Historian, Columbia University, New York
Professor Fritz Stern emigrated from Germany to the USA in 1938 at the age of twelve. He studied history at Columbia University in New York City. After receiving his doctorate in German history, he worked as a professor at Columbia University until his retirement. He interrupted his teaching and research activities for several visiting professorships and from 1969 to 1970 for a stay at the "Institute for Advanced Study" in Princeton. Stern wrote numerous scholarly essays and monographs that received wide public attention. His double biography of Bismarck and his banker Bleichröder is considered a standard work. He coined the classic expression of the "second chance", which he also sought as a political advisor. He was Senior Advisor to the German Ambassador in Bonn from 1993 to 1994 and then acted as advisor to the government until 1996. In 1999, Stern received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, and in 2004 he was awarded the Leo Baeck Medal for special services to German-Jewish reconciliation. His latest book, "Our Century. A Conversation", which he co-authored with Helmut Schmidt, was published by C.H. Beck Verlag in Munich in 2010.
Wednesday, 09. March 2011, 18:15 – 20:00 h
At the University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 71, 8006 Zurich, KOL-G-201 (Aula)
The reputation of the United States has lost much of its lustre in recent years. The only remaining superpower is facing massive problems not only in the global arena, but also at home. Does this mean that the decline of the USA is a foregone conclusion? Or will the forces of regeneration prevail - as has always been the case throughout history? A prognosis.