AJC Global Forum 2020 Will Convene in Berlin

June 4, 2019 – Washington – American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO David Harris announced today that the 2020 AJC Global Forum, the signature annual event of the leading global Jewish advocacy organization, will take place In Berlin, June 14-17.

“Convening our Global Forum in Berlin is a testament to the extraordinary evolution of AJC’s unique postwar relationship with Germany,” said Harris. “We want to reflect on the past and plan for the future. As an organization profoundly committed to the transatlantic link, to the security and well-being of Jewish communities, to European integration and stability, and to the ties between Europe and Israel, Germany is at the center of each of the issues. We are excited to travel to Berlin next year for what may well be the largest gathering by a global Jewish organization in modern German history.”

The year 2020 marks the 75^th anniversary of the end of World War II, the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Germany and Israel, the 40^th anniversary of AJC’s partnership with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, and the 30^th anniversary of a reunited Germany.

“I am absolutely delighted that the American Jewish Committee has decided to hold its Global Forum in Berlin next year. I regard this decision as a sign of trust,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel wrote in a letter to AJC. The Chancellor thanked AJC “for its tireless and extremely important work.”

AJC reestablished contact with Germany in 1949, “after the end of the Shoah (Holocaust), which was a betrayal of civilized values and of the Second World War,” wrote Merkel.

The initial contact between AJC and Germany after the war “led to a close network of transatlantic reconciliation and friendship,” said Merkel. “We can now share in delight at the fact that Jewish life is flourishing once again in Germany.”

Markel, who has served as Chancellor of Germany since 2005, addressed the AJC centennial dinner in Washington in 2006, alongside U.S. President George W. Bush and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

In 1998, AJC opened an office in Berlin, the only permanent office of an American Jewish organization in the country.

The AJC Global Forum has convened outside the United Sates only once in the group’s 113 years – in Jerusalem in 2018, on Israel’s 70^th birthday.