By Valerie Davis
With major political upheaval in the United States and Germany over the last few weeks, the student-led German American Conference at Harvard Kennedy School came at a crucial time.
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The theme of the 16th annual German American Conference (GAC) was “hard conversations” and for good reason.
The three-day event—held November 15-17 on the HKS campus—brought together more than 100 speakers and 800 attendees from around the world for debates and discussions on issues that demand having those hard conversations.
Lukas Manske MPP 2025 and Thilo Kerkhoff MPP 2025, co-chairs of the German Caucus at HKS, organized the weekend along with Stephanie Armbruster, a PhD candidate in Biostatistics at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
“The conference is about fostering deep, honest dialogue on the world’s most pressing issues, from security and economic challenges to climate change and political polarization,” Manske says. “This conference is a starting point.”
“The German American Conference gives a comprehensive view of transatlantic relations,” Kerkhoff adds. “We focus on security and business to meet the moment. At the same time, other important topics from culture and society take center stage—for example, the role of merit, gender, health care disparities, music, or the transatlantic roots of the LGBTQ+ movement.”
“The German American Conference gives a comprehensive view of transatlantic relations. We focus on security and business to meet the moment.”
Armbruster spoke about “hard conversations” as the conference theme during her opening remarks at Memorial Church on the Harvard University campus.
“The purpose of this conference is not about answers; it’s about the conversation,” she said. “It’s not about the destination; it’s about the journey. It’s about encouraging people to have open and challenging debates, despite uncertainty.”
Jeremy Weinstein, Dean and Don K. Price Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, also highlighted the theme’s importance during his remarks.
“University is the one place we can think freely and have these open conversations,” he said. “We must be able to talk with neighbors about controversial topics. If we don’t leave space to engage, we don’t learn. I welcome the hard conversations you will have this weekend.”
Among them included a panel with Ambassador of the European Union to the United States Jovita Neliupšienė, Director of the German Council on Foreign Relations Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, and Director of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University Daniel Ziblatt, who discussed the re-election of former U.S. President Donald Trump, the collapse of the German government, and the German-American political outlook.
Other conversations focused on the future of X (formerly known as Twitter), engagements with Ukraine, and cross-border security. The first day of the conference ended with a keynote address from Nicolai Andersen, who leads Deloitte’s Global Strategy, Risk & Transactions business and focuses on climate change and energy.
“The motto is: talk less, smile more, right?” Andersen asked the audience. “I don’t agree with that. Talk more and smile more. Conversations are imperative. They spark discussions, which bridge gaps and help come to solutions.”
The range of topics covered at the conference left few stones unturned. Among them include: “Navigating Health Disparities: Addressing Racial, Socioeconomic, and Gender Injustice in Germany and the USA,” “The Cost of Absolute Freedom: Where Do We Draw the Line Between Free Speech and Propaganda?,” “Red Flag(s) Ahead—Germany’s China Ties and Their Security Implications,” “Figuring Out Identity in Rap,” and “Money, Morals, and Medicine: Transatlantic Healthcare Policy Insights.”
During “Re-arming and Re-building: Navigating Modern Defense Challenges,” Lieutenant General Jürgen-Joachim von Sandrart, Commander of the Multinational Corps Northeast in Szczecin, Poland, made the connection that distress among North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states can lead to fear.
“What happens in Europe has always affected and will continue to affect the United States,” he said. “Bonds across the Atlantic are extremely important; that will never change.”
In “Securing the Digital Frontier: Navigating the Future of Cybersecurity,” President of the German Federal Office for Information Security Claudia Plattner and Senior Director of Cybersecurity Policy at Microsoft Tim Maurer MPP 2011 stressed the importance of collaboration and staying ahead of those who use technology for the wrong reasons.
After the full weekend came to a close, GAC co-chairs Manske, Kerkhoff, and Armbruster took stock on what made the conference a success.
“It was inspiring to see so many people, from students to experts, roll up their sleeves and contribute to the dialogue,” Manske says. “The enthusiasm for these ‘hard conversations’ was exactly what we hoped to spark; it was incredible to witness firsthand.”
“We bring people together who often do not meet in other places—because of different political views, identities, rank, or seniority—but they come together here and engage,” Kerkhoff adds.
“It was inspiring to see so many people, from students to experts, roll up their sleeves and contribute to the dialogue. The enthusiasm for these ‘hard conversations’ was exactly what we hoped to spark; it was incredible to witness firsthand.”
Lydia Glock MPA 2026, one of the GAC events team coordinators, also took a moment to reflect.
“We’ve been planning the German American Conference for months,” she says. “Everyone worked hard to make the whole event run smoothly. I am so thankful to be a part of it.” Glock, from Landau, Germany, proudly notes her Harvard host family came to the conference to cheer her on from the audience.
Speakers debated on extensive topics, but each came to the same conclusion: for the sake of progress, we simply must work together.
This year’s German American Conference elevated their common message.
