AJC, Adenauer Foundation Celebrate 30 Years of American Jewish - German Dialogue

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May 17, 2010, 09:47 ET

BERLIN, May 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation will celebrate this week the 30th anniversary of their pioneering exchange program at a gala event in Berlin. It is the longest running cooperative project between a German political foundation and an American Jewish organization.

"Vital to reconciliation and understanding between American Jewish leaders and their German counterparts has been our partnership with the Adenauer Foundation," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "This exchange program paved the way for a relationship built on mutual trust and shared democratic values, and has become a model of what once seemed an improbable, if not impossible, friendship."

The Adenauer-AJC Exchange developed amidst extensive AJC involvement with Germany that began soon after World War II. AJC was the first Jewish organization to reach out to post-war Germany, believing that a new, democratic Germany should be asked to acknowledge the past, recognize its obligation to the Jewish people, and help sustain the new State of Israel.

The exchange program has produced hundreds of ambassadors for German-Jewish relations on both sides of the Atlantic, touched thousands more, and earned the praise of Germany's highest officials.

"You have made a valuable contribution towards rebuilding a relationship which was almost destroyed as a result of the Holocaust," German Chancellor Angela Merkel wrote recently in a letter on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the exchange program. "This program was one of many elements intended to further consolidate German democracy, which is founded on human rights and committed to protecting freedom. Both the German and the American program participants have often said that their experiences during the exchange change their lives."

Referring to this year's 20th anniversary of German unification, Merkel wrote, "It is worth remembering that, in 1990, the American Jewish Committee was the first Jewish organization to wholeheartedly welcome German unity, thus signaling its confidence in a united Germany. That certainly could not be taken for granted, and I would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support."

American Jewish participants in the exchange program, during their weeklong visits to Germany, engage German political and civic leaders in discussions regarding German-Israel relations, the threat of anti-Semitism and U.S.– German relations. The German participants travel to New York, Washington and other cities for similar conversations.

The exchange program is one of a number of AJC initiatives engaging different sectors of German society. In 1998, AJC became the first American Jewish organization to open a permanent office in Berlin.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee