December /2019
  AlabamaGermany Partnership   
1900 International Park Drive, Suite 105     Birmingham   AL 35243

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In This Issue
AGP Welcome New Board Members
AGP Stammtisch
Save the Date
SWJ Technology Breaks Ground
W.I.L.D Weekend
Cullman's Weihnachtspyramide
ArtBreak

Dankeschön to our PATRON Members:





 
 
Mercedes

  
 





 


What to do in Alabama

December 1-31
Oneonta

December 2-13
Selma

December 3
Northport

December 7
Holiday Market 
and Whisky Tasting
Huntsville

December 7
Dothan

December 14
Huntsville

December 31- January 1
Downtown Countdown
Dothan

Please note that the dates are shared to the best of our knowledge.
If you plan to attend any of the events - please make sure to check information directly with the host of the event. Thank you!  

Save the Date
AGP's New Members

Dankeschön to our SUSTAINING Members:


 


     


 
   








   
Events & Seminars Offered by AGP Members
AGP
Executive Committee
AGP Resources
Contact Us
Join Our List
AGP Welcome New Board Members
 
At the AlabamaGermany Partnership board meeting on November 7, in Birmingham, the board approved two nominations to the Executive Committee and the addition of eight new board members.

The following new officers will serve on AGP's Executive Committee: 

VP Culture
Dr. Traci O'Brien
Auburn University

Secretary
Randy Rogers
Evonik Corporation

AGP welcomes eight new members to the Board of Directors: 


Please help us welcome following new directors for our board from the left: 
  • Leticia Rocco, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International
  • Pauline Langemann, AGP Young Professional Chair
  • Dr. Regina Range, The University of Alabama
  • Fred McCallum, Birmingham Business Alliance
  • Judith Adams, Alabama State Port Authority
  • Lauren Lambiase, Alabama Power
  • Justin Rummer, Bocar US. 

Not present in picture: 
  • Kelly Nelson, Rausch & Pausch LP

Click Here to See AGP's Board of Officers and Directors.

AGP Stammtisch


Join us for our monthly AGP "Stammtisch":

Tuesday, December 3
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Brät Brot, Birmingham

What does "Stammtisch" mean? A Stammtisch is an informal group meeting held on a regular basis, and also the usually large table around which the group meets. A Stammtisch is not a structured meeting, but rather a friendly and casual get-together.

This is a great opportunity for German expats to meet and for other German speaking/practicing to improve your German. Speaking German is encouraged but not required. We meet every first Tuesday of the month.

SAVE THE DATE for AGP 22nd Annual Celebration Dinner
Article Subheading
 
Save the Date for AGP's 22nd Annual Celebration Dinner:

Wednesday, March 4, 2020 
5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville

Traditionally, 250-280 industrial, cultural, educational and governmental leaders attend the AGP Annual Celebration Event. Sponsorship registration is open - click here for more information and to sponsor. 

We hope you will make plans to join us! Registration will open soon. 
 
SWJ Technology Groundbreaking on New NAFTA Headquarters at the Alberta Technology Center in Tuscaloosa
 
Press Release by SWJ TECHNOLOGY LLC
 

On November 8th 2019, SWJ TECHNOLOGY LLC, a German based Engineering, Planning & Project Management company, will celebrate the groundbreaking of its New State-of-the-Art "Alberta Technology Center" located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. The Alberta Technology Center will be the NAFTA Headquarters for SWJ's unparalleled engineering services and operations which SWJ delivers to Automotive OEM's and their Suppliers throughout the
United States and Mexico.

The Alberta Technology Center will not only host SWJ's NAFTA Headquarters, but it will offer varioustraining opportunities, rapid prototyping, measurement services and assembly processes for innovative special tools, equipment and handhelds which support and integrate into manufacturing operations. At the Alberta Technology Center, SWJ will expand its footprint in online systems, providing value-added technologies to SWJ's traditional industrial engineering services.

 
W.I.L.D. Weekend
 
By Chase Trautwein, German Instructor 



High school students recently participated in WILD Weekend at the 4-H Center in Columbiana, where they spoke only German for the whole weekend. WILD stands for "Weekend Immersed in Language Development" and helps students feel more confident in their German proficiency through fun camp activities. By signing a contract to speak only German from Friday night until Sunday afternoon, students are challenged to improve their German speaking and listening skills through Olympic games, learning dances, singing campfire songs, and interacting with their peers in a non-threatening, immersion environment.

WILD Weekend is sponsored by the Alabama World Languages Education Foundation (AWLEF) the Alabama World Languages Association (AWLA), the Alabama chapter of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF), and the Alabama Germany Partnership (AGP). AGP generously sponsored up to 20 German students and reduced the cost from $110 to $75, allowing students a more affordable learning experience. 

Students were grateful for AGP's support and expressed their thanks in letters:

"I am thankful for AGP supporting WILD this weekend as it allowed me to practice my German even after finishing my language classes in high school."  - Tinamarie

"I was able to practice my German without leaving the country and was with many able-bodied teachers and other students." 
- Morganne

"Without your donation I am not sure this weekend would have been possible."  -Kaitie

WILD Weekend started in 2004 and is open to any high school student in Alabama who has completed at least one year of German. High school German teachers are encouraged to inform their students about this unique language immersion experience.  

Cullman's Weihnachtspyramide
By W.C. Mann for The Cullman Tribune

Cullman is now home to the country's tallest Weihnachtspyramide, thanks to months of planning by the Cullman City Council and Cullman Parks, Recreation & Sports Tourism, and the handiwork of German company Erzgebirgiisehe Holzkunst Gahlenz in the German village of Gahlenz. Three men from the company, Tobias Fritzsch, Matthias Schiebold and Andreas Hausmann, traveled to Cullman this week to install the intricately-crafted 30-foot-fall symbol of Cullman's German heritage.
 
The Weihnachtspyramide is a traditional German Christmas season decoration known in English as a "Christmas pyramid." 

"I believe the Christmas pyramid is a great way to honor our German heritage," said Mayor Woody Jacobs. "I like that it's handcrafted, from Germany. It's very pretty and will be a great addition to our other downtown Christmas decorations."

 
ArtBreak - German Expressionist Artist Käthe Kollwitz
By Kristen Pignuolo, Birmingham Museum of Art
 
Käthe Kollwitz was one of the most important German artists that worked during the early twentieth century. She is primarily known for her portrayals of the German working class and the realities of war, working in a range of mediums from painting and sculpture to etching and lithography. Kollwitz was a staunch opponent of the Nazi government. As a result, she was stripped of her position at the Prussian Academy of Arts, forbidden from exhibiting her art, and had her work included in the infamous 1937 Degenerate Art exhibition in Munich intended to ridicule artists of which the Nazi regime disapproved. Unfortunately, Kollwitz's house in Berlin was  bombed in 1943 and much of her work was lost. Kollwitz died of heart failure just sixteen days before the end of the war. Of Kollwitz's surviving works, the Birmingham Museum of Art (BMA) has three in its collection: Tod, Frau und Kind (1910), Selbstbildnis (1919), and Beim Dengeln (1921).

As the 2018-2019 Goodrich Intern at the BMA, I had the opportunity to study Kollwitz's works in the BMA's collection. With European Art curator Robert Schindler, I researched the etching processes Kollwitz used to create her etching Tod, Frau und Kind (1910), which depicts a mother clutching her unconscious child as Death looms in the corner over them. We found that Kollwitz used a combination of different techniques to convey the message of this dramatic and emotionally arresting image: soft-ground etching, dry point, and an emery stone. This print is a powerful example of Kollwitz's often deeply personal work that shows why she is regarded today as one of the most innovative and creative printmakers of her time.

Two works by Kollwitz are currently on view in the Birmingham Museum of Art's  Bohorfoush Gallery as part of Ways of Seeing: Portraiture, the third installment of the BMA's Ways of Seeing series on view until March 8, 2020.