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Students are sitting at the Martin Schmeisser Square in the summer © Roland Baege​/​TU Dortmund
Varied Annual Program

250 Years of the USA: Dortmund Turns Its Gaze to Democracy

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Photo: A group of people stands in Dortmund’s city center holding golden balloons and posters. © Stadt Dortmund​/​Benito Barajas
In the anniversary year of American independence, the city and the university jointly offer a varied program of events. For its launch at the buffalo statue – a gift from the partner city Buffalo – program participants and editorial team members met: Karin Ehlert/ParkAkademie, Stephan Straub/VHS, Hendrik Denkhaus/Botanical Garden, Angela Märtin and Dr Sandra Danneil/Science Office, Dr Stefan Mühlhofer/Cultural Institutions, Klaus Wegener/Foreign Society, Prof. Walter Grünzweig/TU Dortmund University, Fabian Zeuch/Office for International Relations, Pauline Fröhlich/TU Dortmund University.
On 4 July 2026, the USA will celebrate 250 years of independence. On this occasion, the City of Dortmund and TU Dortmund University, together with a network of around 40 partners from culture, education, leisure, academia and public administration, are sending a signal of transatlantic friendship. With more than 80 events – including concerts, exhibitions and expert debates – they will highlight in the anniversary year 2026 the many connections between Dortmund and the USA. Over the course of a year, the program will also address the crisis of one of the world’s oldest democracies.

On the part of TU Dortmund University, the American Studies scholar Prof. Walter Grünzweig is responsible for the joint program – together with Angela Märtin, the city’s science officer. For decades, he has conducted research in the Department of Cultural Studies on the American poet Walt Whitman, whose words describe democracy as an experiment that is never complete and must be constantly renewed – which is also the basis for the title “Experiment Democracy” of the program of events.

On 4 July 1776, thirteen English colonies adopted the American Declaration of Independence, which also contains the foundations of our understanding of democracy and human rights. “The United States did not gift democracy to Germany after 1945, but invited us to continue developing it together,” says TU President Prof. Manfred Bayer. “They inspired and helped us in building a new society in Germany and across Europe, and they endured setbacks and crises.”

The university and the city wish to commemorate this in 2026 with their extensive program. This includes, for example, a joint celebration on 4 July in the city center, lectures and discussions at the Park Academy in Westfalenpark as well as in the City and State Library, major American voices and acclaimed orchestras as well as Indigenous music on the stage of the Concert Hall, or productions of “Grease” and the “Silent Film Concert Charlie Chaplin: The Kid” at the Dortmund Theater, as well as exhibitions on the comic cowboy Lucky Luke in the Dortmund schauraum.

Focus on the USA at TU Dortmund University

TU Dortmund University maintains excellent relations with universities in the USA and holds a leading position in this field in North Rhine-Westphalia. For more than 20 years, TU Dortmund University has been represented as part of the University Alliance Ruhr (UA Ruhr) with a joint liaison office in New York, which promotes international cooperation in research and teaching. “Our student exchange program with the USA, for whose design TU Dortmund University received a national teaching award, is one of the largest in Germany and enables joint learning between German and US-American students,” says Prof. Bayer.

Researchers and lecturers from US-American universities are regularly guests at TU Dortmund University – for example the “football professor” Andy Markovits from the University of Michigan. Through cooperation with Jewish-American scholars and writers, including members of the second generation of German-Jewish Holocaust survivors, the university expresses its responsibility for Germany’s past.

Program highlights at TU Dortmund University include:

  • Project seminar The Power of Stories – Images of “the Others” by Dr Sibylle Klemm from American Studies
  • Readings with German and American authors whose books contribute to an understanding of the USA and its diverse, multi-ethnic culture, in May and June at the Literaturhaus Dortmund – prepared by students of the Department of Cultural Studies
  • Presentation of the poetry collection “Beyond This Forest / Jenseits dieses Waldes” by the US-American poet Elizabeth Rosner with student translators on 10 June at the International Meeting Center
  • Reading of US-American classics as part of the presentation of the George McGovern Library together with the Dortmund theater ensemble on 18 June in the Emil Figge Library
  • Screenings of American cinema classics and current Hollywood highlights by the university film club: 6 April – West Side Story (OV with subtitles); 4 May – Apocalypse Now (OV with subtitles); 1 June – Little Women (OV with subtitles); 29 June – La Cocina (OV with subtitles)

In addition, the Studierendenwerk Dortmund (Dortmund association for student services) will offer a pub quiz on the topic of America and a wine tasting in April.

Full programm

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