NYU Deutsches Haus panelists will discuss Angela Merkel’s handling of the refugee crisis; explore the social and political ramifications of her decision to by-pass EU regulations on asylum and take in thousands of refugees stranded in Hungary in late summer 2015; and examine recent changes in her position and politics as well as how she is assessed by the media and public opinion.
Deutsches Haus at NYU and NYU Berlin will present a panel discussion on Friday, April 8, at 6:30 p.m. among Brita Wagener, German Consul General of New York, Dr. Gabriella Etmektsoglou, Director of NYU Berlin, Christine Landfried, Max Weber Chair at NYU's Center for European and Mediterranean Studies, and Der Spiegel journalist Alexander Osang about Merkel, Migration, and the Media.
The event takes place at Deutsches Haus at 42 Washington Mews (enter the Mews from University Place), New York, N.Y. Events at Deutsches Haus are free and open to the public. If you would like to attend this event, please send an email to deutscheshaus.rsvp@nyu.edu. As space at Deutsches Haus is limited, please arrive ten minutes prior to the event to ensure you get a good seat.
After years of high approval ratings, and being named Time Magazine’s 2015 Person of the Year, Angela Merkel has suffered a reversal of fortune with plummeting approval ratings, and a political backlash that is isolating her, not only at home in Germany, but also on an international level in Europe and abroad. Our panelists will discuss Merkel’s handling of the refugee crisis; explore the social and political ramifications of her decision to by-pass EU regulations on asylum and take in thousands of refugees stranded in Hungary in late summer 2015; and examine recent changes in her position and politics as well as how she is assessed by the media and public opinion.
Before assuming duties as German Consul General in New York, Mrs. Brita Wagener served as German Ambassador to Iraq (2012–2014), as Consul General in Istanbul (2009–2012), as Commissioner for German Personnel in International Organizations at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin (2006–2009), and as Minister Plenipotentiary/Deputy Head of Mission at the German Embassy in Cairo, Egypt (2003–2006). Prior to this, Mrs. Wagener held various positions both in the Headquarters of the German Federal Foreign Office in Germany and abroad. Amongst others, she was Counsellor of Economic and Commercial Affairs at the German Embassy in Tel Aviv, Counsellor of Political Affairs at the German Embassy in New Delhi and Second Secretary for Legal and Consular Affairs at the German Embassy in Cairo. Mrs. Wagener studied law at both the University of Bonn and at the University of Hamburg. She has been a fully qualified lawyer since 1983.
Dr. Gabriela Etmektsoglou is the Director of NYU Berlin. She holds a Ph.D. in European history from Emory University. The principal concerns of her research and writing are the Holocaust in Greece and narratives of self-victimization in present-day Germany. Etmektsoglou is the author of the book Axis Exploitation of Wartime Greece, 1941–1943. She has taught at the University of Melbourne, served on the Greek Official Commission of Experts on Holocaust-Era Assets, and coordinated a project on postwar political justice at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. She is a founding member of the U.S. National Peace Academy.
Christine Landfried is Professor Emerita of Political Science at the University of Hamburg, Germany. She currently holds the Max Weber Chair in German and European Studies at New York University. She has studied Political Science, History, and International Law at the University of Heidelberg and at Harvard University. She was president of the German Political Science Association from 1997–2000. Since 2010 she is a member of the Scientific Council of the Social Science Research Center at Berlin. She analyzes the role of Constitutional Courts in democracies, the impact of campaign finance on democratic legitimacy and the process of European integration. Her publications include Constitutional Review and Legislation (1988), The Judicialization of Politics in Germany (1994), Parteifinanzen und politische Macht (Campaign Finance and Political Power 2nd ed. 2004), Das Entstehen einer europäischen Öffentlichkeit (The Emergence of a European Public Sphere, 2004), Das politische Europa (The Political Dimension of Europe, 2nd ed. 2005), Difference as a Potential for European Constitution Making (2006), The Concept of Difference (2011), and Never-Ending Crisis? Germany and the Future of Europe (2013).
Alexander Osang was born in East Berlin in 1962. He studied journalism in Leipzig and spent the years after the reunification working for the Berliner Zeitung, where he swiftly became chief reporter. In 1999, he went to New York as a correspondent for Der Spiegel, before returning to his home town in 2006. One of Germany’s most prominent journalists, he published his first collection of articles, Aufsteiger – Absteiger (tr: Winners – Losers), in 1992. Osang’s first novel Die Nachrichten (2000; tr: The News) was adapted into film in 2005. In his subsequent literary work, the collection Lunkebergs Fest (2003; tr: Lunkeberg’s Party) and his second novel Lennon ist tot (2007; tr: Lennon is Dead), Osang distances himself from the East-West themes which dominated his earlier work. His third novel, Comeback, was published in 2015. Osang has won numerous prizes for his journalistic work, including the Theodor Wolff Prize and the Egon Erwin Kisch Prize for best German-language report.
Merkel, Migration, and the Media is a DAAD-supported event.