Yiddish Summer Weimar festival
August 9, 2007 Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig, U.S. Consulate General Leipzig, and his wife Kjärstin attended an evening street performance of the “Yiddish Summer Weimar” festival on August 7. This festival, which began in 2001, was known then as “Weimar Klezmer Weeks.” Due to more and more Yiddish elements at the festival and a change of promotors, the name was changed to “Yiddish Summer Weimar” in 2006.(more)

The Children of the World in Saxony-Anhalt
August 8, 2007 Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig and Consulate General staffer Zoe Kusmierz joined the closing ceremony of the 11th Eurocamp for Kids in Güntersberge. The 10-day camp brought together 280 children aged 11 to 17 from 21 countries to promote tolerance and cultural understanding through fun and friendship.(more)

Harvard Krokodiloes take Wittenberg by storm
August 4, 2007 The 12 member Harvard Krokodiloes a cappella singing group performed at the Phoenix Theatre in Lutherstadt-Wittenberg (Saxony Anhalt) before about 300 guests. The concert was organized with the help of former Krokodilo Todd Fletcher, now a Berlin resident.(more)

Wittenberg Summer School 2007 Goes International
July 30 - August 3, 2007 Thirty students from 15 universities in Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, the U.S., and Taiwan, discussed “The American Press and the Challenges of Politics and Technology” at the second Wittenberg Summer School. The program was a collaboration of the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, the Center for U.S. Studies at the University of Halle/Wittenberg, and Magdeburg University, and supported by the German Association for American Studies.(more)

Brown Coal, the Environment, and U.S. Corporate Responsibility
August 1, 2007 Consul General Mark Scheland toured the operations of the Mitteldeutsche Braunkohle AG (MIBRAG), a lignite mining company owned and operated in Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony by two major American energy firms. MIBRAG CEO Bruce DeMarcus acquainted the Consul General and his colleagues -- Embassy Berlin First Secretary Michael Sullivan and Leipzig Consul for Public Affairs Mark Wenig -- with technical and ecological aspects of brown coal mining and the use of this fuel in electricity generation.(more)

Explaining the U.S.-EU Agreement on Sharing Travelers’ Data
August 1, 2007 On August 1, 2007, the Agreement Between the United States of America and the European Union on the Processing and Transfer of Passenger Name Record (PNR) Data by Air Carriers to the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), known simply as the 2007 PNR Agreement, entered into force. In order to explain the new standards in the sharing of PNR data of travelers between European Union states and the U.S., Consul General Mark Scheland taped questions and answers with Carsten Fiedler, a reporter for radio mephisto 97.6, the Leipzig university student-run station.(more)