Reflecting on Dr. Sonja Kreibich’s Visit
Our class recently held the pleasure of welcoming Dr. Sonja Kreibich, the Consul General of Germany to the New England states, to come and speak with us for a session discussing transatlantic relations and the current state of Germany. Before reflecting on the visit, first I would like to extend my utmost gratitude to Dr. Kreibich for taking the time to speak with our class. For me, this is the first time that I have ever spoken with a member of an international consulate face-to-face, so this was an extremely insightful experience that greatly expanded my knowledge of international relations and Germany.
Upon reflection of Dr. Kreibich’s visit, there were a few discussions that stood out to me the most. First, coming into the session I had a lot of questions concerning the current state of the AfD, Germany’s far-right extremist party, and the scandal that recently arose from them. I saw the news regarding the AfD scandal a couple of weeks ago and was shocked by how terrifyingly reminiscent of Germany’s disturbing past their secret meeting was, so it was really interesting to hear some of the discussions on the higher-level regarding the AfD as articulated by Dr. Kreibich. In addition to this, I appreciated that she condemned their party as a far-right extremist group in Germany, as their actions and anti-migrant sentiments that they promote should be characterized as nothing less.
Another discussion within Dr. Kreibich’s visit that I found interesting was regarding energy in Germany. Had time permitted, I would have liked to asked Dr. Kreibich what her thoughts and reactions were on Germany’s commitment to 57 billion euros to be invested into green infrastructure for 2024. In our class, we have discussed Stuttgart 21 and some of Germany’s infrastructure project failures in the past and present, so it would have been interesting to hear what she thinks the prospects are for Germany’s green infrastructure initiatives. In addition, it would be insightful to get an idea of how Germany thinks investment towards this project could help alleviate some of their energy concerns. Nonetheless, I learned a great deal about Germany and was able to apply the concepts that we have learned in class to the discussions that Dr. Kreibich held during her visit. Again, I would like to thank Dr. Kreibich for speaking with our class, and I hope to extend and apply the knowledge that I got from her session to when we go to explore Germany in March.
