2023 Annual Report

Dr. David Sirakov, Director

Translated by Charlotte Davis, RP TAIP  2024

The previous year, 2023, represented the motto "The New Normal". After the years of the pandemic when there were limited opportunities to implement events, the programs of the Atlantic Academy of Rheinland-Pfalz (AA) could plan and implement fun and innovative formats again without restrictions. A mix of both digital and hybrid formats appear to be the most rewarding for those interested in the transatlantic relationship.

The variety of topics was just as great as in previous years. From US domestic and economic policy to security and security and defense policy issues in the transatlantic area to (sports) transatlantic area to (sports) cultural topics, everything was represented. The focus of our work continues to be on strengthening democracy - both internally and externally. Thanks to the support by the Federal Foreign Office, we also offered a broad cultural program cultural program that included concerts, readings, cinema screenings and other events.

We worked together to deepen the transatlantic relationship in the previous year through our state program, "Welcome to Rheinland-Pfalz! Our neighbors from the USA". It was further strengthened and played a significant role as coordination office for municipalities, American citizens, and US-Military leadership in Rheinland-Pfalz, through its many local integration offer and organizing large events.

Through intensive public work and regular programming, like the German-American Stammtisch and cultural events, the program was able to form the German-American co-habitation and deepen the relationship between both groups. The response-approval more than justifies our program: In 2016, the program started with 11 municipalities whereas now it has 40 program participants.

As a result, the AA could record its most successful year of its existence: During the 128 events, the AA successfully reached out to 15.04 participants through our multifaceted range of offerings.[1]

[1] See the variation of the 2023 Program, here in this 2023 Annual Report.

After 2022 marked a transition year from the COVID-19 pandemic ,where different event formats were distinguished through experimentation, the year 2023 serves as an example of the normalization of the AA´s program work. Nevertheless, one must speak of the “new normal,” which clearly differs from the political and cultural program work prior to the pandemic. Furthermore, we experimented with new formats and closely monitored the participants’ behavior.

Digital events continue to be extremely popular, although the desire for in-person events has sharply increased in comparison to 2022. The reluctance to participate in in-person events and large group gatherings can no longer be seen. This led to a predominantly face-to-face program, although digital programs, whether fully online or hybrid, continued to be a part of our offerings.

Of the 123 events (not including internal events and outreach), 22 were digital or hybrid (22%) while 102 were in-person (82%). We welcomed 1,355 participants to the digital events, which corresponds to over 62 participants per event.[1] There were 4,749 participants total for the 102 in-person events, which averaged 47 participants per event. Additionally, four outreach events occurred, which were associated with and coordinated under the “Welcome to Rheinland-Pfalz!” program. We were able to register 9,300 participants for these events.[2] These events are listed separately as they generally offer little opportunity for in-depth discussion of transatlantic relations issues with interested parties.

Overall, in the past year, we were able to reach a minimum of 15,404 participants through the 128 projects (on average 120 participants per project) (see Figure 1). Thus, we continued the overall positive Trend of the previous year and once again set a record for participation. Even after excluding internal and outreach events, our programs we arable to reach 6,059 participants, more than even before in a single program year (see Figure 1). The three participant records are below.

[1] Due to the structural nature of online events, the figures given should be regarded as minimum values. This is due to the fact that online platforms such as ClickMeeting, Zoom or Webex can only indicate the logins to the event and not the number of people in front of the respective screen. In addition, we and our cooperation partners have started to publish certain events on our YouTube channels. This increases the numbers over time.

[2] These figures are estimates, as these were large-scale events for which it was not possible to accurately record the number of participants.

The Atlantic Academy worked with 64 Cooperation partners in the conception, organization, and implementation of Project 2023. The most important partners from the previous year include the US embassy, the Fridtjof-Nansen-Akademie Ingelheim, the Federal Center for Civic Education, and the State Agency for Civic Education.

The German-American Centers are central to the exchange and encounter with American politics, society, and culture and the importance of their work can not be overestimated. This makes it all the more important for these Centers to have a nationwide representation at their disposal. The German-American Institute, America Houses and the Atlantic Academy therefor decided last year to give the previously loosely organized association a formal structure. The result is the founding of the German-American Centers (VDAZ) in legal form of an association on June 22, 2023. The Director of the Atlantic Academy was elected to the three-member founding board. The largest third-party donor in 2023 was the Ministerium of the Interior and Sport (WiR!-Program), the Federal Foreign Office (own program line includes coordination office), the Embassy of the United States of America, the Federal Agency for Civic Education (BpB) as well as the State Center for Political Education of Rheinland-Pfalz.

The transatlantic relationship was, is and remains diverse and exciting; and the demand is overwhelming. The programs of the Atlantic Academy in 2023 once again sought to do justice to the diversity of topics. When considering Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the focus is not only on foreign and security policy issues but also on the challenges facing democracies in the transatlantic region. For this subject we offered a diverse selection of both digital and in-person events such as seminars, forums, lectures as well as panel discussions and workshops. Thanks to the subsidies through the Federal Foreign Office, we were able to do cultural programming in 2023, including the concert, readings, and movie screenings that appealed to diverse interests. In addition to the extensive coordination and advisory work in the context of the “Welcome to Rheinland-Pfalz! Our American Neighbors“ program, events were also offered here.

The beginning of the program year[1] was the German-American Stammtisch (regulars table)  in Ramstein-Misenbach. Afterwards, fifteen more Stammtisch occurred in Dudeldorf, Speicher, Bitburg, Auw an der Kyll, Manderscheid, Mehlingen and the aforementioned Ramstein-Miesenbach. These events present the opportunity for Americans and Germans to engage in dialogue in a more casual setting. Traditionally the first event of the year was our series, the „Atlantic Forum,” which we conduct in cooperation with political scientists of the Rheinland-Pfalz University of Technical Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU). The 5 in-person events, we dealt with topics including the relationship between Iran and Turkey after their national presidential and parliamentary elections, the security policy Zeitenwende (“turning point”) in Germany, the 75^th Anniversary of the Marshall Plan, and the Effects of Trumpism on the rule of law in the USA. Speakers included Diba Mirzei (GIGA Hamburg), Dr. Hakan Akbulut (RPTU Kaiserslautern), Dr. Frank Stengel (Universität Kiel), Jun.-Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Piller (Universität Freiburg) and Prof. Kimberly Wehle, PhD (University of Baltimore).

In the second year of Russia’s War of Aggression against Ukraine, we also devoted ourselves intensively to associated issues. The effects on transatlantic relations were the main focus of the lecture event with Jun. Prof. Dr. Florian Böller (RPTU Kaiserslautern) carried out through the ““Young Leaders Forum” (YLF), which is sponsored by the US embassy and held jointly with the U.S. Air Forces Headquarter in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) since 2021, and offers young Americans and Germans who are already in or will be in leadership positions of society or politics the opportunity to come together and associate. The YLF-Program serves to network current and future decision makers in Rheinland-Pfalz and offers a combination of in-person and digital events for participants, who deal with different socio-political topics. The program also included a visit to Ramstein Air Base and the ceremonial conclusion of the YLP program that occurred in Mainz. The participants visited the state parliament (Landtag) at the State Chancellery and experienced more of the international orientation of the federal state. The goal of the six-month program  is to teach young people about the transatlantic relationship and its importance in a targeted and sustainable way, while at the same offering an exchange format for (future) managers.

As already mentioned above, we discussed the Atlantic forum in the context of the war and the German “Zeitenwende.”  We hosted an online talk with the US Correspondent of Handelsblatts, Annett Meiritz, to discuss the war’s consequences on the global economy. A special connection for us was during an event where Ukrainians has the space and opportunity to share their experiences and expectations. Moderated by the Dr. Franziska Davies from LMU Munich, Nina Bondar and Ivanna Malchevska, two activists from the National Agency on Corruption Prevention of Ukraine as well as the Center for Civil Liberties in Kiev, gave an authentic, moving, and realistic impression of what it means to live and work in a country at war.

Additional subsidies from the US embassy made it possible for the AA to offer transatlantic meeting opportunities for refugees, especially young people from Ukraine. A dance workshop was offered in cooperation with the Pfalz Theater in Kaiserslautern as well as  German language courses and day trips for people from Ukraine and America, in cooperation with the local Red Cross.

Authors were the focus of our series last year “America between the Lines.” Various authors read from their publication including Dr. Michaela Dudley from her book „Race Relations: Essays about Racism;” Marie-Astrid Langer, the US Correspondent of the Neuen Zürcher Zeitung, from her biography of Kamala Harris; Johannes Ehrmann, the Ziet editor and author, from the “Sons of Liberty. A German Immigrant story and the Founding of the United States;” and Julian Heißler, the US correspondent for the WirtschaftWoche, with selections of her book “Dream and Nightmares – America and the Many Faces of Freedom.”

Prof. Dr. Alred Hornung of the Obama Institute for transnational American studies within the Johannes-Gutenberg University Mainz moderated a reading by Dr. Martina Kohl from her book “Family Matter. Of Life in Two Worlds,” which follows the path of a German family, who crosses the Atlantic both ways over the course of multiple generations.

Different formats were used to portray the climate crisis, its consequences, and potential solutions as part of a larger program topic of the AA. With different organizations, we arranged online lectures with Prof. Sabine from Mehring, PhD, from Brandeis University in Massachusetts, on the climate movements in Germany and the US as well as the editorial manager from reset.org, Sarah Indra Jungblut, over the question on whether artificial intelligence could provide a glimmer of hope or represent a fire-accelerator of climate protection. In a school program, Dr. Sarah Surak from Salisbury University in Maryland addressed food waste and ways to prevent it. The topic of climate protection was also handled in the film series “America on Screen” and its offshoot, the school cinema, with the film “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” and “The Biggest Little Farm”.

In addition, our cinema series, “America on Screen” (AoS), with support from Rheinpfalz, gave our participants an in-depth insight into many exciting films through lectures with experts and film-makers. Director Nick Alfieri spoke about his film Unicorn Town, which is about the rise of an American football team ascent in the German province. The columnist for the basketball magazine Basket, Aurelia Rieke, delivered exciting information over the film Air, which covers the rise of the sports brand Nike and perhaps the larger sports brand deal of all time. Marco Linguri, trained imam and second chairman of the Liberal-Islamic Federation e.g., spoke about the background of the romantic comedy, Breaking Fast about intercultural, queer love in West Hollywood. In fall break, we showed them Strange World, an anime family film about cohesion, environmental  awareness, and diversity. The successful comedy and the first real film about the pink world of Barbie was also a part of our series. Dr. Julia Velten from the Obama Institute gave insight to the history and culture of the Barbie doll and of the feminism in US-Pop culture. We concluded our series with the Drama A Thousand and One about a black mother’s struggle in a rapidly changing New York City. Floria Fears-Heinzel of the Goethe-University Frankfurt spoke about the cinematic processing of historically grown systemic discrimination and racism as well as the effects on the present.

After the considerable success in the previous year, we also organized “Sounds of America” in 2023. In this series, we brought three US musicians to Rheinland-Pfalz. The band “Three for Silver” from Bellingham, Washington State kicked things off with their „Mythic Americana, Doomfolk or Apocalypse“ at the Haus am Lindenbrunnen  in Villingen. The musician Ryan Tennis from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, offered a mixture of folk, rock, and soul. He appeared with his band in Alsheim (at Alten Kelterhaus). For the occasion of the 25^thanniversary of the city cooperation between Worms and Mobile, Alabama, we brought a band from the partner city to Rheinland-Pfalz. With enthusiastic folk, lively blues and traditional pop played “Early James and the Latest” in the Lincoln Theater in Worms.

Which norms have underpinned the legitimacy of American political institutions and ideals at home and abroad? And why is the legitimacy of these institutions and ideals being called into question so fundamentally at this particular historical moment? These and other questions were the focus of the political science section conference of the German Society for America Studies, which took place in 2023 as part of the AA’s research funding. Under the theme “Sources of Legitimacy. Rethinking US-American Democracy“, 85 researchers met at the John F. Kennedy Institute of the FU Berlin to discuss the effects of polarization, racism, and inequality on US institutions and ideals.

Strengthening our democracy is one of the largest challenges of our time. False, misleading, or incomplete information poses a serious risk. In our series “Fighting Fake News“, we dealt with the complex theme in school workshops and online lectures. Among others, we welcomed the digitization expert Morven Agnew, Prof. Dr. Judith Möller from the University of Hamburg, and the Leibniz-Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institute (HBI), Dr. Tobias Jaecker, editor of the Deutschlandfunk Kultur and Dr. Alina Gales from Technical University Munich. We also organized our youth seminar with the Hessian State Center for Political Education and the Ingelheim Continuing Education Center with this year’s title “Fake or Fact? Disinformation as a Danger to Democracy“. Our Deputy Director and Program Manager, Sarah Wagner, Hanna Schimmele from the polisphere advisory network, as well as the spokesperson for the European Commission’s regional representation in Bonn, Sandra Fiene lectured there.

Two events that took place in cooperation with the VDAZ must also be mentioned. Firstly, we welcomed Susan Glasser, America’s most prominent foreign policy journalist and author for The New Yorker magazine, to an online event on her book “The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021”. In the book, written with her husband Peter Baker, a journalist for the New York Times, she takes us into the  Oval Office during the Trump era, revealing how close we came to a nuclear war with North Korea we were, which Cabinet members has a resignation pact and whether Trump actually asked the Japanese Prime Minister to nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize. The second event organized by the association was the official founding ceremony of the VDAZ. Under the patronage of the Federal Government’s Transatlantic Coordinator, Michael Link, and with words of welcome from the US Ambassador Amy Gutmann and the State Secretary at the Federal Foreign Office, Thomas Bagger, the newly founded association presented itself to the press and political Berlin in the Weltsaal of the Federal Foreign Office. Within only three weeks of advertising efforts, it was fully booked. We started our intensive seminar on July 21^st, 2023, with 38 participants under the title “A Systemic Challenge: The US between Democracy and Authoritarianism”. Fourteen speakers spoke on a wide range of topics relating to US domestic, economic, foreign and security policy. The extensive program of the Summer School 2023 can be looked up again on the AA website  .

The Atlantic Summer, organized in cooperation with the German Atlantic Society and the Office of Bad Neuenah chapter of the Society for Security Policy, also took place again last year. To make the program even more attractive, we added a culinary bonus in 2023. Based on the question of what role European security play for the two major parties in the USA, the Administrative Director of the RIAS Berlin Commission and journalist Erik Kirschbaum gave their insight into US policy and its impact on foreign and security policy, especially in Europe. Afterwards, the 49 participants discussed the subject over a glass of wine. The first edition of the Atlantic Wine Summer was a complete success.

Traditional formats such as our cooperative seminars with the Fridtjog-Nansen-Academy Ingelheim were also extremely popular again. In the previous year, we offered two seminars. On the one hand, we focused on colonization and the resistance of Indigenous populations in North America. Secondly, we continued our popular series „Music and Politics“ series, this time focusing on the music of the 1970s and its political significance under the title “’Stairway to Heaven’ or ‘Highway to Hell’?”.

Our training events for teachers, organized jointly with the State Institute of Education, were also continued. It dealt with the civil rights movement in the USA on the one hand and the role of media and inequality in the formation of public opinion in the USA on the other. We were able to attract speakers such as Dr. Laura Kettel (Aarhus University), Junior Professor Dr. Curd Knüpfer (FU Berlin), Dr. Sarah Surak (University of Salisbury) and Dr. Christine Knauer (University of Tübingen).

In addition to our projects for teachers, the AA also offered a comprehensive school program. For example, we organized a visit of the Amerikan General Consular in Frankfurt am Main, Norman Thatcher Scharpf, to the BurgGymnasium Kaiserslautern. There were also 23 workshops and lectures in schools in Kirchheimbolanden, Lingenfeld, Koblenz, Morbach, Daun, Trier, Ingelheim, Mutterstadt, Edenkoben, Herxheim, Boppard, Ludwigshafen, Oppenheim, Rodenbach and Kaiserslautern. Our project coordinator Janna Uhry-Ganz was able to offer almost all (22) school workshops with the support of the Federal Foreign Office  funds. There was also a workshop on “Music and Politics” offered by the Pianist Jens Barnieck.

A special highlight of the annual program was undoubtedly our celebration of the German-American Days, which we organized together with the Ministry of the Interior and Sport and the WiR!-Program in the ballroom of the State Chancellery of Rheinland Pfalz in Mainz. The Minister of State for the Interior and Sport, Michael Ebling, gave opening remarks then the American General Consular in Frankfurt am Main, Nortman Thatcher Scharpf, and the Director of the AA, Dr. David Sirakov, gave the over 100 guest their first in-depth insights into German-American relations in the most transatlantic of all German states, in which the important encounters of our WiR!-Program and the educational work of the AA occur. A panel discussion moderated by the Director with Roberto da Costa, Head of the Liaison Office at Ramstein Air Base and the German-American Citizen’s Offices in Kaiserslautern Town Hall North, and Johannes Freundorder, Head of the Ludwigshafen 2 police station, highlighting the practical importance of transatlantic work. A digital greeting from the former German Embassy in Washington, D.C., Emily Haber, emphasized the importance of Rheinland-Pfalz and the AA in the transatlantic structure. The musical framing offered the combination of the State Police Orchestra. The diverse topics of our events and the current developments in the USA  were presented by Director Dr. David Sirakov and Deputy Director Sarah Wagner in the AA podcast “America’s Constitution. Politics and Society in the USA”. In this forum, we have also dealt with the Hamas attack on Israel and the political and military response. In episode 25, we spoke about this with our member and Middle East expert Dr. Steffen Hagemann. The six episodes were listened to by around 8,950 listeners.[2]

The podcast is available at www.atlantische-akademie.de/podcast and from all known podcast providers.

You can also find recordings of many of our events on the YouTube Channel of the AA . Last year, the number of views amounted to 1,795 with over 230 hours played.

Also in the 2023 program year, we were also able to break the participation record from the previous year. This is both an appreciation and an incentive for the AA’s program work. Including all programs and transmission channels, we reached at least 25,996 interested parties last year, around 41% more than in 2022.

[1] The following look at the AA program can only be selective and therfore incomplete one, given the total number of 127 events.

[2] The statistics from our provider podcaster.de only record the direct queries from their server. In the case of Spotify and SoundCloud, separate statistics are kept.

The incredibly positive development of the state program “Welcome to Rheinland-Pfalz! Our Neighbors from the USA”  (WiR!) was also continued in 2023, as an important cornerstone for promoting German-American coexistence in the Rheinland-Pfalz municipalities. As a result, the importance of the program as a central coordination point for the participating communities, the American citizens and the US military leadership in Rheinland-Pfalz continued to grow. Our program coordinator John Constance made progress in the program's central fields of activity.

An important aspect of the program work was to accompany and support the 40 participating WiR! Communities in optimizing their own integration offers for resident US families. The many support activities resulted in more than 30 local events of various types with a direct connection to the program. Another important pillar of local initiatives was the provision of state subsidies as part of the WiR! funding opportunity. The advice and conceptual support provided by the coordinator ensured that the approved grants were used in a targeted manner. Examples include the German-American Friendship Festival in Ramstein-Miesenbach, the summer festival at the daycare in Kaiserslautern-Dansenberg, the ALTE WELT gourmet hike Heimkirchen, the culinary hike in Neunkirchen am Potzberg or the Palatinate-American Wine Festival in Glan-Münchweiler. Another successful development was the resumption of the WiR! Program family meeting of the participating municipalities, which enabled a supra-regional exchange of experiences between the program participants from the WiR! municipalities and the individual US locations and the generation of additional synergy potential.

Thanks to the institutionalization of WiR! Leadership Briefings the program is well known to the top leadership of the US military in Rheinland-Pfalz. Requests for support for program projects, either symbolically as patrons to welcome guests or operationally for accompanying public relations work, are met with lively interest. A further indication of the excellent cooperation is the inclusion of the program coordinator in the regular coordination meetings for managers of the individual Air Force organizations (KMC Stakeholders Meeting) and the Army (Community Leaders Information Forum), where current activities within the program are presented. The inclusion of the coordinator in the network of people responsible for public relations work in the various US military units in the Kaiserslautern Military Community (PAO Network) as the only non-military organization is proof of the extremely trusting and valued cooperation. Conversely, the program was also a crucial point of contact for the lead units for various issues. In recognition of the extraordinary commitment to strengthening German-American friendship in Rheinland-Pfalz, Minister Michael Ebling and the program coordinator presented the "WiR! Appreciation Award" to Deputy Garrison Manager Baumholder Jae Kim, who in his function actively promoted a large number of WiR! program measures and initiated many other local activities, such as the Park Run or German-American regulars' tables.

The positive public image of the WiR! Was boosted by active public relations work and knowledge of the program was increased both in the Rheinland-Pfalz population and in the US military community. Highlighting the welcoming German-American living environment was the main goal of the accompanying press and public relations work. The varied program of events facilitated encounters for exchange between local Americans and helped to establish important contacts. The sustainable implementation of regular meeting formats like the German-American Stammtisch (the regular’s tables) in Ramstein, Mehlingen, Spangdahlem und Baumholder was of significant importance. At the same time, various events such as an Advent wreath workshop, a school art exhibition, city tours in Kaiserslautern, Otterberg and Ramstein-Miesenbach, a guided tour of the Fritz Walter Stadium, a Paint & Sip wine tasting or a cinema event on the topic of football in Germany were used to convey German culture and highlight regional characteristics. The dedicated partnerships between Rheinland-Pfalz schools/kindergartens and American Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools deepen the understanding between young people on both sides in Rheinland-Pfalz. In appreciation of this important contribution, 13 schools and kindergartens from the regions West Palatinate (Ramstein/Kaiserslautern), Baumholder and Spangdahlem received a special award during a ceremony with State Secretary Nicole Steingaß and Ramstein Air Base Commander Brig. Gen. Otis Jones the title of "WiR! School" and "WiR! Kindergarten" for the 2023/24 school year. The importance of the WiR! online offering on social media as interactive and informative orientation platforms for US military personnel in Rheinland-Pfalz was ensured by means of an appealing design as well as expert and targeted support/moderation by the coordinator.

The Atlantic Academy had 5 employees in 2023. Apart from three weeks in the spring, our internship position was continuously filled, and the position is already largely filled in the current year.

The internship as part of the Rheinland-Pfalz Transatlantic Ambassador Internship Program (RP TAIP), which we run jointly with the State Chancellery of Rheinland-Pfalz and the U.S. Forces Liaison Office, was continued in 2023. Jason Hosner, a student at the Center for German and European Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, joined our team from May 30 to June 25^, 2023. More information about the program and the RP TAIP graduate can be found on our website.

As in previous years, the AA employees‘ expert reports continued to receive media attention in 2023. The AA employees gave a total of 26 interviews. They are divided into the following categories:

• Print: 5 (e.g. Rheinpfalz, dpa, gmx/web.de)
• Radio: 18 (e.g., SWR, SRF, RPR, NDR Info)
• Podcasts: 1 (Aspen Germany)
• TV: 2 (Phoenix and SWR)

A detailed list of publications, lectures, and conference contributions by our employees can be found on the website of the AA at https://www.atlantische-akademie.de/akademie/team.

The volatile situation in transatlantic relations in terms of domestic, foreign and security policy has a direct impact on the AA program. These include the domestic political disputes in the highly polarized US Congress, Russia's ongoing aggression in Ukraine, Israel's war against Hamas and the congressional and presidential elections in November 2024.

We will be offering these and many other topics from politics, business, art, and culture in our various event series. The “Summer School 2024“, our flagship event, is once again part of the program, as are the Atlantic Wine Summer, the DGfA conference and an election evening on November 5th.

In total, we have 6 workshop topics and 97 projects planned:

• 9 Series, 6 Atlantic Forums
• Summer School 2024, 27th Atlantic Summer and DGfA Conference
• 39 projects + 20 workshops financed by funds from the Federal Foreign Office
• 19 projects financed by fund from the US Embassy

The AA’s range of events in the 2024 annual plan is also a mix of in-person, hybrid, and online events. Experience shows that this is best suited to the changing participation behavior of the population.[1] And so we can once again offer an exciting and varied program in 2024 and look forward to welcoming you in large numbers.

[1] The volatility in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic means that we are continuing to plan our projects for the year with the greatest possible flexibility in terms of time and location. For this reason, the overview of planned projects often does not include specific dates and venues.