Freiburg-Madison-Society

The Freiburg-Madison-Society is an association created for the promotion of the city partnership between Madison, the capital of Wisconsin, and Freiburg im Breisgau, a city in Southern Germany. The society was founded in 1989, one year after the signing of the city partnership agreement.

History
As a result of the NATO Double-Track Decision in December 1979, the Freiburg City Council, in the mid-1980s, wanted to form a partnership with a city in America as well as in the Soviet Union. The suggestion to have a partnership with an American city was very well received in Freiburg, because the Amerikahaus (English: American House) that was established in 1952, and since 1969 under the name “Carl-Schurz-Haus,” was and still is popular with the citizens of Freiburg. This is because of its numerous events and extensive library bridging the German and American cultures together.

The choice of the American partner city fell on the capital of the state of Wisconsin, Madison, as the University of Freiburg actually already had a student exchange program with the University of Wisconsin-Madison since 1961. It was called the “Junior Year Abroad,” and was later renamed and continues as “Academic Year in Freiburg.”

Freiburg's Mayor, Rolf Böhme, traveled to Madison in November 1986 to establish contacts. Both cities have a lot of similarities, are similar in size, and are strongly influenced by their universities. The proportion of the Madison population that is of German descent is high, because many German people moved to Wisconsin after the failed revolution of 1848.

After the visit of the mayor of Madison, Joseph Sensenbrenner, to Freiburg in June 1987, the partnership agreement was signed in 1988. This was when a Freiburg delegation had a return visit to Madison. The silhouettes of the dome of the Madison State Capitol, located on an isthmus between Lake Monona and Lake Mendota, and the tower of the Freiburg Cathedral are part of the logo of the Freiburg-Madison Society, which was founded in 1989.

Mission
It is the particular aim of the Freiburg-Madison-Society to facilitate encounters between the citizens of the two cities. This is in order to make it easier to understand each other's way of life and to promote international understanding. As a non-profit organization, the Freiburg-Madison-Society is open to all citizens who advocate and support exchange between the two cities. The Freiburg-Madison-Society works hand in hand with its mirror committee, the Madison Freiburg Sister City Committee (MFSCC), to establish direct contact and strengthen ties between the two cities. Madison and Freiburg are both university towns. That is why the promotion of student exchanges is one of Freiburg-Madison-Society's most important tasks. Together with the MFSCC, the Freiburg-Madison-Society enables young people to spend a school year abroad, and arranges internships or helps students with their exchange. Freiburg-Madison-Society works closely with the Academic Year in Freiburg (AYF) and the Carl-Schurz-Haus (CSH).

The Freiburg-Madison-Society program includes meetings, hikes and cultural tours for American students, as well as lectures and a monthly Stammtisch (English: regulars' table) with German-American topics from categories like literature, business and politics. In addition, the Freiburg-Madison-Society offers all Freiburg citizens the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of American literature, economics, politics and customs (Halloween, Thanksgiving) during comfortable social gatherings. It also gives US citizens the opportunity to familiarize themselves with their German surroundings.