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2010 American Marshall Memorial Fellows

During the month of June, 19 American leaders traveled throughout Europe for 24 days as part of the Marshall Memorial Fellowship program (MMF). This group of American Fellows represented 12 states from Oregon to North Carolina, and included the deputy mayor of Washington DC, the chief of staff to the Kentucky governor, the manager of Alcon Laboratories’ Global Strategic Planning, and the director of membership and annual giving at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

The program began with a brief visit to Washington DC, where the Fellows were hosted for dinner at the home of Belgian Ambassador Jan Matthysen. The European travels began in Berlin, after which the Fellows were divided in small groups to visit one of three northern European cities (Frankfurt, Lübeck, Turin) and one of three southern European cities (Ankara-Istanbul, Barcelona, Bilbao). The Fellows then visited one of three Eastern European cities (Podgorica, Sofia, Skopje) before all reconvening in Brussels for the conclusion of the program.

During their experience in Europe, the fellows met with government officials, policymakers, academics, think tank leaders, business representatives, and civil society advocates to gain a better understanding of transatlantic and domestic issues through local, regional, and national perspectives. Each Fellow also benefitted from individual meetings matching their professional interests, a trademark of the MMF program. A highlight of the program was the inclusion of European MMF alumni in the visit through dinners hosted at the homes of alumni as well as other events featuring lively discussions between different generations of MMF participants on both sides of the Atlantic.

Topics of the visits ranged from politics, governmental affairs, and urban and economic development to gender issues, media, religion, history, and culture. The program included a variety of sites visits and meetings with the port authority of Barcelona, the European Central Bank, the offices of the Presidents in Podgorica and Skopje, the Federal Police of Germany, the Porta Palazzo Gate Project in Turin, the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, and the Guernica Museum of Peace in Bilbao.

The German Marshall Fund would like to thank all its invaluable European coordinators and sponsoring partners who helped design and organize the visit of the fellows in their host cities. The coordinators and partner organizations for the summer American Marshall Memorial Fellowship include the Compagnia di San Paolo in Turin, the Gemeinnützige Hertie Stiftung in Frankfurt, and the Patronat Catalunya Món in Barcelona.