Activities

On Sunday 15.09.2024, over one hundred guests of Honorary Consul Michael Mack and his family were again invited to the 12th Alsace Day. At this particular event, visitors can experience different forms of entertainment and a colourful line-up entirely in the style of the neighbouring border region.

The Honorary Consul stressed: ‘Alsace has always held a special place within Europa-Park. We are very happy to celebrate it this year together as well’. Consul General of France in Stuttgart, Gaël de Maisonneuve himself emphasised: ‘The Mack family has achieved an absolutely novel dynamic in Franco-German collaboration, experienced in day-to-day life, and this day illustrates their success perfectly’. Brigitte Klinkert, MP for Haut-Rhin and former Minister, explained: ‘Without Alsace, Europa-Park wouldn’t be the same and, without Europa-Park, the people of today’s Alsace mightn’t be the same either! It is our fortune we have this park right on the other side of the Rhine ─ an economic engine, but also a pride of the Rhine!’

This event was topped off with the inauguration of the ‘Wolfgang Schäuble Bridge’ at the heart of the France themed area. This bridge commemorates the late German statesman, who was a passionate advocate of Franco-German friendship.

Afterwards, Europa-Park welcomed Miss Alsace 2023, Adéline Wetter. Visitors could also get to know the candidates for the selection of Miss Alsace in 2024. In all, over 400 members of folklore groups and orchestras from Upper and Lower Alsace presented the diverse culture of their region on Alsace Day this year. Alsace Day this year delighted guests once again and remains in the memory with Alsace tradition, traditional costumes and music.

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To accommodate French citizens living in Ortenau, the French Consulate General in Stuttgart has taken the initiative and set up a fifth polling station in Offenburg.

The French Honorary Consulate in Freiburg-Tübingen has been actively involved in organising and implementing the election. The polling station, located on the premises of Offenburg’s adult educational institution (VHS), was one of five venues in Baden-Wurttemburg (alongside Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Freiburg im Breisgau and Tubingen) to be integrated into the Stuttgart consular district.

Further information:
https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/services-aux-francais/voter-a-l-etranger/resultats-des-elections/article/elections-europeennes-2024-resultats

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Being the only cross-border university prize in the Upper Rhine, the Prix Bartholdi is intended to deepen intercultural experiences of young people from this region between France, Germany and Switzerland and develop the internationalisation of university education in this three-nation metropolitan area.

In 2023, 4 prizes were awarded in this competition: the Prize for Best Work Experience Report, the Video Prize, the Bartholdi Stipend and the Embassy Prize

The honorary prize was awarded to EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg, represented by Mr Luc Gaillet.

Further information:
https://www.prixbartholdi.com/

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Michael Mack’s exequatur, with which he was awarded the title of Honorary Consul of France in Freiburg im Breisgau, was officially extended to a second term by Gaël de Maisonneuve, Consul General of France in Stuttgart.

As part of the network of 12 Honorary Consulates of France in Germany led by an honorary consul, Michael Mack’s office welcomes French citizens resident in the area of Freiburg im Breisgau and Tübingen, by appointment, to process their applications for renewing identity documents (identity cards and passports) and for other administrative concerns (life certificates, residence certificates, notarisation of copies corresponding to the original).

Moreover, the Honorary Consul regularly initiates a number of projects to stimulate and promote Franco-German friendship. All these tasks are carried out in close collaboration with the diplomatic and administrative department of France’s Consulates General in Stuttgart and Munich.

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Initiated by Michael Mack to develop cross-border projects, the ‘RheinForum 182’ brought a group of decision makers together from France, Germany and Switzerland to discuss various current themes and political and economic developments in cross-border collaboration.

In his opening remarks, Michael Mack stressed what Franco-German relations meant in particular: ‘We are very happy that so many important decision makers from either side of the Rhine have accepted our invitation to Europa-Park. For decades, the Mack family has stood up for the European idea of collaboration around the tri-border area. For me, it’s important, above all, to better the future prospects and career opportunities of young people in the Upper Rhine region’.

In a variety of specialist presentation, participants addressed current topics, discussing the political and economic challenges of cross-border collaboration. They were in agreement, that the economic power of the tri-border area is an important factor of success in the region, based upon close, intensive exchange across borders.

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More than one hundred guests had come, invited by the Honorary Consul and the Mack family, to celebrate Alsace and spend a day full of colourful experiences in harmony with the neighbouring border region.

Michael Mack expressed it thus: ‘Alsace has long held a special place in Europa-Park and this festival, dedicated to Alsace, is a symbol of Franco-German friendship, which is now more important than ever’. Franck Leroy, President of the Grand-Est region, stressed: ’Alsace Day shows Europa-Park’s commitment to our region’s development; it’s an extraordinary opportunity for the image of Baden-Wurttemberg and Alsace abroad’. Pia Imbs, President of the Eurometropole of Strasbourg, added: ‘Today, Europa-Park is celebrating the richness of Alsace culture and its cultural and linguistic diversity, thereby showing its proximity and sense of belonging with this cosmopolitan region’.

As for newly chosen Miss Alsacefor 2023, Adéline Wetter, she explained: ‘I’m proud and touched I’m here for this day celebrating the friendship between both banks of the Rhine’.

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More than a hundred French and German school pupils met at Europa-Park in the context of two projects carried out in collaboration with the Académie de Strasbourg, the catchment area of the University of Strasbourg.

The ‘Fairy Tale Podcast’ project allowed the young people of the Wasselone, Truchtersheim and Jacques Twinger secondary schools in Strasbourg, as well as the students of the Stromberg Gymnasium in Vaihingen an der Enz, to deal with the topic originally and creatively: they discovered the podcast format, devised new stories or introduced fantasy characters.

The ‘Fairy Tale Songs’ project offered two classes from the school at Griesheim-près-Molsheim and the secondary modern school in Neuried the opportunity to acquire a new repertoire of children’s songs in French and German, composed by the Alsace musician Nicolas Fischer.

Presenting both these projects at Europa-Park, the students had the opportunity to strike up and play the new anthem of cross-border collaboration: ‘Es lebe l’amitié, vive la Freundschaft’ (both meaning ‘Long live friendship’)

‘Grimm’s Magic Forest’ was then the stage for linguistic challenges and, finally, thanks to the educational work of the Académie de Strasbourg, the podcast was complete. The younger students participated in a fairy tale reading by Miriam Mack, the chair of the European fairy tale centre ‘Märchenland’.

Michael Mack underlined the originality of both these projects, which has doubtless helped the young people with the development of their linguistic and digital skills and to better their independence and ability to cooperate.

A meeting across borders for a cheerful, concrete implementation of European ambitions!

Further information:
https://dgxy.link/

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Michael Mack welcomed around 40 students from the Collège de Coutances in Normandy and the Gymnasium in Ettenheim, alongside their teachers, as part of a Franco-German school exchange.

The Franco-German school exchange, supported by the Franco-German Youth Office (DFJW), allowed young people to make unique cultural discoveries by sharing their day-to-day lives with one another and to work on a project together. On the 60th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty being signed, the promotion of the partner language was once more put at the centre of bilateral cooperation. Staying in one’s neighbouring country is a particularly suitable means of learning its language and gaining indispensable intercultural skills.

Michael Mack was pleased to offer the pupils a unique environment for this approach, allowing them to exchange ideas as to their history and culture and to embark together on a journey of discovery through Europe’s cultural diversity.

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This year, eleven young secondary school students from France and Germany on either side of the Rhine, chosen after qualifiers, were invited to provide, in the language of their neighbouring countries, their point of view as to the following question they were assigned: ‘You’re being invited to think about the improvement of Franco-German cohabitation in the Rhine border region. What measures would you take?’

The final took place in Strasbourg, capital of the Grand Est region. Rector of the University of Strasbourg, and the French Consul General in Stuttgart, Gaël de Maisonneuve, were present as guests of honour and welcomed this initiative to develop learning of the neighbour language to fluency, wishing the young people the best of luck with their commitments.

The finalist had provided a number of proposals: the creation of places in schools for Franco-German interaction, training ‘language ambassadors’ or setting up teacher-led online seminars … The young people were able to present all these initiatives engagingly and with talent, thereby winning over both audience and jury.

The first prize in the Oratory Competition was awarded by the Honorary Consulate to Paul Caruyer, student at the Wagenburg Gymnasium school in Stuttgart, and Valentin Buche, student at the Collège Jean Sturm in Strasbourg.

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The Mack family has continued with its commitment to Franco-German friendship, supporting the creation of a bilingual learning kit on the topic of World War I for primary and secondary school pupils.

New learning materials for 8- to 14-year-olds, provided by the Committee for the National Memorial at Hartmannswillerskopf (CMNHWK), could be launched thanks to the Mack family’s social engagement and Europa-Park sponsorship.

This interactive ‘toy chest’, which helps explore the history of the First World War, has been conceived as a commemorative initiative to ‘address the war and remember all the realities of this crisis, to ‘weather conflict’ and to celebrate ‘Franco-German friendship’, as Jean Klinkert, CEO of the CMNHWK, pointed out, accopanied by Olivier Faron, Rector of the Académie de Strasbourg. The fully equipped case is available in four forms, which are kindly made available to school classes in Germany and Alsace.

Further information:
https://www.memorial-hwk.eu/fr/actualites/60-ans-traite-elysee-54

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