July 2024

AGP Euro Soccer Championship Quarter Final Watch Party

Germany is through to the Quarter Finals at the UEFA EURO 2024 Soccer Championship. Germany will be playing Spain on Friday, at 11 am. We are working on a location for the watch party!

Come to the AGP watch party to support the German team! Wearing team wear is optional but highly encouraged!

AGP Traveling Stammtisch Mobile and Phenix City

Join us for our traveling Stammtisch. We hope to see you in either Mobile or Phenix City or BOTH!

In Mobile, we meet after work to network and enjoy a beverage. In Phenix City, our AGP member German Food, Gifts, and More, will serve up a German Schnitzel lunch and the opportunity to shop German goods while mingling. A great family outing.

Come out to network at our monthly "Stammtisch". This is a great opportunity for German expats to meet and for other German-speaking/practicing to improve their German. Speaking German is encouraged but not required.

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.

 Thursday, July 10, 2024

5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The Wingman Brewing Company

Mobile

 Saturday, August 3 10, 2024

12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.

German Food, Gifts & More

Phenix City

AGP Study Trip to Germany in September

Pictures from AGP Study Trip to Germany in 2023

AlabamaGermany Partnership is organizing a study trip to Germany with participants from higher education, government, economic development, private companies, etc. The trip will take place in the German state of Nordrhein Westfalen and start in Cologne from September 15 to 20, 2024. Attendance is limited to twenty people. Visits are planned for:

Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen

RWTH Aachen, is a German public research university with more than 47,000 students enrolled in 144 study programs, it is the largest technical university in Germany.

Winkelman Group HQ.

The Winkelmann Group is a group of companies for industrial solutions of high-performance and energy-efficient components and systems for the automotive, utility and aerospace industries. Heinrich Winkelmann, the fourth-generation Managing Partner, heads the family-run business which dates back to 1898. They manufacture at 14 production sites in Germany, Poland, Turkey, China, the USA, and Mexico. Winkelman is represented in Auburn, AL.

Miele HQ.

Manufacturer of premium domestic appliances. Miele has been an independent family-owned company since its establishment in 1899 and has eight production plants in Germany, one each in Austria, the Czech Republic, China, Romania, and Poland, as well as two production plants belonging to its Italian medical technology subsidiary, Steelco. Their first USA plant will start production in Opelika, AL at the end of 2024.

FH Münster – University of Applied Sciences

FH Münster, based in the city of Münster with a second campus in Steinfurt with a student enrollment of around 14,700. It has twelve faculties and one central scientific unit and offers around 100 degree programs.

Münster Electrochemical Energy Technology (MEET)/University of Münster 

MEET is one of the foremost battery research centers in Germany and one of the leading drivers of top-level research internationally. Around 150 researchers from a wide range of disciplines working on sustainable batteries of the future.

In addition, the group will experience German culture through several planned cultural activities, while our receptions/dinners will provide networking and business development opportunities.  

Please e-mail or call the AGP office at (205) 341-7880, if you are interested in learning more about the AGP Study Trip to Germany. 

Dankeschön to our PATRON Members:

Evonik Names New Leadership

By Business Alabama

Photo Credit: Evonik

Evonik has named Guido Skudlarek president of the North America region. Bonnie Tully, who had led the region since 2020, is now chief operations officer for North America, focusing on the region’s production sites and business development. Tully once served as head of site service in Mobile.

In addition to the Mobile site, Evonik also has a location in Birmingham. These Alabama sites are two of the 30 production sites in North America for the company. At its Mobile site, the chemicals company is building a plant to produce methyl mercaptan, an intermediate in the production of methionine, an amino acid used in livestock farming.

Skudlarek recently served as head of operations excellence at the company’s Essen, Germany, headquarters, designing global transformation programs in production and supply chain management.

Tully, who studied mechanical engineering at Texas A&M, has more than 30 years of experience at Evonik and its predecessors. She will oversee the expanding operations in the region that recorded more than $4 billion in revenue in fiscal 2023, a quarter of the group’s total.

“I am an engineer at heart, and I can’t wait to again dive into the operational details of our great company,” Tully said.

Read More at Business Alabama.

Alabama Auto Industry’s Rapid Growth

By Jerry Underwood for Made in Alabama

Photo Credit: Peter Keffel/Picture Alliance

For Alabama’s economic future, the pivotal moment came on Sept. 30, 1993, when executives of Mercedes-Benz arrived in Tuscaloosa with an announcement that shocked the global business community.

In the months leading to that day, a Mercedes team had explored potential sites in at least 30 states as a home for the automaker’s first U.S. manufacturing facility. They came to Alabama that day to announce their decision.

For many, the news was a lightning bolt out of the blue. After all, Alabama had never produced an automobile and barely had any presence in the industry.

But Mercedes found what it wanted in a rolling 900-acre site, lined with pine trees, just outside of Tuscaloosa.

The initial investment back in 1993 was $400 million, with plans for 1,500 workers. The project quickly become much more than that; in fact, it came to represent a dividing line for Alabama.

For many, it became “Before Mercedes” — and “After Mercedes.”

Flash forward to 2023. Mercedes has invested over $7 billion in its Alabama operation through repeated expansions that have seen its workforce in Tuscaloosa County swell to over 6,300 people. Over 4 million vehicles have rolled down its assembly lines.

Critically, Mercedes’ arrival in Alabama opened the door for other automakers, which were also attracted by the state’s low-cost environment, first-class worker training programs, a large available workforce and its status as a right-to-work state, among other factors.

Read Made in Alabama's Full Story



2025 German American Business Awards

The German American Chambers of Commerce (AHK USA) have open for applications for the 2025 German American Business Awards.

The awards recognize the pinnacle of achievement within the German American business community, celebrating their collective success and highlighting their ongoing commitment to a flourishing future. This year again, they look forward to honoring outstanding achievements across five categories: Excellence in Community Engagement, Excellence in Economic Development, Excellence in Innovation, Excellence in Services, and the Coolest German Thing Made in the USA (People’s Choice Award).

The awards are open to applications and nominations from companies that are current members of GACC Midwest, GACC New York, or GACC South. Companies are welcome to apply or be nominated for multiple categories, although previous winners must wait two years before reapplying for the same category. They invite you to showcase your contributions and achievements in fostering German-American business relations.

Key Dates and Deadlines:

• June 3: Application opens (Runs for 60 days)
• August 4: Application closes
• August 12 - September 3: People's Choice Award decision period
• February 28, 2025: Award Dinner Night, where winners will be announced and must send a representative to accept their award in person

Dankeschön to our SUSTAINING Members:

Conference of German and American Mayors in New York City

By The German Embassy in Washington D.C.

Photo Credit: Beowulf Sheehan



Last month, the first conference of German and American Mayors took place in New York City! Almost 30 mayors from  Cologne to  Chicago, from  Aachen to  Austin, from  Dortmund to  Detroit came together to exchange ideas on urban development. Why?

Germans and Americans are engaged in a continuous, close exchange – politically, economically, and culturally. Now more than ever, this exchange takes place in the cities. Both in Germany and in the United States, cities are key hubs for developments that will significantly shape the future. German and American mayors are pursuing the same goal of shaping our cities into modern, prospering, and livable places. In so doing, they face similar challenges. After all, the local level is most often the first arena to deal with the effects of global developments – be it extreme weather events, sudden increases in migration, or a global pandemic.

The first conference of German and American Mayors at One World Trade Center in New York was an effort to further develop transatlantic solutions to these shared challenges – at the conference, but also beyond, by marking the start of an even deeper exchange between German and American cities.

The Mayor of Tuscaloosa, Walter Maddox, participated in the conference, as the only Mayor from Alabama. Mayor Maddox has served the city of Tuscaloosa since 2005. (Office of AGP)

During the conference, one panel looked at the “Political, Economic, and Social Challenges Facing Cities on Both Sides of the Atlantic”, one focused more specifically on “Infrastructure and Urban Transportation Planning”, and one explored “Smart Cities – Digital Solutions for Cities and their Citizens”.

In his opening remarks, Ambassador Michaelis highlighted the ever-growing need for municipalities to connect, to learn from each other, and to share best practices - from housing migrants to building more effective electric grids to managing major sports events and cutting carbon emissions. And he made clear that exchange between German and American cities also has deeply political meaning: “Our bilateral relationship is not just defined by intergovernmental relations. It has a much deeper foundation. And American and German cities play a central role here.”

Students Traveling Abroad to Germany - A Teacher's Report

By Lucy Thrasher, Teacher, Trinity Presbyterian School, Montgomery, Alabama

Once upon a time the “Grand Tour”, an extended period of travel, was considered necessary to complete the education of a young gentleman. The opportunity to immerse oneself in all aspects of culture was an essential part of making an extensive (and expensive) education worthwhile. As the kids might say today, it earned one some "street cred.” Most schools offer limited opportunities for educational and cultural travel simply due to cost and logistics but I am lucky enough to work in a school that values and encourages any opportunity for experiential learning and they have allowed me to run buck wild in the process. It’s a great gig, really. Most years I get to frolic in Germany and introduce adolescents to the land of a thousand wurst, where mustard is an art form and pork knuckle is a national treasure, where community and song is a right not a privilege, and history informs the present in every way possible. I’d love to give you the inside scoop, an exclusive back stage pass to all the fun!

The learning actually begins at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, our point of departure. Students are taught to differentiate actual Germans from regular tourists who are on our flight simply by looking down. Someone is wearing socks and sandals? Definitely German. Kids feel like they’ve just deciphered the DiVinci Code. They are henceforth invincible. The airport terminal is a good place to huddle up and have a chat about keeping a low profile. We are obviously tourists and pickpockets (the only real danger) will target us quickly. The only hope we have of keeping anything like a low profile is if the general public thinks we’re EUROPEAN tourists - you know, folks who are well travelled and speak multiple languages and grew up in metropolitan areas and are always aware of their surroundings. The kids have been told fifteen different times about red-flag clothing but half of them are still wearing baseball caps and colors other than black but it’s too late to fix that. “Remember to keep your voices down. One of the easiest ways to tell that we are American is the sheer decibel range we generate.” Empty stares - they have no idea they are loud. “For real, you always have to follow all of the rules. There is no right on red after stop, there is no excuse for jay-walking. If the sign says VERBOTEN it. Is. verboten. Your age and ignorance will not save you and the last cultural experience I want to have on this trip is bailing you out of a German jail. Do you understand?” Non-committal nods from the assembled crowd. Hope is dying on the vine.

Our arrival in Germany is always filled with exhausted excitement. Passport control is our first chance to test their memory and see if the kids can follow the rules and avoid finding themselves in verboten areas. There’s a 50/50 chance somebody gets yelled at. Probably a good thing, honestly - it sets a tone and gets everyone else’s attention and after a nine hour flight I need all the help I can get. Our earliest learning experiences depend largely on the season in which we’ve traveled. Summer has challenges that winter does not. For example, explaining freikörperkultur or body-free culture is generally something I leave for a…how to say it?… moment-of experience.  

Read the rest of Lucy Thrasher's report here!

Lucy Thrasher is a life-long resident of Lee County, Alabama - born and raised in Auburn. She and her husband, Dennis (accountant extraordinaire), have been married for thirty one years and have a daughter, Meg, a senior at Auburn University. Lucy has taught history at Trinity Presbyterian School in Montgomery, Alabama, for twenty nine years but she moonlights as a global adventurer (sort of like Josh Gates but without added tv show income) in her free time. Both her husband and her daughter serve as her partners in crime at home and abroad.  

Irene Butter Receives the Order of Merit

In June, German Ambassador Michaelis awarded Irene Butter the Order of Merit, Germany’s highest tribute.

Irene was born in Berlin, survived two concentration camps, and came to the United States in 1945. For more than 40 years, she has taught students about the Holocaust and the lessons she has learned during those traumatic years. She has received numerous distinctions and awards, including for her book “Shores Beyond Shores“.

Learn more about Irene Butter here!

Thank you for all you do for remembrance and the fight against antisemitism!

AGP Welcomes New Members

Please help us welcome our new member:

Individual/Individual

Anthony Zanella

As an AGP member, you can connect with them through the

AGP membership database (except individual memberships).



Join AlabamaGermany Partnership TODAY!



Stay Connected