Programs and Events

Selected Events 2008

Poster Exhibit Highlights U.S. Media’s Role In Presidential Elections

Elbe Day Piano Concert With Jason Paul Peterson

Deputy Chief Of Mission John Koenig Celebrates Elbe Day In Torgau

April 25, 2008. On the 63rd anniversary of the historic Elbe River meeting of the U.S. and Soviet armies on April 25, 1945, photographs of which have become an iconic image of the end of WWII, Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) John Koenig and Leipzig Consul for Political and Economic Affairs Edie Backman represented the U.S. at the annual commemoration ceremonies in Torgau, Saxony. Along with representatives of the Russian and Belarusian armies and local officials, Koenig and Backman participated in the raising of the German, U.S. and Russian flags and laid flowers at the grave of Joe Polowsky. more

Consul For Public Affairs Addresses Dresden Students

April 25, 2008. Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig made a visit to Dresden’s St. Benno Gymnasium to discuss the U.S. presidential primary campaign with 20 students in an advanced English class. Some of the students and their teacher, Ms. Raka Gutzeit, had previously visited the Consulate and had invited Wenig to visit their school. more 

Bautzen’s "America Day" Enriched With Colorful Literature And Genuine Cultural Exchange

Consul for Public Affairs in Rodewisch, Southern Saxony, on School Visit

April 23, 2008. Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig delivered a 90 minute presentation to 35 students at the Berufliches Schulzentrum für Wirtschaft in the southern Saxon town of Rodewisch. The topic centered on the U.S. primaries and November presidential election. The students, who came from several different classes, are all taking professional career courses and had volunteered to attend this presentation. more

America@your Library and intercultural Exchanges in Meiningen

Consul General Leipzig Supports 4th Annual “Battle of the Books"

Consul for Public Affairs Addresses Local Students on U.S. Presidential Campaign

Targeting English Teachers

From Magdeburg to the U.S.

American Studies Graduates Celebrate in Style

Focus on Environmental Policy

April 14, 2008. Economic Officer Jessica S. Megill from the U.S. Embassy Berlin participated in a panel discussion on "Ecology and Economy: Environmental Policies in the U.S. and Germany." The event, which drew an audience of some fifty people, was organized by the Leipzig chapter of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. more

Consul for Public Affairs Attends 80th Anniversary Ceremonies for First East to West Transatlantic Flight

April 12, 2008. Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig was one of several invitees delivering a greeting before an audience of 150 in Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt, at an event honoring the three man crew of the first fixed wing flight to successfully cross the Atlantic from east to west. The two Germans and one Irishman crossed the Atlantic on April 12-13, 1928 - a year after Charles Lindbergh’s historic flight in the other direction - in a Junkers Type W 33 aircraft called the "Bremen," which was manufactured in Dessau. more

Leipzig Consulate General Represented at Pirna Career Youth Fair

April 12, 2008. Education USA advisor Birgit Kaemmer represented Leipzig Consulate General at the annual Career Youth Fair in Pirna. The fair, which was organized by the European Service of the local Employment Agency, promoted international exchange opportunities for students and young professionals in the region. more

Leipzig Officers Honor Nazi Victims in Nordhausen and Buchenwald

April 10-11, 2008. Leipzig Consulate General officers participated last week in wreath laying ceremonies honoring the victims of the National Socialist era. On April 10, Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig attended ceremonies and laid a wreath at the Mittelbau-Dora labor camp in Nordhausen, Thuringia. On April 11, Consul General Mark Scheland laid a wreath at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp memorial. more

Taking the U.S. Election Campaign to Erfurt

April 9, 2008. An audience of about 150 flocked to a reading and discussion by U.S. correspondent Christoph von Marschall in Erfurt, where he introduced his German biography of presidential contender Barack Obama. more

Honoring Martin Luther King

April 4-6, 2008. Forty years after Martin Luther King’s death, the Evangelical Academy Thüringen organized a symposium entitled, "I have a dream…" to honor King’s life and legacy. Leipzig Consulate General supported the event with Consul General Mark Scheland delivering welcoming remarks to an audience of scholars, theologians, students and the general public. Many came to pay tribute to Dr. King. more

Presidential Elections Exhibit on Display at A@YL Partner in Saxony-Anhalt

April 4, 2008. After the closing of the Leipzig Book Fair on March 16, the Consulate General's Information Resource Center (IRC) Leipzig proceeded with donations of U.S. publishers’ contributions to the Consulate’s booth, to academic, public and special libraries within the consular district. Leipzig’s IRC director visited the Magdeburg Public Library to meet the Library Director Peter Petsch and the head of the international department, Ines Gonschoreck. more

Discussion With German NCOs in Leipzig

April 3, 2008. Consul General Mark Scheland briefed Bundeswehr non-commissioned officers (NCOs) on the U.S. National Security Strategy, written in 2006. The 90-minute session, conducted in Leipzig's Contemporary History Forum, was scheduled in the course of the soldiers' two-week training at the Bundeswehr School in Delitzsch, Saxony. more

Teaching Tolerance in Leipzig

Leipzig Business People Want to Understand the U.S. Elections and Financial Market Turbulences

Krautgarden Goes Leipzig

March 14, 2008. During the Book Fair, Consulate General Leipzig helped launch an experimental joint venture of readings featuring eight American authors (Christopher Edgar, Nicholas Kulish, Dirk Wittenborn, Adam Davies, Elif Batuman, Peter Behrens, Marco Roth and Christian Hawkey) who teamed up with German-language writers Ulrike Almut Sandig, Thomas Pletzinger, Jo Lendle, Raphael Urweider, Ron Winkler, Jan Costin Wagner, Paul Brodowsky and Uljana Wolf. more

Transatlantic Encounter in Magdeburg

(© German-American Dialogue Center)

March 14, 2008. The German-American Dialogue Center, an important partner of the U.S. Consulate General in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, hosted Germany's Ambassador to the United States of America, Dr. Klaus Scharioth. U.S. Consul General Scheland joined Ambassador Scharioth, Bundestag Deputy Dr. Uwe Küster (Chairman of the Dialogue Center board), and other participants in a luncheon round table discussion of the central issues in the US-European partnership. more

Leipzig Consul General Participates in Reading Festival ‘Leipzig Liest’

Consulate General Stand at Leipzig Book Fair Becomes Major Meeting Point

Transatlantic Relations Revisited

March 6, 2008. Dr. Andrew Denison, director of Transatlantic Networks, an independent network of scholars facilitating information exchange and knowledge building across a broad array of European and American policy areas, met in Görlitz with 15 students and in Zittau with about 50 interested citizens of all ages to explain the U.S. electoral process, and to discuss the status quo and perspectives of transatlantic relations and NATO policy. more

Leipzig Consul General Discusses Political Extremism with Bitterfeld Citizens

© Mitteldeutsche Zeitung

March 1, 2008. An audience of nearly 150 - including dozens of high school students - gathered in Bitterfeld, Saxony-Anhalt, for a public forum on "Political extremes: How do they affect me?" Consul General Mark Scheland joined Veit Wolpert, a state legislator, Winfried Schubert, President of the State Constitutional Court, the chief of police for a multi-county area, and an NGO representative in presentations and Q & A. more

Chargé Co-Opens 16th Annual Kurt Weill Festival in Dessau

February 29, 2008. Chargé d’Affaires John Koenig represented Ambassador Timken, co-patron of the 16th Kurt Weill Festival, at the opening of the event in the city of Dessau. The Chargé was a featured speaker alongside with Saxony Anhalt Minister President Wolfgang Böhmer, Hubert Ernst, President of the Kurt Weill Society, and the Lord Mayor of Dessau, Klemens Koschig. Attending from Leipzig were Consul General Mark Scheland and Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig. more

Consul for Public Affairs Greets Arizona Club in Dresden

February 25, 2008. Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig visited the monthly meeting of the Arizona Club in Dresden, on the occasion of an annual presentation by Jürgen Wüsteney on the Alaska gold rush period in a speech entitled, "From Seattle to the Klondike". more

 

Roundtable with German Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) in Leipzig

February 21, 2008. Briefings by Consulate General officers on the U.S. national security strategy have become a fixed element of the multi-week course for NCOs at the German Military School in Delitzsch, Saxony. Twenty two course participants and their instructor, all career military personnel with experience for example in Afghanistan and/or the Balkans, visited the Leipzig Consulate General. more 

American Artist With Leipzig Roots

February 20, 2008. In the presence of the artist, the Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig opened a large retrospective exhibition featuring painter Peter Ruta. Ruta, who was born in Saxony to a Jewish family in 1918, depicts cityscapes and still lifes in his work, which spans more than a half a century. more

Consul Participates in Election Discussion in Magdeburg

February 18, 2008. Leipzig Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig joined Dr. Jackson Janes, Executive Director of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies of Johns Hopkins University, for a joint presentation and discussion on the 2008 U.S. presidential primaries, held before 50 people attending the annual members’ meeting of the German-American Dialog Center in Magdeburg. more

U.S. High School Students Perform at Gewandhaus

February 16, 2008. A concert featuring the work, "Carmina Burana", and a piece by a Leipzig composer brought together more than 150 young musicians from the U.S. and Leipzig. The Youth Symphony Orchestra of the Musikschule “Johann Sebastian Bach” and Amici Musicae, choir and orchestra, as well as three soloists, were joined by some 90 voices of the Pennsbury High School Concert Choir from Pennsylvania. more

Consul Informs Saxony-Anhalt Teachers in Wittenberg on U.S. Election Campaign

February 15, 2008. Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig was the opening speaker at a two-day seminar for 25 Saxony-Anhalt teachers at the Leucorea Center in Lutherstadt-Wittenberg. The seminar was part of the ongoing training teachers regularly receive from the state’s teacher training institute. more

Consul for Public Affairs Addresses Adult School Classes, General Public in Hohenstein-Ernstthal

February 13, 2008. Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig addressed a group of about 50 adults from two separate classes of evening English students, as well as members of the public, in the Saxon town of Hohenstein-Ernstthal. Wenig outlined U.S. German relations, U.S. foreign policy and explained the current presidential campaign. more

Jena High School Students In-The-Know About U.S. Primaries

February 12, 2008. Leipzig Consul General Mark Scheland conducted a Q&A session with about 80 students and their English teachers at the Christliche Gymnasium in Jena. Questions touched upon the U.S. health care system, advertising in politics, and even the mechanics of caucuses. more

"Black History Month" in Dessau-Rosslau

February 11, 2008. Opera singer Kevin Maynor, bass, and pianist Eric Olsen introduced an audience of about 300 high school students and members of general public to a multi-media performance of the 19th century “Underground Railroad” and the African-American struggle for equal rights and freedom. The event - staged in a local church - consisted of spirituals, narratives, video, and slide projections. more

Consul Addresses Zwickauers on U.S. Security Strategy

February 8, 2008. Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig spoke before an audience of 70 in the western Saxon city of Zwickau on the evening of February 8, at an event organized by the Junge Union of the CDU. Wenig, who was accompanied by Andreas Fuerst, Assistant for Political and Economic Affairs, reviewed the U.S. National Security Strategy and then took questions from the audience. more

Focus on Afghanistan

January 31, 2008. Scholar Christopher Blanchard (Congressional Research Service), lectured at Jena University on recent developments in Afghanistan and evaluated structures and changes in the Middle East, from the Cold War to Al Qaeda. About 350 students and faculty used the forum to discuss American foreign and security policy, NATO engagement, as well as counter-terrorism objectives, human rights, and democracy-building in the region. more

Limbach-Oberfrohna Students Visit Consulate

January 30, 2008. A group of 19 students and their teacher from the Albert-Schweizer High School (Gymnasium) traveled to Leipzig from southern Saxon city of Limbach-Oberfrohna to meet with Consul Mark Wenig, who gave a presentation on the Consulate’s activities and the current U.S. presidential campaign. more

Consul Wenig Addresses Sondershausen Students on U.S. Election Campaign

January 29, 2008. Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig and Cultural Assistant Zoe Kusmierz traveled to Sondershausen, northern Thuringia, where Wenig addressed a combined class of about 30 students who are taking an advanced English course at the Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium. more

Consul Participates in Sister City Signing - Deep Underground - in Sondershausen

January 29, 2008. Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig and Cultural Assistant Zoe Kusmierz attended a ceremony and reception in the northern Thuringian city of Sondershausen, marking the official signing of a sister city agreement between Sondershausen and Rolla, Missouri. Sondershausen Mayor Joachim Kreyer spoke first, discussing the history and the importance of the city’s relationship with Rolla. more

Consulate Promotes English in Leipzig Through Toastmaster

January 28, 2008. Consul Mark Wenig’s efforts to establish the first-ever Toastmasters Club in eastern Germany has not only taken hold after the club was officially chartered last September, but one of the officers has just won first prize in a much-publicized English speech contest on January 28. more

Consulate General Leipzig Supports Reading by U.S. Writer John Haskell

January 24, 2008. New York based writer John Haskell, who currently teaches as Picador guest Professor at Leipzig University’s American Studies Institute, read from his collection of short stories "I am not Jackson Pollock." more

Roundtable with German Non-Commisioned Officers in Leipzig

January 24, 2008. Briefings by Consulate Geneneral officers on the U.S. National Security Strategy have become a fixed element of the multi-week course for non-commissioned officers at the German Military (Bundeswehr) School in Delitzsch, Saxony. On January 24, twenty course participants and their instructor, all career military personnel of long experience, visited the Leipzig Consulate for a 90-minute roundtable discussion with Consul General Mark Scheland. more

Consul Addresses Leipzig University Students on U.S. Election Campaign 

Targeting English Teachers 

January 15-16, 2008. Consulate General Leipzig hosted a total of 74 teachers of English from all parts of Saxony at in-service training seminars in Chemnitz and Rodewisch. Dr. Andrew Denison and Fulbright Professor Richard Reiman introduced the teachers to the full spectrum of election-related issues by explaining not only the election system and primaries, but also foreign and security policy implications and the election as part of the U.S. democratic process. more

Explaining the U.S. Elections to the Public and the Media

January 8, 2008. In response to rising interest in the U.S. elections, Leipzig Consul General Mark Scheland gave interviews to Hitradio RTL and Radio PSR, which explained the intricacies of the caucus and primary process system to eastern German audiences. more

Dresden Discussion of "The Individual and the State" in the U.S.

January 8, 2008. On Tuesday evening, Consul General Mark Scheland addressed an audience of nearly 100, in a lecture/Q&A event sponsored by the Dresden chapter of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.  Launching a three-part series on America’s market liberal/libertarian traditions, the Consul General’s topic was the relationship of the state to the individual. more