Category Archives: Events

Repeat Webinar: Four Years of War Against Ukraine – Where Do We Stand?

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Due to the popular demand of her Feb. 24th webinar, Dr. Ludwig is offering a repeat session of her talk on the Ukraine War for all those who could not attend on that date. Those who did attend and would like to ask more questions are welcome to participate again for the Q&A. 

February 24 marked the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, escalating a conflict that began in 2014.

Many people, including Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, seem convinced that Ukraine is losing the war. Are they correct?

Free Repeat Webinar 
Four Years of War Against Ukraine: Where Do We Stand? 

Wednesday, April 15 
3 p.m. (Eastern time) 

After briefly reviewing the events of the past four years, we’ll discuss the current situation on the front lines and in the rear for both sides. What are their strategies, and are they successful? Then, we’ll talk about the so-called peace negotiations of the past year. Will Ukraine (have to) accept a dictated peace deal? Where do things stand, and what options are available? How are other actors, such as the U.S., the E.U. and China, positioning themselves?

This lecture will be complemented with maps and visuals. An extensive Q&A session will follow. No prior political or military knowledge is needed.

Please register by Monday, April 13. The Zoom link will be included in your confirmation email.

Faculty:
Janine Ludwig is the academic director of Dickinson’s Bremen program, a literary scholar, the vice head of the Institute for Cultural German Studies (ifkud) at the University of Bremen and the chairwoman of the International Heiner Müller Society. Ludwig studied contemporary German literature, philosophy and theater studies/cultural communication. She is an expert on East German and postwar literature and has published seven books and 50 articles on Heiner Müller, images of America, socialism, the Cold War, migrants’ literature, rock music, German national anthems, theater, women’s literature, poetry, medievalism and more.

Ludwig teaches at Dickinson and in the Departments of Cultural and German Studies at Uni Bremen. Recently, she has given several talks on Russia, Putin and the war against Ukraine for Dickinson, Hope College and the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle.

Click here to get to the website to register for the event.
(Link: https://engage.dickinson.edu/index.cfm/events:register/home/eventId/24132)

Bowling with the German American Club

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In February, the Carl Schurz German American Club hosted its semi-annual bowling event to welcome our new Dickinson students in Bremen. We played three fun rounds of bowling before concluding the evening with a delicious Burger meal. Thank you to Jens and the German American Club for organizing this fun event and welcoming our students so warmly to Bremen.

Click here for the article by the Carl Schurz German American Club about the event (in German).

“What now, USA? What now, Germany? What now, Donald Trump?” – Attending the German American Business Lunch

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End of January, we attended the German American Business-Lunch, hosted by the Carl Schurz German American Club under the headline “What now, USA? What now, Germany? What now, Donald Trump?”

The guest lecture at the business lunch was delivered by Dr. Christoph von Marschall, Diplomatic Correspondent of the editorial board of Der Tagesspiegel, a German daily newspaper. During the talk, Dr. von Marschall analyzed the challenges facing German
politics during Donald Trump’s second term in office.

After the talk, Dr. von Marschall took the time to sit down with our students to talk as well as answer any questions our students had.

We would like to thank Dr. von Marschall for his time as well as the German American Club for organizing this interesting event.

Fröhliche Weihnachten

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Merry Christmas and a happy New Year from us to all of you! 

We concluded the year with our annual Christmas Celebrations, during which we packed Christmas bags as part of the Christmas bag campaign by Stiftung Solidarität Ukraine (Solidarity Ukraine Foundation) for children in Ukraine, decorated a ginger bread house and drank and ate lots of punsch, ginger bread and Christmas cookies. 

We are looking forward to all the things the new year will bring and are wishing a Merry Christmas to everyone that is celebrating, as well as a great winter break and a Happy New Year to all of you!

Or, as we say in German: “Einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr!” (literally meaning “A good slip/ slide into the New Year”). This is how we are wishing a Happy New Year before Midnight on the 31st of December – you will hear people saying this already as early as mid December, usually in combination with Merry Christmas then, and especially between Christmas and New Years Eve.

 After midnight on the 31st of December, once it is already January 1st, we say “Frohes Neues” (“Happy New Year”).

Berlin Excursion: favorite moments

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by Kate Elmes ’27 and Haley Henderson ’27

Meeting B.K. Tragelehn and his wife at their apartment in Berlin. ©Alex Arnold

The whole trip was so much fun but my favorite part by far was the afternoon chat our group had with B.K. Tragelehn. He was so cool to speak with and such an interesting person. It was also great getting the chance to meet/catch up with alumni of the program! We had tons of events planned for us, but still had free time built into the schedule; I used mine to get some souvenirs of the city and see a few museums. by Kate Elmes ’27

Our annual Alumni-Event at the Dachkammer in Berlin. ©Antonia Gabler

I absolutely loved our group excursion to Berlin. I had a wonderful time getting to immerse myself into the city with everyone. I was delighted to get the chance to see alumni that had previously done the Dickinson in Germany program. My favorite activity was most definitely Monsterkabinett! The music and animatronics were so uniquely Berlin, I was really glad to have gotten to experience it. Learning about the history of Berlin was also really important to me, so getting to visit a new museum every day didn’t disappoint! I’d love to revisit the city, and I’m very excited for future excursions within the program! by Haley Henderson ’27

No pictures were allowed inside the facilities, but here is a picture of some of the postcards we bought afterwards.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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On Saturday, we enjoyed a festive Thanksgiving Dinner, hosted by the Carl Schurz German American Club.

©Deike Meyer
©Antonia Gabler

The Dinner took place in the Havana Lounge in Bremen. After welcome speeches by Club President Ulf-Brün Drechsel and special guest Prof. Dr. Wiebke Ahrndt (Director of the Overseas Museum in Bremen), it was time to cut the turkey.

Prof. Dr. Wiebke Ahrndt and President Ulf-Brün Drechsel cutting the Turkey. ©Deike Meyer

We then enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, which was afterwards rounded off with a slice of apple pie.

©Antonia Gabler
©Antonia Gabler

We would like to thank the Carl Schurz German American Club for the invitation and for hosting this special event.

Globale Literature Festival 2025

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by Janine Ludwig

From October 27 to November 2, 2025, Bremen’s renowned annual international Festival for Border-Crossing Literature called Globale took place. We had the honor of being invited to the opening night, a festive event in the Town Hall.

Afterwards, we listened to a reading of excerpts from David Safier’s book Die Liebe sucht in Zimmer (Love in Search for a Room) by the famous actress Anna Thalbach, intermingled with Uni Bremen’s Prof. Dr. Karen Struve interviewing the author to explain the complex and captivating story of his book. Our students were able to obtain a signed copy afterwards.

During the subsequent festive reception, our Dickinson students met several interesting people, including a group of Ukrainian students from Odesa, who were attending a research week at the Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen and who invited our students for a joint dinner the next evening.

Many fascinating events, readings, and talks followed throughout the week, including, on Oct 29, a talk by Dr. Oxana Matiychuk with the title “Literature in/From the War: A Report from Chernivtsi,” which was introduced by Prof. Dr. Susanne Schattenberg, head of the Research Center for Eastern Europe.

On Nov 1, a discussion was held between Heike Paul and Marcel Dirsus (author of How Tyrants Fall: And How Nations Survive) on: “Looking West: On the Current Situation in the United States.”

Marcel Dirsus (left), interviewed by Heike Paul

The same day, a reading (with interview) of Dmitrij Kapitelman’s Russische Spezialitäten (Russian Specialties) explored the heartbreaking attempt of a Ukrainian German from Kyiv, who grew up in Leipzig, to convince his own mother—who lives safely in Germany and has been taken in by Russian propaganda—that it is Putin who is attacking Ukraine, not the other way around.

German Ukrainian author Dmitrij Kapitelman (right), interviewed by Klaas Anders

This wonderful literature festival has been founded and run for a long time by Libuše Černa. Last year, she handed over to a young team, led by Tatjana Vogel and Daniel Schmidt, who was an exchange student from the University of Bremen at Dickinson College a few years ago.

 

Tour through the Haus der Bürgerschaft – the seat of Bremen’s State Parliament

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During our Orientationweek, our students also had the change to participate in an exclusive tour through the Haus der Bürgerschaft, organized by the International Office of the University of Bremen.

from left to right: Alex, Kate and Haley

On 9th September 1966, the Haus der Bürgerschaft was inaugurated as the seat of the Bremen Parliament (Bremische Bürgerschaft). The state parliament of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen still meets here today and passes or amends laws for Bremen and Bremerhaven. (Source)

During the tour, our students learned more about the architecture and history of the building, as well as about Bremen’s state parliament.

If you want to find out more about Bremen’s State Parliament, find more information about it here in English or in German.

We would like to thank the International Office for organizing this tour!