On Thursday, 10 April Federal Foreign Minister Steinmeier will host a lecture evening at the German Historical Museum. The event will take the developments leading up to the First World War 100 years ago as a starting point for a discussion of current security policy issues in East Asia. The invitation is issued in cooperation with the President of the German Historical Museum Foundation, Alexander Koch.
Following an introduction by Foreign Minister Steinmeier, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will confront the audience at the German Historical Museum with the question: “Does History Repeat Itself?”. In his response Mr Rudd will analyse similarities and differences in conflict situations and conflict management between the July 1914 crisis and current security policy in East Asia.
Immediately after the event Foreign Minister Steinmeier will embark on a trip to Japan and China, spending several days in East Asia.
At the initiative of Foreign Minister Steinmeier and in cooperation with the German Historical Museum, the Federal Foreign Office is organising a series of public lectures and discussions in 2014 to commemorate the outbreak of World War I. The series is entitled “1914/2014 – Of the Failure of and the Need for Diplomacy”.
In a series of six discussions German and international historians and policy‑makers will systematically explore how and why diplomacy failed on the eve of World War I and why responsible foreign policy is so important.
The series is aimed at the informed German public and an international audience. In addition to events held at the Federal Foreign Office and the German Historical Museum in Berlin, there will be a panel discussion in Paris with Foreign Minister Steinmeier and his French counterpart Laurent Fabius.
A guest article by Foreign Minister Steinmeier entitled “1914 – of the failure of and the need for diplomacy” was published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 25 January 2014. (www.diplo.de/gastbeitrag-erster-weltkrieg)