Speech on the occasion of bestowing David Detjen, Esquire with the Officers’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany at the residence, New York, February 29, 2008

The quintessial German-American

It is a pleasure for me and for my wife, Lizabeth, to welcome all of you here this evening as you join us in honoring David Detjen. The first thing I did this year was to write a letter to David Detjen informing him that President Horst Köhler had bestowed the Officers’ Cross of the Bundesverdienstkreuz on him. I was very pleased to start the year with this good news.

Throughout his life, David Detjen has been a very successful man. And as my wife likes to point out, behind every successful man there is always a strong woman. We are very happy that you can be with us today, Barbara. And today the secret of David Detjen’s success is revealed: He has more than one woman standing behind him. We are happy that his daughters Andrea and Erika could come from Washington and St. Louis.

Most of you have known David Detjen longer than I. It might seem superfluous to recall his professional accomplishments, the many services to the American-German cause that led to this distinction. But please allow me to come back to some very important points that seem crucial to me. David Detjen was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Is that a secret? I do not to mention it because that is where his CV starts, but because it is of prime importance to understanding David Detjen and why he became an engine of German-American relations. It was in St. Louis that his great-grandfather settled, his great-grandfather who came from Germany as an 11 year old in 1879. David knew him well, as he knew his grandfather, both of whom spoke German and who represented German interests as lawyers. His great-grandfather Gustav was even a colleague of mine, representing the German Consulate over the course of five decades.

What is special about David Detjen is that even though his parents did not keep up his German language proficiency, he turned back to his roots and took up his study of the German language at Washington University in St. Louis. Later he also studied at the University of Tübingen to continue the family tradition of promoting German-American relations. We all know David Detjen is a lawyer. Maybe some of us could not imagine him otherwise. And I will come back to this. But as an historian I have to say we really lost a professional historian. With his book on Germans in Missouri in the first two decades of the 20th century, he proved that he also would have done extraordinarily well in this profession. It is a work of extraordinarily well-researched German-American scholarship. It gives us an in-depth insight into the history of Germans in the United States.

But David Detjen, despite his interest in history up to the present day, decided to earn his living as a lawyer. And many German-American institutions have benefitted from this. As a lawyer, he has for the last almost 30 years represented the interests of German companies and individuals in the U.S. He has facilitated German-American transatlantic economic relations in an incredible way. But he has also been a business advisor beyond pure law practice. He has been executive editor and editor-in-chief of the International Law Practicum, often taking on various aspects of German law. He has published legal books, writing on facilitation of business relations, especially between the U.S. and Germany. Of course, he is a member of the German-American law association.

Ever since he has been in professional life, David Detjen has been an engine of German-American institutions. I must say, I know of –almost- no board of a German-American organization of which David Detjen is not a member. His philanthropic duties are so manifold, where should one start, where end enumerating them? He is one of the few native-born Americans who are a member of the Atlantik-Brücke, supporting its programs, also financially, e.g. the “Youth for Understanding” program, which are so important because they help U.S. high school students to get to know Germany. He has been one of the key leading members of the German Forum, preserving and revising the forum at a difficult time. He has helped to modernize and revise the Deutscher Verein, leading it beyond its former role as a “Herrenclub”. He has been counceling the German-American Chamber of Commerce for many years and in difficult negotiations. He is a board director of the Arthur Burns Fellowship, another institution that cultivates ties between journalists of the two countries. A role of special concern and enthusiasm for him is his work for the AICGS. At the American Institute on Contemporary German Studies, he has worked on the reorganisation but also on the financial viability of this unique institute in German-American relations. Let me also mention that he keeps up his work in joining even new groups like the Friends of Goethe and other German cultural institutions. This is important because beyond his personal investment legally and professionally Mr. Detjen also brings a cultural understanding to his philanthropic works. This listing would not be complete without mention of the Washington University, with which he has always kept a close connection. It would surprise us all if he would not have helped the university strengthen the ties it has to Germany. Thus its German department is one of the best in the United States. It has a year-abroad program in cooperation with Tübingen; in addition, its Art School and Art Museum have many close ties to Germany and here also David Detjen has provided personal financial support for a special exhibit of the university’s Art Museum.

This is an impressive list of accomplishments. It is important to underline that David Detjen not only sits on the boards, he “delivers” with his own benevolent work, his advice and his personal financial distributions. His services are evidence of a true leader and of a true believer in the importance of the ties between Germany and the U.S. He is a vital representative of this lasting German-American bilateral relationship. David Detjen is the quintessential German-American.

The President of the Federal Republic of Germany has asked me to award the Officers Cross of the Order of Merit to you, on the merit of your contributions to the U.S.-German relations. I will now read the text of the award..