Speech
Consul General Jo Ellen Powell
German American Institute Saarbrücken: 50 Year Anniversary
Casino-Restaurant Am Staden, Bismarckstr. 47, 66121 Saarbrücken
October 26, 2007, 6 p.m.

Thank you, Dr. Gimmler, for that lovely introduction.  It is great to be back in Saarbrücken, especially on such a wonderful occasion, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the German American Institute in Saarbrücken.  I would also like to thank Dr. Hartmut Gimmler for inviting me to speak today and the entire audience for your support of this wonderful organization.

It is appropriate that we celebrate an organization that helps bridge cultural differences in a city that has adopted as its motto, “partners build bridges.”  Together with Luxembourg and Lorraine, Saarland has been named the 2007 cultural capital of Europe, bringing Europe closer together.  

Most important for us here today, the work of the German American Institute in Saarbrücken has helped build a transatlantic bridge between the United States and Germany.  The friendship between our two nations is strong and enduring because organizations such as the DAI work hard to disseminate American culture and bring us closer together.

A relationship like that between the United States and Germany is not built overnight.  It takes a shared set of values and deep historical connections.   And these relationships must be maintained and renewed, through the building of artistic and cultural bridges and the long-lasting personal interaction of members of both constituent communities.

German culture has been part of the United States since long before there was a place called the United States.  The first Germans arrived in North America shortly after the foundation of the Jamestown settlement. 

By the first quarter of the 18th century German communities were thriving across the thirteen colonies, from Salem, North Carolina to Herkimer County, New York.  From this initial wave of immigration, more than six million followed.  Today 49 million Americans claim German ancestry, nearly 17% of the population.

The German impact on the U.S. is not merely demographic; we owe some of the most important developments in American culture and politics to German immigrants.  German newspapermen helped guarantee our freedom to engage in printed political discourse.  John Peter Zenger’s acquittal on charges of libel leveled by the Royal Governor of New York helped to establish the idea of press freedom in regard to political figures.  Similarly, nearly one hundred years later, Thomas Nast made political satire accessible to the masses through his cartoons in Harper’s Weekly. 

German farmers in the United States were among of the first to agitate against slavery and to reject the use of bondage labor.  In 1688, with the issuance of the Germantown declaration, German Quakers condemned the institution of slavery.  German immigrants served as a model of the Jeffersonian vision of the yeoman farmer as the pillar of a democratic society as they moved ever westward, binding themselves to the ideals of the free-soil movement and forsaking slavery.  The influx of liberal intellectuals in the aftermath of the 1848 revolution included men and women who, in the words of Frederick Douglass, became “our active allies against oppression and prejudice.”  In Douglass’s words, “A German has only to be a German to be utterly opposed to slavery.  In feeling, as well as in conviction and principle, they are anti-Slavery.”

German-Americans also played a decisive role in securing the independence of the United States.   General Friedrich von Steuben helped to transform the Continental Army from a group of disorganized volunteers into a force capable of standing up to the world’s most powerful nation. 

Also present at Valley Forge with Von Steuben were 1,500 desperately needed volunteers from Pennsylvania, who strengthened General George Washington’s forces at their darkest hour.  85 years later, 750,000 German Americans from New York, Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan formed the backbone of the Union Army, giving the United States, in the words of Abraham Lincoln “a new birth of freedom.”

The connection between our nations has been deepened and strengthened by thousands of people who have spent time in each others’ countries, drawing these bonds even closer together. Over the last 50 years, the DAI, through its Student Advisory program, has helped thousands of students acquire information about exchange programs in the United States. 

Over 8,000 German Schüler study in the United States every year and nearly that many American high school students make the trip in the opposite direction.    Programs such as the Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst and the Fulbright Program offer university students the opportunity for transatlantic scholarship.  These programs are aimed at more than simply widening ones’ scholarly pursuits; they also aim to create lasting friendships between individuals.

Another important buttress of German-American friendship is the exchange of ideas and culture, such as those undertaken by the DAI in Saarbrücken.  The DAI offers English language lessons, film screenings, informational exhibits, lectures and speeches help to disseminate information about American politics, economics, culture and the ‘American way of life.’  In the coming month, the DAI will present a discussion on the making of a President and a showing of the film, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”, a wonderful example of American filmmaking, folk music and culture. 

It is entirely appropriate that the DAI undertake these type of activities, as the Institute itself inherited its mission from the Saarbrücken Amerika Haus and the former American Library in the Sulzbachstraße. In the aftermath of September 11, cultural exchanges are more important than ever before.  Cultural exchange can help to promote tolerance and understanding, and create a broad civic culture, bound by the values that we Americans and Germans share.
 
One especially good and effective example of cultural exchange among Germany and the United States is the Sister Cities program.  The goal of the sister cities program is to increase global cooperation, promote cultural understanding and stimulate economic development.  Currently, more than 170 German and American cities are connected through this program, including   Saarbrücken, which has been paired with Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.  The linkage of these two is deeply rooted in their historical traditions.  The Stadtverband Saarbrücken and Lehigh County, with its capital Allentown, were the driving engines of the industrial revolution in their respective countries.  The mines and blast furnaces of the Saarland and Eastern Pennsylvania provided the coal and steel that transformed the United States and Germany into industrial powerhouses. 

Both were casualties of the collapse of  this industrial model in the 1960s and 1970s.  Yet both have been reborn and revitalized in the post industrial economy.  As the Saarbrücken region and Lehigh County continue their renaissance, they provide a template for how other regions and cities, from Duisburg to Detroit, can cope successfully with the changing economic realities of globalization and the transition to a new economic base.

The United States owes much of its identity to German Americans.  Associations such as the German American Institute of Saarbrücken continue to build upon these historical and cultural connections.  Our nations are bound together through the ideals of freedom of speech and freedom of individuals. 

And the benefits of this relationship have not been a one-sided effort.  In the post-war period, the United States contributed significantly to the reconstruction of Germany and welcomed it back into the community of free and democratic nations. 

Later, Presidents Reagan and Bush were driving forces behind the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification.   Just as Germany has helped shape the American national identity, so has America helped shape today’s German national identity.  Looking at the strength of the relationship between our two nations, I predict that in the year 2057, my successor will be here celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Saarbrücken DAI and applauding even more examples of how our two peoples have cemented their bonds of friendship and cooperation.  Through the efforts of dedicated people like all of you, we have been able to able to gain a greater understanding of each other, deepening and strengthening an already robust friendship.

Thank you.