Selected Events 2006

"Dedication" of the "Bridge of Relations from Person to Person" at the Roebling School Left: U.S. Consul General Mark Scheland

June 12, 2006
Consul General Mark Scheland traveled to Mühlhausen, Thuringia, to speak at a Festakt honoring that city's most famous son, John (Johann) August Roebling, the 19th Century innovator of suspension bridges, best known for the Cincinnati bridge that now bears his name and for the Brooklyn Bridge. Scheland also encountered students at the local high school, now named for Roebling. Both his speech and conversation with students touched on the fact that his great-grandfather had attended that same school in the 1890s, shortly before emigrating. Federal Finance Ministry State Secretary Karl Diller introduced a German postage stamp commemorating Roebling's birth 200 years ago. Diller and Thuringia's Deputy Minister President Birgit Dietzel both emphasized the themes of freedom and the "pioneer spirit" in describing how America provided the environment in which Roebling could realize the full potential of his genius. Two dozen American members of the Roebling family, many German Roeblings, and an audience of several hundred heard the Consul General's remarks on the contribution of German immigrants to innovation and industrial growth in America, as well as Minister Dietzel's emotional appreciation of America's engagement for freedom in Europe since WWII.
(Photo by Courtesy of Thüringer Allgemeine Zeitung)