Goethe-Institut Washington 1990-2025

German-speaking immigrants to the United States were so numerous that you can find their influence everywhere: in the built environment, in journalism, in politics, in the arts. Washington's German-speaking community had an enormous impact and presence, particularly where the Goethe-Institut had its Washington office. German businesses, houses of worship, architects, artists, and residents left an indelible mark on what was Washington’s principal business and shopping district in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Their influence continues to shape the nation's capital today.



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"Working for the Goethe-Institut Washington meant to me: Listening and connecting cultures. I remember my time at the Goethe-Institut Washington as a constant learning process.“ Sylvia Blume

Considered Response: In the wake of September 11, the Goethe-Institut and other cultural institutes organized a series of events to discuss how culture could and should respond to terrorism, and whether culture could play a role in preventing it.

"I remember my time at the Goethe-Institut Washington as 18 years of a fascinating inter-cultural dialogue that helped me better understand myself, my America, Germany in the context of Europe, and our places in the larger world. As an American with a mixed German and other European background, I found myself working with others to advance culture (with or without a capital C)." William Gilcher


“Lunch Bytes. Thinking about Art and Digital Culture” connected the digital and the art world through a collaboration with Hirshhorn Museum and the Swiss Embassy. Initiated by Melanie Bühler, Lunch Bytes began as a series of lunchtime art conversations reflecting  on the cultural changes brought about by digital technologies. The project grew into an online platform and international series that examined the consequences of the increasing ubiquity of digital tools in global and local art contexts, as well as the role of the internet in a wide range of artistic practices. 

Learn more about the project through an interview with Melanie Bühler, on the website of the Hirschhorn Museum, and by reading the transcript of a speech that our Secretary General and Chairman, Johannes Ebert, gave in 2015 for the symposium "Lunch Bytes. Thinking about Art and Digital Culture".

This year was marked by the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Notable events included: 

• The Role of Artists and the Arts in Creative Placemaking. Symposium in Baltimore with the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts and EUNIC. Learn more here. 

• Lords of the Valley: Roleplaying simulation game related to climate concerns. One of several events the Goethe-Institut hosted that utilized games as a medium to discuss broader issues. With the Embassy of Poland, Centre for Systems Solutions, and Worldwatch Institute.

• Blue Note @75: Blue Note Records films, exhibitions, lectures, and concerts. Organized with the German Historical Institute, the Kennedy Center, and other organizations.

• The Wall in our Heads: American, German, Current Perspectives. Commemorating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall
   

Following the attacks on the French magazine Charlie Hebdo, the Goethe-Institut and EUNIC organized a series of panels in cooperation with New York University. The panels featured prominent figures such as Salman Rushdie, Slavaj Zsiszek, and others, debating  the importance of freedom of speech, intercultural differences, and the role of religion in the 21st century.

Learn more here. 







 

"A week after my arrival, Donald Trump was elected. We had to move out of K Street, so searching for new premises, co-designing and moving into them was of prime importance. Then came Wunderbar Together. And then came Covid. That was when I got to know the city really well. Then came January 6. Those were difficult, sometimes terrible times, and they were good times because of a circle of wonderful friends and colleagues (and a foosball table)." Andreas Ströhl


“Digital Eye @BlindWhino” was an exciting, interactive event that merged theater, film, and a live game show to explore how the Digital Age affects our everyday lives. As technology moves towards a more intimate experience with its users, we find our private lives becoming commodities for a global market of data-miners, phishers, and hackers. Our private selves— what we watch, what we like, where we go —can all be used overtly or covertly to influence our actions. This rang true in 2017 and is even more relevant in 2025!

Learn more about this project here. 

As part of Wunderbar Together, the Goethe-Institut sent its „WanderbUS“ on a nationwide tour across the continental United States. The WanderbUS was a travelling show and mobile exhibit that visited high schools, universities, and public events. A small team of education professionals performed entertaining and informative programs at each stop. The aim of the WanderbUS was to provide an entertaining and informative introduction to German culture, the German language, and the many facets of German-American friendship. After 2019 the WanderbUS transitioned to the digital space and continues to this day to entertain and inform students across the US.

Learn more here. 











 

As the pandemic persisted, the institute developed a fun and educational new platform: a transatlantic podcast that explored abstract concepts and phenomena through personal radio essays. In each episode, one of our producers transformed a broad topic into a captivating story told from a U.S.-German perspective.

Originally part of Wunderbar Together, the Big Ponder was established in cooperation with radio PRX and continued until 2022.

Learn more here. 









 

“I began my tenure in Washington under challenging circumstances, facing the dual need to re-engage audiences post-pandemic and navigate very tight budgets. In times of a perceived growing distance between the US and Germany, our work here is more relevant than ever. We now aim to better serve partners and audiences across the entire US while maintaining strong local roots.” Klaus Krischok 

As part of the institute’s focus on memory the Goethe-Institut brought to light one the rare and heroic instances of public protest against the Nazi regime: the women of the Rosenstraße in Berlin, who demanded the release of their husbands from imprisonment.
Learn more about this project here. 

This is also the year we launched the new online magazine Gegenüber. 

What is the state of the transatlantic friendship in 2024? What moves us on both sides ofthe Atlantic? Are we still friends or are we turning into competitors? We posed these and many more questions to numerous German journalists in Washington, D.C. and other U.S. cities, and paired them with counterparts from the Washington Post, the New Yorker, the Boston Globe, and other U.S. publications.

The often surprising results of these debates can still be followed on our new online magazine Gegenuber: Foreign Correspondent.










 

GOLD, the acronym for our German Online Language Department, is celebrating its anniversary. Recognizing that students in the post-pandemic era prefer to learn German from the comfort of their homes, and online, we have transitioned from in-house courses to investing  invest more in our digital offerings. Whereas our former clientele came from a 10-15 miles radius, we now proudly reach German language enthusiasts from Alaska to Maine, Hawaii to Florida, and of course, Washington, D.C.