Northwestern University who presented his new book “Degussa: From Cooperation to Complicity” to 65 guests, including several descendants of Degussa board members during the Nazi-era. The event was co-hosted by Degussa, which supported the research and writing of Hayes’s book. Acting Amerika Haus Director Jeff Arnold presented the congratulations of Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues Edward O’Donnell to the author and Degussa.(more)
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September 23, 2004. Consul General Bodde hosted a reception for 60 senior business, political, and German-American contacts at City Hall in Saarbrücken on September 23.
The Consul General signed the golden book and highlighted U.S. investments in Saarland and future German-American economic cooperation.
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September 15, 2004. LTC (retired) Sam Magill was highlighted as a WW II hero in a full-page article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on September 15 based on an interview arranged by the Amerika Haus Frankfurt. As commander of a U.S. Army Reconnaissance unit in Central France, Magill negotiated with German Major General Elster for the surrender of 20,000 German troops who were about to be trapped by the U.S. Third and Seventh Armies in September 1944. The interview took place in connection with the showing of the documentary film "Ein deutscher Held" at the German Film Museum Frankfurt in July.
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September 15, 2004. The internationally known ecnomist and social thinker Jeremy Rifkin presented a lecture on "The European Dream" at the Amerika Haus Frankfurt on September 15. Co-sponsored by publisher Campus, Hesse Center for Political Education, Frankfurt European Office and Marketing Club Frankfurt, the lecture filled the hall. As confirmed by several guests in radio interviews, Rifkin spread optimism among his high-caliber business and academic audience on the too-little recognized potential of the European Union and called for a synthesis of the best of the American and a newly emerging European Dream.
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July 22, 2004. Frankfurt Lord Mayor Petra Roth and Consul General Peter Bodde celebrated the birth of offspring from their adopted pair of bald eagles. The ceremony was held at the Frankfurt Zoo on July 22. In their remarks, both Lord Mayor Roth and Consul General Bodde emphasized how these eagles represented the strength of the German-American partnership.
U.S. Congress adopted the bald eagle as the national the national symbol of the United States in 1782.
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July 21, 2004. Amerika Haus Frankfurt hosted a signing ceremony for an agreement expanding the reach of the USA Interns Program, which places U.S. and German University students in summer internships. The Hesse Ministry of Science and Arts and the Steuben Schurz Society Frankfurt, signed the agreement at the Amerika Haus on July 21. Consul General Peter Bodde delivered remarks commending Minister Corts and Steuben Schurz President Fisher for this initiative, which should double the number of internships from 60 to 120 by 2005.
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July 2, 2004. Consul General Peter Bodde along with his wife Tanya and daughter Sara hosted a reception at his residence for 220 guests from the consular corps, the military, politics, business and the media to celebrate the 228th Independence Day. Consul General Peter Bodde also delivered remarks at the Independence Celebration in Stuttgart organized by the James F. Byrnes Institute for an audience of 470 at the headqarters of the public-service broadcaster Südwestrundfunk (SWR) on July 1.
Presidential Message | German | Remarks by the President at 4th of July Celebration | More Information
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June 29, 2004. As part of Mission Germany's school outreach program, Mrs. Coats, along with Mrs. Tanya Bodde, wife of the U.S. consul general in Frankfurt, visited the local Anna-Schmidt-Schule, Frankfurt's leading private school and a long-standing member of the UNESCO school network dedicated to promoting international understanding. Mrs. Coats discussed German-American relations, differences and similarities in our respective education systems, and Iraq with some 20 students who were deeply impressed by Mrs. Coats’ personal reflections on Germany and left the classroom feeling, as one student said, that “we have common roots and belong together in spite of all differences.”
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June 24, 2004. Hesse Minister President Roland Koch hosted the Hessian American Soldiers’ Family Day at the historic Hessenpark near Frankfurt in the presence of Ambassador Coats, Consul General Bodde and BG Boles, 3rd COSCOM, U.S. Army. In his remarks to 2100 U.S. soldiers, family members of troops stationed in Iraq, and 200 German guests the Ambassador expressed the appreciation of the U.S. for Minister President Koch’s hospitality towards the thousands of U.S. servicemembers and their families based in Hesse.
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June 7, 2004. Amerika Haus Frankfurt teamed up with S. Fischer Verlag and the English Theatre to organize a reading by U.S. author Richard Powers from his book "The Time of Our Singing" that drew an audience of 250 to the English Theatre in Frankfurt.
In his book, Powers portrays the history of an interracial family in the 1950s throughout the 1990s. After the reading, Mr. Powers engaged in a lively discussion with his audience on race relations in the U.S.
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March 31, 2004. Amerika Haus Frankfurt hosted 300 guests for a spring reception and concert featuring German jazz luminary Emil Mangelsdorff and his ensemble at the Amerika Haus on March 31. Mangelsdorff and band mate Jürgen Schwab, discussed the history of Jazz in Frankfurt and Amerika Haus support for this genre during the immediate post-war era. Amerika Haus Director Charles Walsh delivered opening remarks, highlighting the importance of shared cultural experiences in maintaining the German-American relationship.
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November 13, 2003. Ambassador Daniel Coats, OBO Director General Williams, Consul General Peter Bodde and Frankfurt Lord Mayor Petra Roth delivered remarks and broke ground at the future site of the Consulate General Frankfurt on November 13. Amerika Haus Director Charles Walsh moderated the ceremony, which was attended by 100 guests and over 30 media representatives.
The U.S. Consulate General Frankfurt is the largest U.S. consular post in the world and fifth largest diplomatic mission in the world. (more)
