mmf at 25: reflections on a transatlantic legacy
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8/8/2019 MMF at 25: Reflections on a Transatlantic Legacy
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MMF AT 25:REFLECTIONS
ON ATRANSATLANTICLEGACY
MarshallMemorial
Fellowship
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i n t r o d u c t i o n E
stablished in 1982, the Marshall
Memorial Fellowship (MMF)was created by the German MarshallFund (GMF) to introduce a newgeneration o European leaders toAmerica’s institutions, politics, and
people. In 1999, GMF launched acompanion program to expose utureU.S. leaders to a changing andexpanding Europe. Over the program’s
rst 25 years, MMF has attracted over
1,500 o the best and brightest romall sectors, including politics, media,business, and nongovernmentalorganizations.
MMF: Refections on a Transatlantic
Legacy is a collection o remembrancesrom Marshall Memorial Fellows and
program coordinators celebratingthe rst 25 years o the program.The unique experience o the MMF
program has had a positive impact onthe lives and careers o these Fellows,and GMF would like to thank thecontributors to the project and allo our Marshall Memorial Fellows
or making this program success ul.It is our distinct pleasure to share thesestories o that success.
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t H E P r E S i d E n t
L E T T
E R F R O M
In 1982, the German MarshallFund brought its rst group
o Marshall Memorial Fellows— a cohort o nine rom
Germany — to the United
States. The ollowing year, Denmark,France, and the Netherlands were added to the program,
giving the program a more European identity and giving
GMF a wider presence. The MMF program continued to
grow and develop, and as democracy swept across EasternEurope in the early 1990s, MMF expanded to Poland,Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia in quick
succession. This gave GMF the singular opportunity to
expose the leaders o these newly democratic states tothe United States and the transatlantic relationship. The
development o the MMF program has continued as the
European Union has grown and the de nition o Europehas changed. The recent expansion o MMF to the
Western Balkans and Turkey refects GMF’s commitmentto a wide and inclusive Europe, o which we are proud.
American Fellows’ inclusion in the program since 1999
has bene ted GMF and the MMF program tremendously.
Sending 50 or more young American leaders across
the Atlantic each year has allowed us to strengthen ourrelationships with partners throughout Europe and gain
a oothold in communities across the United States asthese Fellows come home to have a positive impact on
their hometowns and regions.
Twenty- ve years a ter the ounding o the MarshallMemorial Fellowship program, we now have a network
o nearly 1,500 Fellows rom across Europe and theUnited States. This network o leaders — representing
the best and brightest in government, politics, business,
journalism, and the nonpro t sector — continues togrow and thrive. The program’s impact is widespread
as MMFs have gone on to become prime ministers,
members o European and national parliaments,
directors o major oundations and nonpro tinstitutions, and executives in corporations both largeand small. We hope that their leadership has been
positively infuenced by their transatlantic experience,
and we look orward to the uture accomplishments o our Fellows.
We at GMF are pleased to celebrate the rst 25 years o
the Marshall Memorial Fellowship program, and this
book is a unique opportunity to refect on the MMFprogram’s impact on the lives and careers o many o the
nest leaders throughout Europe and the United States.Congratulations to the Fellows, partners, and sta who
have made this program a success since 1982.
Craig Kennedy
President
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c o n t E n t SdAN dIONISIE:ROMANIA 1998
ANdRé dE MARGERIE:FRANCE 1987
jOSE LEMOS:pORTuGAL 1989
pARTICIpATING COuNTRIES
dObROSLAw ROdzIEwICz: pOLANd 1997
dAN SChENk:MMF pROGRAM COORdINATOR, pIERRE, Sd 7
EvRIpIdIS STYLIANIdIS:GREECE 2002
NOTAbLE FELLOwS
hARTwIG vON SChubERT: GERMANY 1983
jEAN-ChRISTphE bAS:FRANCE 1991
kLAuS FRANdSEN:dENMARk 1995
bERTRANd bAdRE:FRANCE 1998
ELEANOR COOpER:MMF pROGRAM COORdINATOR, ChATTANOOGA, TN 14
pOuL MAdSEN:dENMARk 1996
FRIEdbERT pFLüGER:GERMANY 1982
pARTICIpATING CITIES
SAvA ChISER:ROMANIA 1999
SOkOL dERvIShAj:ALbANIA 2006
NIkE IRvIN:uSA 2002
RAFAELLA MENIChINI:ITALY 2003
hANS-jüRGEN bEERFELTz:GERMANY 1985
INEz dENTINhO:pORTuGAL 1993
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Hosting Marshall Memorial Fellows
in Pierre, South Dakota, has allowedus to step outside the routines
o our daily lives and lets us questionour place in the context o being both Americans and citizens o the world.
— Dan Schenk MMF Program Coordinator
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1
h o m e c o u n t r y
t r a v e l y e a r
r
o m a n i a
1 9 9 8
Summer 2006 European Fellows visit the Martin Luther King, Jr., NationalHistoric Site in Atlanta, Georgia
M y rst contact with the United States was throughGMF, when I was part o the rst group o
Romanians and Bulgarians to take part in the MMFprogram. The strongest impression rom my experience
in the U.S. is the entrenched reedom. I have seen in
some other countries what I call entrenched wealth,accumulated or centuries like geologic layers, which
cannot erode even in di cult times. In others, I saw
entrenched poverty, the kind that cannot be wiped out
even in relatively prosperous times. In the U.S., I had analmost physical sensation o entrenched reedom, whichis rooted so deeply in people’s minds or generations, in
their arti acts and in their nature.
The very concept o the MMF program only contributed
to this sensation o reedom. We had a signi cant degreeo liberty in shaping a program according to our
interests, had rented cars to drive around,
and were responsible or managing ourtime, all without unnecessary ormalities and
paperwork. This is a power ul concept thatcaptivates and bonds people and is a hallmark
o the MMF experience.
dan d on s ePolicy Analyst un te Nat ons de elo ment program
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h o m e c o u n t r y
t r a v e l y e a
r
F r a
n c E 1 9 8 7
European Fellows visitingCNN Headquartersin Atlanta, Georgia
From my MMF trip, I vividly recall on one hand ahomeless woman in Atlanta who wanted to come
to Europe with us, and on the other hand the projects,energy, sel -con dence, and dedication o the people
we met.
What was — and remains — o interest to me was the
discovery o a heterogeneous country with a similarly heterogeneous group o Europeans. GMF gave me the
opportunity to understand and experience that Europe
is not a single entity. In a sense, I have learned as muchabout Europe and Europeans as about the United States
and Americans.
An r e Marger eDirector of International RelationsARTE France
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h o m e c o u n t r y
t r a v e l y e a
r
P o
r t u
g a l 1 9 8 9First, there was music, then movies, and then politics.
Then came GMF, and nally America was a dream
that came true.
I had been ascinated with America since I was a
youngster, a ascination that came mostly rom my passion or jazz and American cinema. The United
States was by then the country o alternative cultures, soclose yet so ar away. Later, when I became a journalist, I
covered events in the U.S., but never went beyond New
York and Washington. Everybody who knew Americakept telling me that America was not exactly New York or
Washington. But that is something I only experiencedthanks to GMF.
In that distant year o 1989 — the year o every change,the year in which the 20th century “ended” — I will
never orget that I ollowed the crisis o TiananmenSquare rom Yellowstone National Park and in tiny
Pocatello, Idaho. There I was in my beloved America, in
the unknown, watching the events o the world throughthe eyes o American reporters. Watching it along with a
group o Europeans rom di erent countries,
many o them journalists
like me, was even better.
The MMF program enabled me to meet real America, tomeet di erent hearts and minds rom di erent regions
and cultures. From that attorney in Providence, RhodeIsland, whose grand ather had emigrated rom Ukraine
at the beginning o the 20th century to the persistent
armers in Ohio who made me give a speech or a crowdat a school party, getting to know America better allowed
me to know Europe and the world better.
Since that distant year o 1989, the MMF program has
made me eel like a citizen o the world.
jose LemosEditor RTp port gal
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c o
u n t r i E S
p A R T I C I p A T I N G
PORTUGAL
UNITED STATES
Albania 2 2006Bosnia/Herzegovinia 1 2006Bulgaria 34 1998Croatia 1 2006Czech Republic 34 1995Denmark 96 1983France 113 1983Germany 296 1982Greece 20 2000Hungary 64 1990
Italy 17 2000Macedonia 2 2006Montenegro 1 2006 The Netherlands 98 1983Poland 76 1990Portugal 68 1988Romania 35 1998Serbia (incl. Kosovo) 5 2006Slovakia 30 1995Spain 93 1985
Turkey 4 2007United States 346 1999
MMF No. of FirstCountry Fellows Year
Over the years, MMF has invited more than 1500 ellows
to experience the business and culture o other countries.
As o this writing, these are the countries that haveparticipated.
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ITALY
FRANCE
DENMARK
THENETHERLANDS
ALBANIA
MONT.
GREECE
GERMANY POLAND
SPAIN
SLOVOKIA
CROATIA
SERBIA
MACEDONIA
BOSNIA
HERZ.
BULGARIA
TURKEY
ROMANIA
CZECHREPUBLIC
HUNGARY
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h o m e c o u n t r y
t r a v e l y e a
r
P o l a n d
1 9 9 7
European Fellows learnabout eco-tourism inAnchorage, Alaska
M y MMF trip has been recorded in my memory as a unique combination o impressions and
experiences, rom everyday exposure to Americancivilization and way o li e, to a great number o meetings
with scholars, politicians, NGO activists, American
amilies that were our hosts, and those spontaneouschats with strangers met by chance. Did I pro essionally
bene t rom that rst-hand and pro ound American
experience? Because o my GMF-sponsored trips
to the United States, I dared to write (with a co-author, Slawomir Kardas) a book titled “Amerykadla Polaka” (“America or the Polish”) that was
published in April 2006. It hasn’t become a
best-seller — with about 2000 copies sold so ar— but working on it was great un, and I like to
believe that it was my modest contribution tocloser transatlantic relations.
do rosla Ro e cPresident, Board of DirectorsRa o kra o
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c o o r d i n a t o r
m m F P r o g r a m
h osting Marshall Memorial Fellows in Pierre, SouthDakota, has allowed us to step outside the routines
o our daily lives and lets us question our place in thecontext o being both Americans and citizens o the
world. The Fellows have given me a great opportunity
to see how others view us and have challenged many o my notions. Over the years I have marveled at their
curiosity and intellect as well as their accomplishments:
the young woman rom the newly emerging Eastern Bloc
country who learned almost per ect English by watchingSesame Street; the up-and-coming politicians who goon to become “players” in their countries; and the media
types who show great curiosity in the stories behind
the stories. They have swum across the Missouri River,ridden horses, rounded up bu alo, red guns, visited
Indian Reservations, attended small-town Fourth o July
celebrations, walked in parades, watched rodeos, andvisited Mt. Rushmore. They have discussed the hard
li e o ranchers and armers trying to live on the land,and have seen rst-hand the di culties o providing
medical and educational services to ew people spread
out over vast areas.
While the ormal side o the GMF experience —the meetings and interviews — is the genius o the
program, giving them access to sources that ew
citizens could have, it is the human contacts that they carry back with them and recall in later years. That
is why I truly have enjoyed this program and every Fellow we have ever met.
dan Sc enp erre, So t da ota
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g r E E c E 2 0 0 2
h o m e c o u n t r y
t r a v e l y e a r On the occasion o the 25th anniversary o
the Marshall Memorial Fellowship, let me
rst congratulate GMF on its initiatives aimed atstrengthening transatlantic relations and developing
dialogue among leaders rom both the United States
and Europe.
I participated in the MMF Program in February 2002.This program gave me the chance not only to broaden
my knowledge but also to make new acquaintances
and meet interesting people rom all over the world.
It is always a great pleasure to see Fellows withdistinguished careers as policymakers or leading
experts. For me, as Greece’s Deputy Minister or Foreign
A airs, I eel that the experience and knowledge gainedthrough the MMF program became signi cant tools o
inspiration, helping me bring a more modern perspectiveto policymaking and political decisions.
E r s Styl an sDeputy Minister M n stry o Fore gn A a rs
Elizabeth Phocas (Greece), Dakota Korth (GMF), Neil Sumilas (GMF), & Paul Ortega (Spain) at the 2006 MMFPartners Meeting in Berlin
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n o t a b l E F E l l o w S
9
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h o m e c o u
n t r y
t r a v e l y e a r
g
E r m
a n y 1 9 8 3 It was 1983, I was in my early 30s and
had just started working as a minister
in a local congregation in one o the twored-light districts in Hamburg. It started
with a phone call rom the secretary o
Grä n Marion Dönho rom the weekly Die Zeit: “Grä n Dönho would like to meet
you about a ellowship program in the United
States next year.” “What kind o ellowship
program?” “Oh, you don’t know? Well, thenthe best way to learn is to come speak withGrä n Dönho .” A ter I shared my story with
Grä n Dönho , she decided to nominate me to
participate. As the rst theologian MMF, I had todevelop my program almost entirely on my own;
I ocused on inner-city parish programs in largeAmerican cities and — without Google — started
nding names and addresses.
It turned out to be quite success ul, as I had the
opportunity to observe the spiritual and social activitieso churches all across the country. I was most impressed
by the pragmatic and direct approach o neighborhoods,
which ound sometimes intriguing solutions or their
problems without waiting or outside assistance. Overthe years I have been able to build on these experiences
through research on social ethics, rst in biomedicineand more recently in peace and security a airs.
hart g on Sc ertDeaconjo nt Sta College o t e
German Arme Forces
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h o m e c o u
n t r y
t r a v e l y e a r
F r a n c E 1 9 9 1
US Congressman Adam Smith (center)speaking with Chris Rabb (AMMF 2001)at the 2006 Seattle MMF Alumni Conference
w hat struck me the most was the diversity o theUnited States, how contrasted it was. My itinerary
took me to North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and otherparts o the country, giving me a chance to meet and
understand what is “real America,” including how people
think and how people live. Many o them told us that wewere the rst Europeans they had met. Almost all o them
told us that we were seeing more o their own country
than they ever had. Yet all were anxious to gure out our
vision o the world, what this “new” Europe was about,and to know more about us.
The open and continuous fow o ideas, theappetite or exchange o in ormation, the
capacity to combine the most provincial
and most innovative thinking, and thewillingness to engage all stakeholders in the
debate remain with me to this day.
jean-C r sto e basDevelopment Policy DialogueManager T e worl ban
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h o m e c o u
n t r y
t r a v e l y e a r
d E n m
a r k 1 9 9 5 The MMF program is one o li e’s great
experiences. It is rare to experience another
country with such intensity.
During the program, I relished the opportunities: the
individual meetings with people at the peak o theirpro essions; the dynamics o a group o Europeans,
among them many who were ar more skeptical towardsthe U.S. than I was; the more socially ocused visits at a
soup kitchen; the police beat; the city council meeting
where the underlying social dilemmas o the Americanmodel were magni ed.
kla s Fran senDirector, Corporate Development pbS hol ng
European Fellows in Phoenix, AZ with local police (before theirpolice ride-a-long)
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h o m e c o u
n t r y
t r a v e l y e a r
F r a n c E 1 9 9 8To say that my MMF experience was memorable
would be — by ar — an understatement. There
is undoubtedly an “a ter” as there was a “be ore” theew weeks I spent in the United States with my ellow
Europeans.
From attending a Packers game in Green Bay with the
“Cheeseheads” to a meeting with the CEO o Bank o America, rom being the only one in the room without
a star on my suit among a group o generals at the
National De ense University to debating the relativemerits o the American and European social models over
beers, the individual moments mad e the tripun orgettable.
The GMF space — built with patience andcontinuity — has become one o the
rare places where riendshipand intelligence, despite the
ocean, marry well. I am glad
to have been a best man at thewedding party!
bertran ba reManaging Director
La ar Frères
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c o o r d i n a t o r
m m F P r o g r a m
Our community o Chattanooga, Tennessee, hashosted Fellows once or twice a year or ten years.
I can honestly say that we learn as much rom theEuropeans as they learn rom us. The conversations have
increased in intensity since the inclusion o the East
European countries.
In March 2004, we hosted a group o Fellows rom Italy,Bulgaria, Hungary, Denmark, Poland, and Germany. The
Fellows met with some A rican-American members o
the Rainbow PUSH Coalition about civil rights issues inChattanooga. The newspaper article about the visit was
titled “Europeans Learn o Chattanooga Race Relations,”but the conversation revealed much more than that.
Johnny Halloway o Chattanooga explained his reasonsor reparations. He demanded that the government
pay A rican-Americans or the labor o their ancestorsand repay them or past injustices such as lynching and
segregation.
“You’ve got to get past that,” said Robert Kowalski o
Poland. “A ter 50 years under Communism, we decidedwe could not change the past. We ound we must move
orward.” Lessons learned — on both sides!
One o the best parts o the Fellows’ visits to Chattanooga
is the opportunity to stay in homes. Fellows coming toChattanooga straight rom Washington, DC, are usually
quite anxious about meeting their hosts, and the hostsare equally nervous! They are going to share their home
with a stranger rom another country, and the anxiety on both sides is high. Three days later, I hear the laughter
and the tales o unny things that have happened — you
would think they had known each other or years.
Throughout the program — in the meetings and thehome stays, the Fellows contribute to our understanding
not just o Europe but o humanity.
Eleanor Coo erC attanooga, Tennessee
Seattle MMF Alumni
Naomi Ishisaka (2005)and Tom Albro (2002)
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“Te open and continuous fowso ideas, the appetite or exchange
o ideas, the capacity to combine themost provincial and most innovative
thinking, the willingness to engageall stakeholders in the debate —
these issues struck me and remain with me to this day.”
— Jean-Christophe Bas (France)
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h o m e c o u
n t r y
t r a v e l y e a r
d E n m
a r k 1 9 9 6 One day, I joined the Border Patrol at Del Rio, Texas,
stopping illegal immigrants rom Mexico.
The next, my French traveling companionand I ended up in a urious discussion
at the Cuban-American Society in Miami,
Florida. En route between the two states,I learned all I needed to know about the
latest developments in Slovakia rom
another ellow MMF.
The MMF program was opened my eyes— not only to the U.S., but also to my
European neighbors — especially the ones romthe eastern part o our continent. A ter six weeks
in the U.S., I suddenly understood li e in Poland,
Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.
MMF also gave me the courage and motivationto apply various aspects o my personality in my
pro essional li e, kick-starting my career back home.
It was an un orgettable experience, which continues tothis day, as I have taken advantage o the MMF network
around the world. The MMF program made me want to
see more, meet more Americans, and learn more. I havereturned to the United States several times, and I hope to
return several times more.
po l Ma senEditor-in-Chief E stra bla et
Benjamin Görlach(EMMF 2006) at theGrand Canyon in Arizona
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h o m e c o u
n t r y
t r a v e l y e a r
g
E r m
a n y 1 9 8 2As one o the rst participants o the Marshall
Memorial Fellowship Program back in 1982, I still
have vivid memories o my visit to the United States. At27, I was working or Richard von Weizsäcker, then-
mayor o Berlin who would later become Germany’s
president. He nominated me or an MMF journey thatled me across America. In Opelika, Alabama, I met
Alabama’s our-time governor George C. Wallace and
discussed his personal trans ormation rom a supportero segregation to an honest riend o A rican-Americans.
His claim that “the Old South is gone” rang true when heran or governor that year.
I was overwhelmed by the great hospitality and open-
mindedness o the Americans. The impact o these
experiences on my career has been immense: I havevisited the United States countless times and have
become a strong advocate or stronger transatlanticties. As oreign policy spokesman o the ederal
Christian Democratic parliamentary group, I joinedAngela Merkel on her trip to the United States in 2003.
Now, as opposition leader in the state parliament
o Berlin, I, along with my party, am ully aware o America’s contribution to the reedom o West Berlin
during the Cold War and o U.S. support or German
reuni cation. The United States and the MarshallMemorial Fellowship Program gave me a lot, and I
congratulate the German Marshall Fund on the 25thanniversary o its fagship program.
Fr e ert pf gerOpposition Leader berl n State parl ament
American MMFs in front ofthe Brandenburg Gate inBerlin, Germany
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c i t i E S
P a
r t i c i P a t i n g From Pittsburgh to Los Angeles, Brussels to
Bilbao, the Marshall Memorial Fellowship o ers
participants an immersion experience in their hostcountries. To accomplish this, MMF coordinators work
tirelessly to put together varied programs or the ellows.
They are united by a desire to share their cities andcultures, and to help bridge the transatlantic divide.
This is a sampling o the cities MMFs have visited on
both sides o the Atlantic.
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“In many ways, we were junior
diplomats, representing our cities, amilies, and employers...doing our best to translate
what it means to be Americanin the early 21st century.”
— Nike Irvin (USA)
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h o m e c o u n t r y
t r a v e l y e a r
r o m a n i a 1 9 9 9In my country, there is a saying, “Knowledge is the
source o sadness. As knowledge grows, the questions
increase; as the questions become numerous, man startsto be short on answers; as the answers are only ew,
happiness declines.” Fortunately, this was not the case or
me. Yes, the program made me ask a lot o questions, andI don’t have answers or all o them. But I elt no sadness
and instead I elt energized, which stayed with me
through the weeks o meetings and travel and questions.
For me, the greatest bene t o the MMF program was my new mindset about work and pursuing one’s personal
objectives. Mobility, adaptability, keeping your eyeswide open to the need or challenges — those are the
most important things I’ve learned rom the United
States. Now, as a senior consultant to the Ministry o European Integration, I seek to add a
pro-Atlantic favor to each and every strategic meeting about the uture o the European Union. At least I hope to!
Sa a C ser Senior Consultant M n stry o E ro eanIntegrat on
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Fellows in Times Square NYCIn 2006, GMF included the Western Balkans in its mapo Memorial Marshall Fellows. I eel very privileged
to have been part o the rst group o MMFs rom theregion. This program is a great opportunity to travel to
the U.S. and get a favor o this great country and, most
importantly, to engage with a variety o people, bothFellows and hosts.
I had been to the U.S. be ore this trip, but the MMF
program gave me the unique opportunity to meet with
common Americans who share the concerns o everyday li e, who do not think only about Iraq or globalization,
but also about community a airs, employment,human rights, education, health care, the rule o law,
and individual reedom. I was most impressed with
Americans’ spirit o involvement and responsibility.
By understanding America better, I could compare itwith the European values and institutions, which are
sometimes similar and sometimes very di erent. This
trip gave me a better understanding o Europe and thechallenges my country has to ace to become a respected
member o the European amily o nations.
This trip did not end when I departed rom New
York. My journey and my relationship with GMFhave just begun.
So ol der s aPolitical SpokesmanSoc al st Mo ement or Integrat on
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h o m e c o u n t r y
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u S a
2 0 0 2
The Reichstag
in Berlin, Germany
The Marshall Memorial Fellowship is like anall-access pass to the top European political,
economic, and social institutions. In many ways, wewere junior diplomats, representing our cities, amilies,
and employers, and doing our best to translate what
it means to be American in the early 21st century. TheMMF program took my European lens and stretched it
dramatically. When I came home rom my trip, I took up
a subscription to the Economist and enrolled in a Frenchclass. My appetite or all things European (not just ood!)
grew tremendously.
N e Ir nPresident T e R or an Fo n at onGMF Trustee
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i t a l y 2 0 0 3 In October 2003, I arrived in Washington to participate
in the Marshall Memorial Fellowship. The adventure
was ull o potential, and I understood that I had beengiven a great opportunity. But the experiences that the
Fellowship gave me were much more than I could have
ever imagined, and made me realize how little I knewabout America and how much I still needed to learn. I
also realized how much I needed to learn about Europe,
especially the so called “new Europe,” rom where most o my ellow MMFs came.
My re-discovery o America had begun, and has not
stopped since. The contacts and experience I gatheredduring the trip have been o great value in my career as
a oreign policy editor and reporter. In 2004, I covered
the American presidential elections or my newspaper.Thanks to the people I met during the ellowship,
I was able to meet with the major politicalcommentators at the New York Times, and Idiscovered interesting insights, suggestions, and
stories while ollowing the elections. I look orwardto other opportunities to meet GMF experts and
ellows in order to exchange our views on where
we — and the world — are going.
As or me, in the meantime I have made my ownpersonal contribution to the improvement o
transatlantic relations by marrying an American.
I’m still not entirely sure that GMF didn’tcontribute to this major transatlantic event.
Ra aella Men c nDeputy Editor La Re l ca
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Closing Dinner for the Seattle MMFAlumni Conference in the private studioof reknowned artist Dale Chihuly
As a participant in one o the very rst MarshallMemorial Fellowship programs, I look back ondly
on an extraordinary six-week trip all over the UnitedStates through which I became a riend o America,
established lasting contacts, and learned all about
American belie s and behaviors. The MMF programwas the rst o more than 40 trips I have
made to the United States or both
business and pleasure.
hans-j rgen beer eltExecutive Director Free democrat c party
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P o r t u g a l 1 9 9 3 At times during the program I elt like an American
“prisoner o my own reedom.” Everything that I
asked to do — or to know — was possible. I elt the ullorce o the American spirit, like a European immigrant
arriving to Ellis Island, with my destiny in my own hands.
I was an MMF in 1993, shortly a ter the end o the Cold
War. Nearly 15 years later, Europe is dealing with many o the issues I observed in the United States during
my Fellowship — immigration, social security, labor
mobility, health care systems, new concepts o amily,ull access to technology and communication. We are
closer, we look similar, we deal with the same problems.But we don’t always agree, such as on terrorism or the
environment. Our common needs do not always bring
us together, because o the lack o common knowledge.GMF’s quest to create avenues to
exchange that knowledgeremains a vital piece o thepuzzle.
Ine dent n o Advisor to the Mayor C ty o L s on
European Fellows meet
with Anchorage MayorMark Begich
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a n n i V E r S a r y
o u r 2 5 t H
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Throughout 2007, GMF and the network o MMFalumni will mark this occasion on both sides o
the Atlantic, including at the Marshall Forum on
Transatlantic A airs in Elmau, Germany, romJune 28–July 1, and in Atlanta, Georgia, rom
September 27–30. Join us or these and other events
to celebrate the strengthening o transatlantic bonds.Updates will be posted on our website regularly.
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a b o u t
g m F
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The German Marshall Fund o the United States(GMF) is a nonpartisan American public policy
and grantmaking institution dedicated to promotinggreater cooperation and understanding between the
United States and Europe.
GMF does this by supporting individuals and institutions
working on transatlantic issues, by convening leaders todiscuss the most pressing transatlantic themes, and by
examining ways in which transatlantic cooperation can
address a variety o global policy challenges. In addition,GMF supports a number o initiatives to strengthen
democracies.
Founded in 1972 through a gi t rom Germany as a
permanent memorial to Marshall Plan assistance, GMFmaintains a strong presence on both sides o the Atlantic.
In addition to its headquarters in Washington, DC,GMF has six o ces in Europe: Berlin, Bratislava, Paris,
Brussels, Belgrade, and Ankara.
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www.gmfus.org
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