My name is Ann Wertheimer and I am chair of American Voices Abroad Berlin. Our group has been together since we organized against the Iraq War in 2003.

My parents were refugees from Nazi Germany. They were able to leave in 1936 and 1937 and settled first in New York City and then in the New Jersey countryside where they started a farm. That’s where I was born and grew up. I have both American and German citizenship.

I came to Berlin in 1971 to teach at the Kennedy School in Zehlendorf. I thought I was coming for a year or two, but now it’s been almost 54 years.

I still vote by mail in New Jersey, where I have two good Senators, both Democrats. One Senator is Andy Kim. In 2018, Kim was elected to the House of Representatives, and in 2024 he was elected to the Senate, becoming the first Korean-American United States Senator.

My second Senator is Cory Booker, an African-American who has been Senator since 2013. As you may have heard, starting last Monday evening, Booker delivered the longest Senate speech in United States history—25 hours and five minutes—to protest the second presidency of Donald Trump. Booker broke the previous record for a Senate speech, the filibuster by Senator Strom Thurmond against the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Booker said that he wasn’t speaking because of Thurmond’s speech, but despite it. “I’m here,” Booker said, because as powerful as Thurmond was, “the people were more powerful.”

The important thing about Booker’s speech was not its length but what he said. Booker did not read from the phone book or the encyclopedia. Senator Booker reminded us of our democratic values. He talked, without leaving the podium for a break, about the current crisis of our national character, about due process, and about the rule of law. He spoke to questions—not of “right and left but of right and wrong.” Ultimately, he said, that “the power of the people is greater than the people in power.” It was a deeply moral speech. (You can watch some of it on YouTube.)

So now it’s up to the rest of us: To use the power of the people. To assert the importance of government, to defend the essential character of our democracy, to refuse to look the other way when others are being fired, or being deported.

Many of you probably know Timothy Snyder, the Yale historian, public intellectual, and expert on authoritarianism. For guidance, I turned to Snyder’s 2018 booklet On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (Über Tyrannei: Zwanzig Lektionen für den Widerstand). Snyder wrote that we are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism. “Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience.”

I focussed on Snyder’s first lesson, which is exactly where we are now, and which I would like to read to you: “Do not obey in advance.” “Leiste keinen vorauseilenden Gehorsam.” Snyder writes: “Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given in times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.” “Ein Bürger, der sich auf diese Weise anpasst, lehrt die Macht, wie weit sie gehen kann.”

In short, in these unsettling times, each one of us has to find the courage to resist being complicit with the actions that go against our shared democratic values. Coming here today and protesting is the first step. Continuing to make decisions that resist the drift to authoritarianism is the task before us. American Voices Abroad Berlin came together over twenty years ago because a group of Americans in Berlin protested the Iraq War. Let’s hope that, in another twenty years, the next generation can freely come together, voice their opinions, and protest the wrongs in the world around them.

Thank you.

                RESIST!

HANDS OFF OUR DEMOCRACY!

Posted on Thursday, April 3, 2025, American Voices Abroad

The following speech was given by AVA-Berlin Chair Ann Wertheimer on September 22, 2024 in Hamburg at a rally to defend democracy.

My name is Ann Wertheimer. I was born in New Jersey and
lived there until I moved to Washington, D.C. to work as a public
school teacher. I have been living in Berlin since 1971 where I
taught English at the Freie Universität.

I am the chair of American Voices Abroad Berlin—or AVA, for
short. AVA is a politically progressive group independent of all
political parties both in the United States and in Germany. We
offer a community for engaged U.S. citizens and provide a
forum for a wide spectrum of views. We began in 2003 as
Americans in Berlin Against the Iraq War. After a while, we
began to focus on other issues and then changed our name.
And, by the way, we are not only citizens of the United States;
we are also members of the community where we live. We seek
to engage all members of this community in dialogue on issues
of mutual concern.

Und übrigens sind wir nicht nur Bürger der Vereinigten Staaten,
sondern auch ein Teil der Gemeinschaft in der wir leben. Wir
wollen alle in dieser Gemeinschaft in einen Dialog über Fragen
von gemeinsamem Interesse einbinden.

Joining American Voices Abroad is a way of engaging in
American civic life even from here.
Democracy, we think, is something you do. You do it as an
individual and you do it as part of a community.

Doing democracy starts with voting. Free and fair elections are
the basis of democracy. Voting is how you do democracy as an
individual, but significantly as one individual among many.
Voting is a political act that we carry out with all of our fellow
citizens.

A strong democracy needs high voter participation, but the
United States State Department estimates that, of the over
80,000 U.S. citizens of voting age living in Germany, less than
10% voted in the 2022 general election—even though
registering and voting from here is fairly simple. (If you haven’t
yet registered, go to votefromabroad.org and do it.)

So why do so many overseas Americans not vote, not even in
an election as crucial as this one? Do they not know that they
can? Do they not know how? Or is it cynicism? Or resignation?
Or fear of being tracked by the government? Does low voter
turnout possibly reflect a lack of civic engagement among
Americans abroad, a lack of community? In our efforts to
participate in the life of our country of residence, in Germany,
have we forgotten the rights and responsibilities of citizenship?
Are we perhaps confused about what it means to act as
individuals and, at the same time, to be part of the body politic?

With all good will, people may say, “My conscience just won’t let
me vote for this or that person because I disagree with her so
strongly on … name your issue.” So they sit out the election
with a sense of political righteousness. In the end, the
candidate who wins the election is often much further from the
non-voter’s ideals than the candidate who offended their
conscience.

Democracy may be exhausting, messy, confusing, and fragile,
but it is truly our best hope. And we might take heart from legal
scholar Jedediah Purdy, who writes: “Although no formula can
make a polity democratic, there is one that goes a long way
toward doing so: the principle that everybody votes.” (from Two
Cheers for Politics: Why Democracy Is Flawed, Frightening —
and Our Best Hope)

Last November, in addressing his “beautiful Christians,” Donald
Trump asked for their vote this one time so that they would
never have to vote again! Das muß ich auf deutsch
wiederholen, sonst denken Sie, sie hätten sich verhört:
November letzten Jahres bat Donald Trump in einer Ansprache
an seine „wunderschönen Christen“ um ihre Stimme, damit sie
nie wieder wählen müssen!

In the up-coming election, what’s at stake has never been more
clear. It is the understanding that our government must work for
all of us, that we are equal under the law, and that the rule of
law, rather than the whims of one person or small group, must
prevail.

Trump wants to fire thousands of non-partisan civil servants and
replace them with loyalists. Trump will Tausende von
unparteiischen Beamten entlassen und durch Loyalisten
ersetzen. Trump speaks of retribution and intends to weaponize
the Justice Department to accomplish it. Trump spricht von
Vergeltung und beabsichtigt, sein Justizministerium
einzusetzen, um diese Vergeltung zu erreichen.
Trump said he did not want to be a dictator “except on Day
One.” Trump sagte, er wolle kein Diktator sein, außer am ersten
Tag.

We have learned that when wannabe dictators tell us what they
intend to do, we should believe them. Wenn Möchtegern-
Diktatoren uns sagen, was sie tun wollen, sollten wir ihnen
glauben.

The details of what Trump wants to do is presented in Project
2025, an ultra-rightwing plan for a second Trump administration.
You will hear all about it from our next speaker, Linda Weide.

— Ann Wertheimer, chair of American Voices Abroad Berlin
September 22, 2024, Hamburg rally to defend democracy

— WHERE TO FIND US: Our FIRST-THURSDAY-OF-THE-MONTH STAMMTISCH is on Thursday, October 3rd, at 7 pm. at Ristorante Pizzeria Roma, the oldest pizzeria in Berlin, Belzigerstr. 60 in Schöneberg. Check out their menu here: https://www.roma-berlin.de. Join us! There’s a lot to talk about. 

Michelle Obama’s Wisdom—Applied to Questions about voting

As we from AVA-Berlin began assembling information about how to vote from abroad, we were also attuned to the powerful speech given by Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention. In her speech (links to the full transcript below), she talked about core values that she learned from her mother—fairness, hard work, giving to the community and caring for others. She talked about how these values inform our hopes for a more just society, equal opportunity, and human dignity. The former First Lady reminded us not to give in to the negative emotions and anxiety that can dampen those hopes and can lessen the energy we need to take part in our communities and our politics.

Her good advice seemed to provide appropriate answers to questions that are sometimes posed about the reasons for voting, so we have matched a few of those questions with quotes from her speech.

Link to the full text—

Some people ask: What is at stake in this election? What if I don’t identify with either of the major parties?

“Look, I don’t care how you identify politically, whether you are Democrat, Republican, independent or none of the above. This is our time to stand up for what we know in our hearts is right.To stand up not just for our basic freedoms, but for decency and humanity. For basic respect, dignity and empathy. For the values at the very foundation of this democracy.”

— Michelle Obama, speaking at the Democratic National Convention on August 20, 2024

Some people ask: Does my one vote really matter? Will it even be counted?

“This election is going to be close. In some states, just a handful — listen to me — a handful of votes in every precinct could decide the winner. So we need to vote in numbers that erase any doubt. We need to overwhelm any effort to suppress us. Our fate is in our hands. In 77 days, we have the power to turn our country away from the fear, division and smallness of the past.”

— Michelle Obama, speaking at the Democratic National Convention on August 20, 2024

Some people ask: What about the gerrymandering, the lies and dirty tricks? . What about the polls?

“ . . . . the minute something goes wrong, the minute a lie takes hold, folks, we cannot start wringing our hands . . . So if they lie about her, and they will, we’ve got to do something. If we see a bad poll, and we will, we’ve got to put down that phone, and do something. If we start feeling tired, if we start feeling that dread creeping back in, we’ve got to pick ourselves up, throw water on our face, and what?” [Crowd chants back, “Do Something!]

— Michelle Obama, speaking at the Democratic National Convention on August 20, 2024

Some people say: She’s too far left/she’s too far right/she’s too much in the middle/ She’s not the candidate I most wanted. She’s not clearly on the same side as I am on every issue. I’m afraid most Americans will not vote for her.

“We cannot get a goldilocks complex about whether everything is just right. And we cannot indulge our anxieties about whether this country will elect someone like Kamala, instead of doing everything we can to get someone like Kamala elected.”

“It’s up to us to remember what Kamala’s mother told her: Don’t just sit around and complain, do something.”

— Michelle Obama, speaking at the Democratic National Convention on August 20, 2024

Some people say: Nobody has come knocking on my door to ask for my vote. They don’t care about it. Why should I bother?

“We only have two and a half months, y’all, to get this done. Only 11 weeks to make sure every single person we know is registered and has a voting plan. So we cannot afford for anyone, anyone, anyone in America to sit on their hands and wait to be called. Don’t complain if no one from the campaign has specifically reached out to you to ask you for your support. There is simply no time for that kind of foolishness. You know what you need to do. So consider this to be your official ask. Michelle Obama is asking you — no, I’m telling y’all — to do something.”

— Michelle Obama, speaking at the Democratic National Convention on August 20, 2024

Assembled by C.A. Prescott

Did you know that American citizens who live abroad—whether traveling, working, or studying; whether temporarily or indefinitely living abroad—are eligible to vote as overseas voters? This is true if you are just now turning 18 and living abroad, or if you’ve been living abroad for many years and have never voted before, or if you’ve been exercising this right for many years.

Basically there are three steps involved: 1) registering and requesting a ballot; 2) filling out the ballot form to vote; 3) returning your ballot to the registration office in time for your vote to be counted. Some states require the ballot to be sent by post; others allow for it to be sent by email.

You can obtain more specific information about the process in your state at one of the following websites:

www.overseasvotefoundation.org

is a non-partisan site with a good and easy database for finding and contacting your registration office.

www.votefromabroad.org

is from the Democratic Party. Application for membership is an option, but they provide information to anyone who requests it.

www.fvap.gov

connects you to the U.S. government’s Federal Voting Assistance Program, which provides information, and the official Federal Post Card Application can be downloaded there directly.

For additional help if you need it, Alan Benson, a member of Democrats Abroad as well as American Voices Abroad Berlin, has been kindly providing information and advice to Americans who live abroad and want to vote, as is their right, for many years. You can contact Alan via his website, which includes a Voter Registration page—
http://www.alanbenson.de/events/votereg24/votereg.html

Alan is happy to answer questions about the voting process and what you need to do in order to vote absentee. He will also be assisting people with voter registration at two locations in early September:

— Tuesday, September 4th, 2024 from 19:00 – 20:30 at the John F. Kennedy School in Zehlendorf. This is a community event.

— Wednesday, September 10th, 2024 from 12:30-13:30 at Bard College Berlin in Pankow

Contributed by Alan Benson and C.A. Prescott

We are happy to spread the word about a recently published book by one of our own members, Carolyn S. Loeb, Associate Professor Emerita in Art and Architectural History in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities at Michigan State University.

In her new book, The City as Subject, Dr. Loeb examines specific bodies of public art in Berlin—murals painted in West Berlin in the 1970s and 1980s, street art and public sculpture from the period after reunification, and the official Memorial to the Berlin Wall at Bernauer Strasse—to explore how public artworks reflect the historical memories of the city even as they enter a broader discourse about how the urban space is inhabited.

Loeb identifies key elements—network, ground plane, and void—present in Berlin public art and memorials. She traces an implicit network, for example, in the memorials to destroyed synagogues found at intervals across the city. She notes the many plaques and commemorative stones embedded at the ground plane; and she observes the varying treatment of interstitial spaces across the city, from the firewalls left standing after the war to the now preserved void left by the Wall at Bernauer Strasse.

Yet this generously illustrated book (with 46 color plates and 34 black and white photos) is more than an explication of public art and memorials in Berlin. Loeb is on a search not only for the layers of history but also for “liberatory possibilities” that can be found among the sites and art objects she examines. She cites Henri Lefebvre, who describes the city as “an oeuvre, a work in which all its citizens participate.” Thus the city as subject of these artworks is also the subject of Loeb’s own inquiry, as she asks: What practices, vocabularies and strategies are employed here? How have materials, structural fragments, and vacant areas been used to reveal history, challenge gentrification, retrieve abandoned spaces, and ultimately, allow urban life to flourish?

— Carolyn Prescott

The City as Subject, Public Art and Urban Discourse in Berlin, by Carolyn Loeb
First published in Great Britain, Bloomsbury Visual Arts, Bloomsbury Publishing Pic, Copyright 2022

March 7th Stammtisch will be via Zoom. Join us!

CALL TO PARTICIPATE WITH AVA BERLIN

WHEN:  Saturday, February 3, 13:00

WHERE:  Around the Reichstag

WHAT WE STAND FOR:

For solidarity and respect; against hate and aggression

For justice and tolerance; against division

For a society that leaves no one behind, for human dignity; against exclusion

For self-determination and humanity, for human rights for all; against racism, antisemitism, and other forms of group-based misanthropy

WHO WILL BE THERE:  As of 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, participating organizations numbered 1,352. Among them are GEW Berlin, Flüchtlingsrat Berlin, Chaos Computer Club, Seebrücke Berlin, Berliner Wassertisch, Verein Papageiensiedlung, Pro Asyl, Deutscher Caritasverband, Brot für die Welt, ver.di, Deutscher Mieterbund, Humanistische Union, Begine —Treffpunkt für Kultur für Frauen, Attac. Click on the link below for a full list.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:    https://gemeinsam-hand-in-hand.org/