Looking beyond the German horizon

On March 17, 2021, Prof. Dr. Raj Kollmorgen was appointed by a cabinet decision to a working group of the Federal Government tasked with developing concrete recommendations for the establishment of a “Center for the Future of European Transformation and German Unity.”

In its final report published last December, the Commission on “30 Years of the Peaceful Revolution and German Unification” had issued recommendations for action to the federal government. These recommendations are primarily aimed at further consolidating German unification and promoting social cohesion in Germany and Europe.

Experts from the fields of politics, academia, and culture were appointed to the working group established to implement this project. Among them is Prof. Dr. Raj Kollmorgen, Professor of management of social change, Director of the Research Institute for Transformation, Housing, and Social Spatial Development (TRAWOS) at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, and Vice President for research at the university.

By mid-July, the working group—which includes, among others, Dr. Thomas de Maizière, Member of the Bundestag and former federal minister—is to develop a concept for a “Center for the Future of European Transformation and German Unity.”

According to a press release from the federal government, the center could serve as a research institute, a center for dialogue, a meeting place, and a cultural center, and could contribute to an in-depth examination of the histories of transformation in the new federal states, Germany, and Europe, as well as their consequences for democracy and social cohesion.