Carl Schurz House

Logo of the Freiburg Carl-Schurz-Haus since 2010.

Logo of the Freiburg Carl-Schurz-Haus until 2010.

The Carl-Schurz-Haus or German-American Institute was founded in 1952 as America House in Freiburg im Breisgau and has been a binational cultural center since the 1960s. Every year it offers around 250 events (lectures, exhibitions, workshops and readings) on transatlantic topics, at which those interested in social exchange can talk to American and German experts and artists. In addition to concerts and English-language film series, an America library with more than 20,000 titles, and student and academic counseling for stays in the United States, the institute organizes a wide range of English courses for children, adolescents and adults in which native speakers teach. In the Carl-Schurz-Haus, the Freiburg-Madison-Gesellschaft , an association to promote relations with Freiburg's twin city Madison in the USA, and the German American Business Community in Baden have their contact point as well as a quilt club, the Freiburg Writers' Group and the Dreisam Swingers square dance club . At the end of 2016, the institute's association had around 1,660 members. The director of the Carl-Schurz-Haus has been Friederike Schulte since 2010, and the lawyer Gerhard Manz is the chairman of the board.

history

On October 17, 1952, the Freiburg America House at Goetheplatz 2 was founded as the information center of the USIA (United States Information Agency) , which initially also served as a branch of the US Consulate General in Stuttgart. Three years later the house moved to the city center, at Bertoldstrasse 8. When the building changed hands, a new location had to be found for the Amerika-Haus by June 1965. When in 1964 plans to accommodate the institute in the rebuilt Kornhaus failed, the Amerika-Haus found new premises on several floors at Kaiser-Joseph-Straße 266. After the program department and administration moved in in 1965, the library and lecture hall were also opened to the public at the institute's new address in May 1966.

In 1962, the US government's austerity measures led to the transformation into a binational institute in order to secure the house economically. The US Information Service (USIS), the federal government , the state of Baden-Württemberg and the city of Freiburg contributed to the costs. The Friends of the Freiburg America House e. V. was founded at the same time. In 1969 the name of the association was changed to “Carl-Schurz-Haus / German-American Institute e. V. ”changed. The occasion was the 140th birthday of Carl Schurz . The name change was celebrated in March 1969 with a lecture about Carl Schurz. On the occasion of the namesake's 150th birthday, an exhibition provided information about the eventful life of the revolutionary, emigrant and US interior minister.

Entrance to the Carl-Schurz-Haus in the Eisenbahnstrasse in Freiburg

Funding problems arose in 1985 when USIS announced that it would discontinue its stake due to budget cuts. The other association sponsors took over the missing grant and thus ensured the continuation. One consequence of this fundamental reorganization was that the Carl-Schurz House was under German management for the first time. Since the town twinning with Madison (Wisconsin) was founded in 1988, the institute has been the seat of the Freiburg-Madison Society.

In 1993 an amendment to the articles of association brought together the board of directors and the executive board, and from August Eva Manske was director of the Carl-Schurz-Haus. In 2006 the America House moved again and opened on January 28 at its current location at Eisenbahnstrasse 58-62. Christine Gerhardt became director in October 2008, but after two years in office she accepted a professorship for American studies at the University of Bayreuth . In October 2010, the Americanist Friederike Schulte took over the management of the Carl-Schurz-Haus as director.

Language courses

The institute has been organizing English language courses since 1975, all of which are taught exclusively by native speakers. In the meantime, the offer ranges from classic conversation courses as well as individual and company courses to the acceptance of tests and certificates to courses in intercultural competence. In the fall of 2000, a special course program for children and young people was added to complement the English lessons. Since 2006, holiday camps inspired by experiential education with intensive courses for schoolchildren have been held three times a year with the Academies . Lord Mayor Dieter Salomon took over the patronage for the Green Academy , which was introduced in 2014 , which combines language acquisition with sharpening ecological awareness. Since the institute's 60th anniversary in 2012, young people have been learning to deal with current literature in the English-language book club Book Stars . Authentic intercultural encounters with native speakers and students from the USA at schools in the region are conveyed by the Inside America program at the Carl-Schurz-Haus, which enables the exchange between German students and Americans through interactive class visits.

Library

The America Library of the Carl-Schurz-Haus is a public lending library with a comprehensive range of more than 20,000 items that can be borrowed. Books and eBooks, films on DVD and radio plays, two daily newspapers and over 50 subscription magazines are available to library card holders. In addition, the lending library offers a computer workstation with internet access and an iPad for online research by its users.

Advice offers

The  Carl-Schurz-Haus is an  EducationUSA advice center. EducationUSA centers are sponsored by the US Department of State and provide independent information about exchange opportunities in the US. A large number of questions about a stay abroad in the English-speaking area are answered in one-on-one discussions and in public lectures: These include the organization of studies, student exchanges, language trips , work & travel or even au pair stays.

Special events

Since the US presidential election in 2000, the Carl-Schurz-Haus, together with the State Center for Political Education and other partners, has hosted a Freiburg Election Night Party every four years on election night with live broadcasts, short lectures and commentary, an entertainment program and catering that the largest and most popular event of its kind in the Southwest. Since 2001 place annually on Independence Day , a US Independence Day party with numerous partner institutions in the beer garden of the brewery Ganter instead, often with high visit from the American Consulate General in Frankfurt .

Selected events

• 1968 Leslie A. Fiedler , American literary scholar , "Close The Gap, Cross The Border: The Case For Post-Modernism"
• 1988 Ishmael Reed , American writer , reading
• 1993 Kate Millett , Feminist , “Dehumanized. Experiment on the Practices of Psychiatry "
• 1993 George McGovern , former US Senator and presidential candidate, "Beyond the Cold War: America and the New Global Challenge"
• 1997 Carl Djerassi , Nobel laureate , chemist and author, "From pill to pen"
• 1998 Chaim Potok , author and rabbi , "The Gates of November" / "November nights"
• 2002 Michael Ballhaus , cameraman , book and film presentation, panel discussion
• 2005 Avi Primor , Israeli diplomat and ambassador to Germany (1993.1999), lecture, "Terror as a pretext"
• 2006 Joseph E. Stiglitz , Nobel Prize Winner and Economist , Lecture, "Making Globalization Work: About the Opportunities of Globalization"
• 2009 Walter Pincus, a journalist of the Washington Post , lecture, "What Has Happened to the American press?"
• 2009 Claus Kleber , ZDF moderator and journalist, lecture, "War and the media in the USA"
• 2010 Jeremy Rifkin , American Economist, Author, Lecture, “The Empathic Civilization. The Race To Global Consciousness In A World Of Crisis "
• 2011 Dieter Salomon and Uwe Brandis, Symposium, "Feasible visions for a liveable city of the future"
• 2012 TC Boyle , author, reading, "When The Killing's Done"
• 2013 Louis Begley , author, reading, " Memories of a Marriage "
• 2013 Adam Johnson , author and Pulitzer Prize winner, reading, "The Orphan Master's Son"
• 2014 Tanja Hollander, photographer, exhibition and lecture, "Are You Really My Friend?"
• 2015 Susan Neiman , philosopher and director of the Einstein Forum , reading and discussion, "Why Grow Up?"
• 2015 Teju Cole , author and photographer, reading, "Every Day Is For The Thief"
• 2015 Gary Shteyngart , author, reading, "Little Failure"
• 2016 Uwe Timm , author, lecture and discussion, "Carl Schurz: Memories"
• 2016 John Gerosa, Sales Director of Google Germany, Anke Domscheit-Berg , publicist, a. a., theme day, My Digital Revolution
• 2016 Joseph E. Stiglitz , Nobel Prize Winner and Economist , Lecture, "Europe is saving itself broken"
• 2016 John Kornblum , former US ambassador to Berlin and non-fiction author, lecture, "Eurocalypse Now?"
• 2017 Hanya Yanagihara , author and editor of the New York Times Style magazine , reading, "A Little Life"

Individual evidence

1. ^ Badische Zeitung: "Sailing from Bremerhaven to New York" - Freiburg - Badische Zeitung . ( badische-zeitung.de [accessed on August 1, 2017]).
2. ^ Badische Zeitung: More time for men - and for yoga
3. ^ Badische Zeitung: From Obama to Car Culture . ( badische-zeitung.de [accessed on August 1, 2017]).
4. ↑ Badische Zeitung: How was the Freiburg Election Night at Cinemaxx? ( badische-zeitung.de [accessed on August 1, 2017]).
5. ^ Badische Zeitung: Independence Day Party in the Ganter house beer garden . ( fudder.de [accessed August 1, 2017]).
6. ^ Badische Zeitung: Claus Kleber speaks in the occupied Audimax . ( badische-zeitung.de [accessed on August 1, 2017]).
7. ↑ City 2020 - Feasible visions for a liveable city of the future
8. ↑ "Are you really my friend?" In: Deutschlandfunk Nova . ( deutschlandfunknova.de [accessed on August 1, 2017]).
9. ↑ Badische Zeitung: Peter Pan, please wake up! ( badische-zeitung.de [accessed on August 1, 2017]).
10. ^ Badische Zeitung: Homage to Lagos: The new novel by Teju Cole - Badische Zeitung . ( badische-zeitung.de [accessed on August 1, 2017]).
11. ^ Badische Zeitung: Help from Google in all situations . ( badische-zeitung.de [accessed on August 1, 2017]).
12. ^ Badische Zeitung: The friendly Joe Stiglitz sees the euro going under . ( badische-zeitung.de [accessed on August 1, 2017]).
13. ^ Badische Zeitung: Ex-Ambassador John Kornblum on the US election . ( badische-zeitung.de [accessed on August 1, 2017]).
14. ^ Badische Zeitung: Yanagihara's novel overwhelms the reader . ( badische-zeitung.de [accessed on August 1, 2017]).

Web links

• Internet presence of the Carl-Schurz-Haus

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

Coordinates: 47 ° 59 ′ 49.9 ″  N , 7 ° 50 ′ 39 ″  E