05/06/2025
This week, 170 alumni and friends of our Arthur F. Burns Fellowship Program gathered in Berlin for the annual Burns Dinner 🇩🇪 🇺🇸 🇨🇦
Our guest of honor, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, delivered a keynote speech on the enduring importance of German-American relations.
“We must endure this turbulent phase,” he said, expressing deep confidence in the resilience of the transatlantic partnership:
“The U.S. has always been reliable — that’s the foundation of my trust.”
Quoting Arthur F. Burns himself, Wadephul reminded the audience that tensions have always existed, but shared values and interests have always prevailed.
As every year, the evening also featured the presentation of the Arthur F. Burns Awards 2024:
Philip Kaleta received the award for best German contribution for “The Princess and the Justice” (The New York Times), co-authored with Abbie Van Sickle — an eye-opening investigation into the unlikely political alliance between Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
Emily Schultheis was honored for best North American contribution for “Who Belongs in Today’s Germany?”(The Dial Magazine and Foreign Policy), a deeply moving story following a mother’s grief and activism after the racist Hanau attack.
Beyond the awards and speeches, the evening was also a joyful reunion:
Almost the entire German part of the 2025 fellowship class came together in person for the first time, marking the beginning of their transatlantic journey — while nearly all fellows from the 2024 and 2022 cohorts reunited, joined by many alumni from across the past 36 years of the program.
Thank you to everyone who made this evening so special!
