Zeitgeist means the “Spirit of Age”. Founded in 2014 by the Honorary Consuls of the Federal Republic of Germany to North Carolina, Klaus Becker and Margaret Rosenfeld, the mission of the Foundation is to inform, educate and foster dialogue about the influence in North Carolina of the current and historic culture, arts, society and spirit of Germany. In recognition of the long-standing German-American bilateral relationship, the program of the Foundation focuses on the exchange of societal and governmental thought and theory, art exhibitions and cultural and social events. Highlights of the Foundation’s current, past and future programs include:
- May 18: Reception of an economic delegation from the State of Thuringia, led by Mr. Tiefensee, former Federal Minister for Transport, Building and Urban Development and former Mayor of Leipzig - June 1: White Asparagus Feast, Charlotte City Club; - June 26/27: Visit and speech of Prof. Dr. Michael Haspel, Director of the Lutheran Academy Thuringia and Professor for Systematic Theology, "From Martin Luther to Martin Luther King, Jr."
2016
- January 6: Christian Carius, President of the State Parliament of Thuringia "A Phoenix Still Rising: Economic Transformation in East Germany 25 Years after Unification" - May 18: An evening with Bayern München’s vanguard team which was be attended by FC Bayern Munich Legend and brand ambassador Paul Breitner (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Breitner ). The Mayor of Charlotte Jennifer Roberts personally welcomed Paul Breitner. - April 13: Symposium "Implementing COP21 – The Business of Clean Power: The Intelligent Grid" This event is organized by E4Carolinas together with The N.C. Zeitgeist Foundation and sponsored by the Federal Republic of Germany. - June 23: White Asparagus Feast at BLUE Restaurant; guest of honor: John Kornblum, former Ambassador of the United States to German, and Jim McPhilliamy, Owner of the Charlotte Independence - a United Soccer League Team - July 30: Soccer Match Bayern München against Inter Milano Bank of America Stadium This event has solely materialized because of The N.C. Zeitgeist Foundation’s initiative to bring the German soccer giant together with the City of Charlotte - Our Biennale event: TEASE – Transatlantic Exhibition of Art in the Southeast Atlanta – Spartanburg – Charlotte – Durham / Raleigh The artists’ tour will start in the Goethe Zentrum/ German Cultural Center, Atlanta, on Sep. 30, will exhibit in Spartanburg on Oct. 1, in Charlotte on Oct. 3 (Day of German Unity) and end in Raleigh Durham on Oct 5 - October 1: Reception of an economic delegation of the German Bundestag (Delegation des Wirtschaftsausschusses des Deutschen Bundestages) by the Mayor of Charlotte, Jennifer Roberts - October 24: Dr. Timo Lochochi, Transatlantic Fellow—Europe Program, German Marshall Fund of the United States, "Is Germany Following the US and Turning into a Reluctant Hegemon?" (Joint luncheon event with the ACG Warburg Chapter) - October 30: Reception of a Delegation of Thuringian Members of the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) and of the State Parliament (Landtag) by the Mayor of Charlotte, Jennifer Roberts; the delegation was led by Christian Carius, President of the Thuringian State Parliament – the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation was cosponsor of the event. - November 13 to 15: Klaus Becker, Chairman of the Foundation, attended the 2016 Consular Conference in Washington, D.C. - December 2: Detlef Ruenger, Consul General of Germany, "German Foreign Policy Today: Between Routine Work and Crisis Management." (Joint luncheon event with the WACC).
2015 - Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Former German Minster for Economics and Technology and Minster for Defense; Chairman of Spitzberg Partners - Jagoda Marinić, Founding Director of the Intercultural Center, Heidelberg - Rudolph Houck, Partner at Eaton & Van Winkle, New York - Ralf Fücks, President of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung/Foundation in Berlin - Prof. Jonathan Steinberg, University of Pennsylvania - "Why Bismarck matters today" Joint exhibition with the Goethe Cultural Center, Atlanta and Davidson College, in Davidson, NC - First German Opera Ball in Charlotte Honoring His Excellency Dr. Peter Wittig, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United States; Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, NC - Josef Joffe, Editor of DIE ZEIT
2014 - Prof. Dr. Kurt Biedenkopf, former member of the Bundestag and Ministerpräsident of the State of Saxony - Yasmin Fahimi, Secretary General of the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD) - Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger, Foreign Affairs Editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) - Ruprecht Polenz, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag - Peter Schneider, German novelist, Roth Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at Georgetown University - Thomas Matussek, former German Ambassador to the United Kingdom and India; Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations - Dr. Constanze Stelzenmüller, Senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings; former senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund on the United States (GMF) - Holger Stark, White-House Correspondent for DER SPIEGEL - TEASE – Transatlantic Exhibition of Art in the Southeast Atlanta – Spartanburg – Charlotte – Durham / Raleigh
