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September 30, 2025
Newsletter October 2025
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Dear Friends,
This October, we’re celebrating the power of transatlantic friendship through AMONG FRIENDS, a Goethe-Institut initiative highlighting the deep cultural ties between Germany and the United States. From performances by the New Boys Choir Hamburg, to powerful literary conversations, to interactive online offerings like our GERMAN INSIGHTS course, this month’s programming brings people together across borders and generations.
Join us in exploring shared stories, building new connections, and strengthening the German-American community—whether in person or online.
Sincerely,
Klaus Krischok
Director Goethe-Institut Washington
Regional Director North America
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@ Canva
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Oct 9 - Nov 19 | Interactive Culture Course | Online
GERMAN INSIGHTS
Discover German Culture – Anytime, Anywhere! Explore the richness of German culture from the comfort of your home. Whether you're tracing your family roots, collaborating with German colleagues, or simply curious, dive into what shapes modern Germany and gain new insights into its way of life from Beethoven to Bauhaus. Start your cultural journey today together with other Germanthusiasts!
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Paul Reitter © Emory Klann | Paul North © Linda Lindroth
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Oct 1, 7pm | Reading and Discussion | Online
Karl Marx's CAPITAL with Paul Reitter & Paul North
The GEGENÜBER magazine of the Goethe-Institut in North America presents a series of online conversations with contemporary German-language authors and translators.
Paul Reitter, translator of Karl Marx’s Capital, Volume 1 (Princeton University Press), and Paul North, editor, present an engaging discussion about the context and legacy of this fundamental work of German political economy and philosophy. This GEGENÜBER TALK is a Zoom event by the Goethe-Institut New York.
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© DEFA-Stiftung
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Through October 5 | Streaming Films | Online
35 Years of German Reunification: Perspectives on a Time of Upheaval
To mark the 35th anniversary of German reunification on October 3, this documentary program brings together four films that vividly portray the profound transformations set in motion in and after 1990. While the fall of the Berlin Wall ushered in a new era of freedom and possibility for many, reunification also led to unexpected social hardship and disillusionment for others. While Sibylle Schönemann's Locked-Up Time sheds light on personal experiences with the reunification, Gerd Kroske's Sweep It Up trilogy takes a look at the social decline of three street cleaners.
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© Goethe-Institut, Ricardo Roa
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AMONG FRIENDS
“Among Friends – Unter Freunden” is the theme of a new initiative by the Goethe-Institutes in the U.S., celebrating the friendships and connections that link Germany and America. We aim to grow existing networks and open up new spaces for meaningful, lasting exchange.
Whether you’re curious about cultural exchange, have personal ties to Germany, work across the Atlantic, or just want to discover something new, you’re warmly invited to be part of it.
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© private
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Portrait Victor Ekpuk: © JuneHazinek, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
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©private
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Oct 15, 6.30-7.30pm | Discussion and Reception | Goethe-Institut Washington
The Big Idea: How Does Music Help Us Mourn?
Join us at the kickoff to PEN/Faulkner's new series THE BIG IDEA with a discussion about how music can both heal mourners and capture the profoundness of grief, featuring novelist Martha Anne Toll, author of Duet for One, and interdisciplinary artist Leigh Davis, the creator of Karaoke in the Cemetery. Moderated by Ann Meier Baker, former director of music and opera for the NEA.
Also featuring a short performance by violinist Robin Tozzie.
A wine reception with follow the discussion.
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@Lukas Beck
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Oct 22, 7.30pm | Concert with the New Boys Choir Hamburg | St Albans Little Sanctuary
OVER BRIDGES
This fall, the Neuer Knabenchor Hamburg (New Boys Choir Hamburg) brings its powerful a cappella sound to the United States! Under the direction of Jens Bauditz, the 50-member ensemble—featuring singers as young as nine—will present stirring interpretations of German choral classics by Heinrich Schütz, J.S. Bach, and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, alongside beloved American works by Amy Beach and Frank Ticheli. As part of the “Among Friends: Over Bridges” initiative by the Goethe-Institut, the choir will collaborate with U.S. ensembles including the National Cathedral and St. Albans Schools Madrigal Singers (dir. Frank J. Van Atta) and the Children’s Chorus of Washington Young Men’s Ensemble (dir. Margaret Clark).
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© Festival Neue Literatur
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Oct 24, 6.30pm | Reading and Discussion | Goethe-Institut Washington
Strangers at Home
As part of the Zeitgeist Literature Festival in Washington, DC, and in collaboration with Festival Neue Literatur (FNL) in New York, we invite you to Strangers at Home—an evening of literary readings and thought-provoking dialogue.
Join celebrated German-language authors Alois Hotschnig (Austria), Ariane Koch (Switzerland), and Khuê Pham (Germany) as they explore questions of identity, intimacy, and estrangement. Through readings and conversation, the authors delve into the paradoxes of hospitality, the slipperiness of self, and the tensions between the familiar and the foreign.
Presented by the Goethe-Institut Washington, the Embassy of Switzerland, and the Austrian Cultural Forum Washington, this event promises a rich literary exchange at the intersection of culture, language, and personal narrative.
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© Goethe-Institut
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For High Schools
Auf dem Platz (On the Field)
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is just around the corner – and the Goethe-Institut is bringing soccer straight into the classroom! Here you can find everything we’re planning and carrying out in the coming months as part of our World Cup soccer campaign.
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