Remember the Peaceful Revolution beginning in Leipzig on October 9, 1989, and the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 9, 1989? After the opening of eastern Germany, a young student from Leipzig received an invitation from the American Embassy (or was it from the CIA?) to visit the United States. This visit culminated years later in the signing of the Houston-Leipzig relationship at the Sister City International conference in Houston in 1993. The bond formed between the citizens of these two cities is vibrant and alive to this day, and spans the terms of Mayors Hinrich Lehmann-Grube to Burkhard Jung in Leipzig and from Mayors Kathy Whitmire and Bob Lanier to Sylvester Turner in Houston.
This is your opportunity to hear how it came all about from Dr. Stefan Roehrbein (see his CV here), Wolfgang Schmidt (see his CV here), and Angelika Schmidt-Lange (see her CV here), who were instrumental in the formation of Houston-Leipzig.
Was there really a cloak-and-dagger meeting with a carnation in the lapel? Did you know that former German President Richard von Weizsaecker and popular former Consul General Dr. Klaus Aurisch were influential in bringing about this relationship, and that the Friendship and Study Exchanges between Rotarians from Houston and Leipzig brought critical mass to the citizen supporters on both sides before the official joinder of both cities? Were you with the first Buergerreise with Mayor Lehmann-Grube or at the welcome party in Houston (followed by many more)?
Mayors Hinrich Lehmann-Grube, Wolfgang Tiefensee, and Burkhard Jung of Leipzig all visited Houston, some several times. Mayor Sylvester Turner visited Leipzig in the summer of 2018, and enjoyed the visit tremendously.
After the establishment of the relationship, the first group of Houston visited Leipzig with Dr. Klaus Aurisch in 1994. Soon the famous Thomanerchor (St. Thomas Boys Choir) visited Houston and all boys greatly enjoyed homestays with neighborly Houston families. Many Houstonians went to Leipzig individually, but important group trips included the participation in the festivities surrounding the anniversaries of October 9, 1989. Former Secretaries of State James A. Baker III and Henry Kissinger joined us in Leipzig on the 25th anniversary of that fateful October day and the former gave a keynote speech in the Nikolaikirche in remembrance of the courageous citizens of Leipzig whose resistance to the Stasi provided the impetus and groundswell in eastern Germany that brought the communist regime to its knees one month later when the Berlin Wall fell. Here in Houston we celebrated that anniversary with a special 25-year retrospective of “The Miracle of Leipzig” at the Baker Institute at Rice University with the opening remarks via internet by Ambassador Bindenagel, and the next day the Gewandhaus Orchester from Leipzig performed in a sold-out Jones Hall. President George H.W Bush and Secretary of State James A. Baker III were Honorary Chairs of the Performance.
The Houston-Leipzig Sister City Association always has been extremely active with monthly meetings covering topics of interest to all Houstonians and Leipziger, including city planning and growth, political, historical, and economic topics. As early as 1998, former President Clinton in Berlin in a speech at the Gendarmenmarkt praised the relationship between our two cities as a shining example of how much more goodwill citizen-to-citizen grassroot efforts can accomplish than political pacts.
Please note that the Zoom Link is a REGISTRATION LINK, and you can register now. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. The Zoom meeting will be recorded.
You are invited to a Zoom meeting on January 22, 2022, 11:30 Central Time (US and Canada). Please register in advance for this meeting:https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcucumhpz0qGtcnl18IUcELvXJotXUyH9gK
The Zoom room will open at 11:15 a.m. so that we can get started promptly. Please send any comments or inquiries to angelika@houstonleipzig.org