From 20 – 22 November 2022 our educational trip into political Berlin took place in cooperation with the Jüdischen Studierendenunion Deutschlands (JSUD) and the Ernst-Ludwig-Ehrlich Studienwerk (ELES). The leadership programme for young talent is a three-day educational trip for young adults committed in the long term to politics from a Jewish-German perspective. It gives the participants direct insight into political Berlin and offers them the opportunity to receive first-hand input on exclusive findings and experiences from political work. The participants taking part for the first time this year could expect a programme similar to that of the previous year while the alumni could expect a completely new programme of meetings with representatives of the media, NGO’s and the diplomatic world. New for both groups: the visit to the Zentralrat der Juden, where the roughly 40 participants were able to put their questions to its managing director Daniel Botmann. And of course the group photos could not be missing this year either!
Jewish voices in public life
After an initial round of introductions, the opening panel of the educational trip for the new participants was on the subject of Jewish voices in public life. The writer and journalist Mirna Funk, the rapper and songwriter Ben Salomo and the press spokesman of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde München und Oberbayern K.d.ö.R., Richard Volkmann, gave brief input about their work and answered the participants’ many questions.
How to get into the Bundestag and how to get out. And: what happens afterwards?
After a short break, our new participants attended the panel of former members of the Bundestag already familiar from the previous year. Fritz Felgentreu (SPD), Klaus Dieter Gröhler (CDU) and Volker Beck (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) looked back on their path into the Bundestag and their work in it. And also: what comes next once you are no longer a member of the Bundestag.
Both panels and Q&As were moderated by our spokesman Leonard Kaminski.
Our day in the Bundestag. Meet the MdBs:
Also familiar from the previous year, the second day of the educational trip featured the visit to the Bundestag. In personal meetings with Jens Spahn (CDU/CSU) , Dietmar Bartsch (Die Linke), Kevin Kühnert (SPD), Marlene Schönberger (Die Grünen/ Bündnis 90), Olaf in der Beek (FDP) and Minister of State Sarah Ryglewski, the participants gained an exclusive insight into political work and parliamentary processes and were able to put their questions directly to the members of the Bundestag and to the Parliamentary State Secretary.
Kai Kochmann: The importance of rhetoric in politics
As had been requested the previous year, the educational trip began for our alumni with an insight into the art of rhetoric. For this we invited Kai Kochmann, coach and rhetoric trainer to many political figures. He presented the most important foundations of an outstanding speech and how these can be put into practice. In group work the participants learned correct breathing and the right posture for speeches. The concluding Q&A motivated the participants to work on themselves and to pay attention in future to the rhetorical skills of leading politicians.
US ambassador: diplomacy within reach
What is the task of a US ambassador in Germany? What significance does her Jewish background hold for the US ambassador? What goals does she have and what does she want to give us young people? These and many other questions were answered by Her Excellency Amy Gutmann, Ambassador of the USA to Germany, during our alumni’s visit to the US Embassy.
AJC Germany: how does advocacy work?
After the visit to the US Embassy came an American-Jewish organisation, the American-Jewish Committee. Our participants met the director of AJC Germany, Dr Remko Leemhuis. Through his precise talk our participants not only learned about the history of the AJC, but also came to understand how advocacy works and what problems it can run into.
WELT: behind the scenes of the fourth estate
Rhetoric, diplomacy and advocacy – what is missing? Journalism and the media!
Editor-in-chief Ulf Poschardt and other members of the “Welt” editorial team presented to us the fast-moving everyday life of the journalistic business. How is the paper produced and how the online edition? Where exactly does the difference lie And what are the most important principles in journalism?? The participants listened attentively and asked precise questions in journalistic fashion.AAS: for civil society
In the early evening our participants were once again able to get to know a new political field important for democracy: civil society engagement!
Nikolas Lelle and Tahera Ameer presented the history and the work of the Amadeu Antonio Stiftung (AAS). Alongside the great successes of the AAS, the discussion also covered the fact that its work attracts hatred and that its staff have had to deal with concrete threats.
Zentralrat der Juden: Meet the Zentralrat
At the largest Jewish umbrella organisation both groups came together to gain an insight into the activities of the Zentralrat from Daniel Botmann, the managing director of the Zentralrat. Through several concrete case examples which the participants were asked to solve, the complexity of the Zentralrat’s work explained itself.
Youth parties: Young Professionals
After the visit to the Zentralrat came the evening with the youth parties. The exciting discussion on the topic „Never again! – empty phrase or programme? between Manon Luther (JUSOS), Timon Dzienus (Grüne Jugend), Alice Kathrin (Junge Liberale) and Finn Wandhoff (Junge Union) showed our participants what similarities and differences exist between the respective youth parties on political questions. The moderation was taken over by our spokesman Leonard Kaminski.
The participants used the buffet that followed to exchange ideas with the panel guests and the ELES scholarship holders who had joined them. The Jüdische Allgemeine was also there and wrote a fine report about the exciting evening.
The party-affiliated foundations
On the last day of the educational trip the final panel on the political foundations took place, with Maik Schnierer (Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung), Bastian Hermisson (Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung), Peer Teschendorf (Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung) and Dr Andreas Jacobs (Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung). Our spokesman Leonard Kaminski led the panel.
ARD-Hauptstadtstudio
Meanwhile, on the last day of the educational trip our alumni went to the ARD-Hauptstadtstudio. A large and important building block of the political system in Germany is public service broadcasting. After our participants had got to know the work of a private media house, the journalist Kristin Schwietzer (mdr) showed them in the capital studio how opinion pieces are created in the studio, where podcasts and social media content are produced and how varied work at ARD can be. Even after the tour of the impressive rooms, Ms Schierer again took time for the participants’ questions.Representative of the Israeli embassy
Even before the joint round of reflection and feedback, the participants met a representative of the Israeli embassy, who spoke about his career as a diplomat and the difficulties of diplomacy. He emphasised the good German-Israeli relations and went into the Abraham Accords. The participants learned how the Middle East is changing politically and why Arab-Israeli relations are steadily improving.
