Toytown Germany

The Amerika Haus is a building on Karolinenplatz, central Munich. Whereas the American consulate on Königinstrasse deals mainly with beaurocratic issues, the purpose of the Amerika Haus is to focus on culture. It acts as a center for cultural exchange between Bavaria and the United States. There are many events hosted here which may be of interest to Americans living in Munich, as well as to those of all nationalities who are interested in maintaining contact with North American culture (including Canada as well as the U.S.). The events include lecture series, literary evenings, info exhibits, theater performances and more.

If you are interested in receiving their programme of events by e-mail each month, send a request to: info (at) amerikahaus.de

...be warned however, this mailing list has no 'unsubscribe' option. Once you sign up, you're signed up for life. This isn't a huge problem, however, because messages are sent to the list once a month only.

[img]http://www.toytowngermany.com/munich/amerika_haus_munich.jpg[/img]

Note that the Amerika Haus is also home to the Millions of Images DVD hire shop.

Bavarian-American Center (also known as the 'BAZ')
in the Amerika Haus Munich e.V.
Karolinenplatz 3
80333 Munich

Tel: 089 5525370
Fax: 089 553578
E-mail: info@amerikahaus.de
Website: www.amerikahaus.de
Open: Mon - Fri: 10-12 hrs, 14-16 hrs, and other times for events.

The caricature below is by Bernhard Prinz and was seen posted in the notices cabinet outside the Amerika Haus...

[img]http://www.toytowngermany.com/munich/cowboys_and_krauts.jpg[/img]

Built by the victors near the site of the Braune Haus. Very symbolic.

Don´t really fancy getting searched by a security guard every time I wanna go there. Not sexy. It´s run by bureaucrats and snobby academics, so it has nothing to do with my kind of cultural interests. Neither has the Gasteig.

Over a hundred and fifty people filled the auditorium of the Amerika Haus in Munich yesterday to hear representatives of the Democratic and Republican parties abroad debate the issues. John McQueen of Democrats Abroad and Henry Nickel of the Republicans abroad were moderated by Patricia Guys, who read questions submitted by the audience.

US Counsel to Bavaria, General Matthew Rooney, opened the debate with a short speech. He said that the US was an ally who helped Germany become an independent player on the world stage. He mentioned terrorism and said "Islamism or Jihadism as terrorism should be analyzed and defined".

The debate began with Henry Nickel of the Republicans talking about the security lapses in the 1990's "The calm before the storm" and the decline of the military under the previous administration. He mentioned health care, education, economic stimulation and the expansion of NATO as positive Bush achievements.

The Democratic representative, John McQueen, took the podium with the trademark shout-out from the movie Good morning Vietnam--"Good morning Munich!" He immediately went to work highlighting the Democratic view of the current administration. "The preservation of civil rights, dialogue with North Korea and Iran, and health care are all important to John Kerry".

Mr. McQueen said that the current administration gave discredited reasons for the war. He claimed that on 9-11, Vice President Cheney ordered the shooting down of civilian planes without the president's permission. He concluded his opening statement by saying that "torture, Halliburton, the stolen election and the fact that Bush never visited a single soldier's grave", would not be the hallmarks of a Kerry presidency.

Nickel was granted a 3 minute response and politely reiterated Bush's stand on various issues, barely fazed by McQueen's blistering opening statements.

McQueen wanted to emphasize that the republicans were unfairly branding his candidate with the "Flip-flop" label. Quoting Lincoln, "States wishing to succeed from the union should be allowed to", McQueen said leaders change their minds. He was not pleased with the "unilateralism" of the war. Stating that he saw Fahrenheit 9-11 three times, he announced that "Micronesian support does not count as a coalition in this illegal war".
L
abeling the war as "illegal" prompted Nickel to urge people to read UN resolution 687 condemning the repression of the Iraqi people.

The debate was characterized by a marked contrast of tone between the two debaters. McQueen said he knew Bush and his wife while at Southern Methodist University. He said "Bush was an arrogant jerk then and I suspect he is one today". He offered negative assertions as fact and attacked Bush's intelligence to uproarious laughter,

McQueen said "Bush laughed about the death penalty, he actively sought to use the death penalty". He also said "We are not safer now. There are psychotics coming back from Iraq-- 800 Timothy McVeighs came back from Iraq"!

By contrast, Nickel was soft spoken and avoided all personal attacks. He did not demand a clarification on any of McQueen's accusations, choosing instead to discuss Republican talking points in a low voice which prompted some in the audience to ask him to speak up.

Nickel's attempts at supporting the president sometimes back-fired as, when his comment, "The president respects human life" drew sneers. The audience was for the most part respectful and applause was definitely louder for McQueen and his anti-Bush rhetoric. The only outburst was by a woman who demanded a clear answer on the issue of partial birth abortion.

The two hour debate was concluded by a humorous football analogy by McQueen who compared the donkey and elephant football teams. He drew laughs when he said Clinton was on the sidelines with two cheerleaders as GWB gets blindsided and the ball picked up by a wobbling Ted Kennedy who carries the winning touchdown for the democrats. This bit of brevity caught Nickels by surprise, who laughed and said he could not top that, but people should learn as much as possible before the elections and vote accordingly.

Although I would more or less agree with the previous post about the debate last night at the Amerika Haus, it must be said that the Republican representive was an appalingly incompetent opponent.

Although it is nice to avoid personal attacks, in a debate, one must also be able to provide solid arguements backed up by relevant facts and supporting talking points. Mr. Nickel was embarassingly unable to do either, instead making vague high-level statements and encouraging the audience to 'review documents' and 'educate themselves' (isn't that the point of attending a debate?), or when responding to questions about lack of a national health care agenda in the U.S. rambling on with irrelevant musings about 'quality of life'.

This is even more surprising when one discovers that Mr. Nickel is a salaried member of the Repbulican Party whose sole job requirement is representing the party in Germany (Spiegel.de article). One would think the ability to compelling represent his party in a debate would be a minimal job requirement.

Mr. McQueen did veer into nastiness with the 'Arrogant Jerk' comment, but toned it down when the comment seemed to hit a false note with audience. Otherwise his arguments were factual, salient and to the point albeit sometimes a little passionate and 'colorful'.

The only dissapoinment of the evening was the gross disparity in debating prowess with the advantage being on the democrat side. Mr. McQueen showed good sportsmanship and never attacked his opponent, and both debaters displayed a friendly demeanor (which seemed genuine) towards one another. In the final analysis, however, an equally matched fight is always more engaging. This one was not.

[Full disclosure: I am the executive director of the Bavarian American Academy. Our office is in the Amerika Haus, however I do not speak for the BAZ.]

Thank you for your kind comments. Just one correction to the excellent report on the debate: our theater can seat 500 and was filled almost to capacity.

If anyone has problems with the staff please do not hesitate to contact the director. He'd be extremely pleased to hear your suggestions on making the Amerika Haus more inviting for everybody.

Good thing they included Canadian and North American culture in the focus. A building dedicated solely to American (U.S.)culture would have to be very small; probably with a red tile roof and a drive-through lane.

Hahahahahaha. That's why Canadian history courses are so full. Because they have so much to offer. Ohmigod...Make me laugh ...c..a.n..'t b...r..e..at.h ha..ha.ha.

"Good thing they included Canadian and North American culture in the focus."

It's funny how often the references to the 'other' culture of North America being Canadian are made. Mexico is a country too. Last time I checked it was part of North America. We have a longer history and as much cultural diversity as Canada and the U.S. put together.

And I like McDonalds and the United States. They have plenty of culture. Especially for a country that's only been around for 228 years. You need to lay off the hate Mr. Armstrong.