By Dan Adkins

"This new facility will allow the Department of Germanic Languages and Literature to showcase its programs, host scholars, writers and other professionals from German-speaking countries, and give students an opportunity to live in a German-speaking environment."

-- Ted Fiedler,
director of the
Kade House and
Cultural Center

Oct. 11 , 2000 – (Lexington, Ky.) – The University of Kentucky's German Studies program will have new quarters when President Charles T. Wethington Jr. and other dignitaries cut the ribbon on the Max Kade German House and Cultural Center at 212 E. Maxwell St. at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 12.

Among the dignitaries joining Wethington will be Hans Hachman, president of the Max Kade Foundation of New York, which provided grants totaling $425,000 for the project.

"This new facility will allow the Department of Germanic Languages and Literature to showcase its programs, host scholars, writers and other professionals from German-speaking countries, and give students an opportunity to live in a German-speaking environment," said Ted Fiedler, director of the Kade House and Cultural Center.

The ribbon-cutting launches a three-day celebration, "Crossing Cultures: The Gala Opening of the Max Kade German House and Cultural Center." Events continue at 1 p.m. Thursday in the President's Room of the Singletary Center for the Arts, with a conference on the opportunities for relationships between Kentucky and German businesses.

Among the speakers will be Christian J. Roehr, president and CEO of the German-American Chamber of Commerce Midwest in Chicago; Mark Wallace, general manager of Webasto Roof Systems in Lexington; and Gene Strong, secretary of the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development. The conference continues Friday morning.

From 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Ohavay Zion Synagogue at 2048 Edgewater Court, German architecture professor Alfred Jacoby will speak on "Jewish Communities in Germany Today." Jacoby also will present an illustrated lecture on his work as a more… Kade House opening 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 designer of synagogues in Germany, related to his exhibition "In a New Spirit: Synagogues of Germany," at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13, in the Singletary Center Recital Hall.

The keynote event, "An Evening of Music and Reflection," will feature Dietrich von Kyaw, former German ambassador to the European Union, speaking on "The European Union and Globalization" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Singletary Center Recital Hall. Members of UK Opera Theatre will perform German and Austrian vocal music.

Austrian author Sabine Scholl will perform a reading in German from her new novel, "Die geheimen Aufzeichnungen Marinas," ("The Secret Notebooks of Marina") at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Singletary Center President's Room.

The celebration concludes Saturday, Oct. 14, in Room 230 of the UK Student Center Addition, with sessions on the German immigrant heritage in Kentucky at 9:30 a.m. and with sessions on translating texts and cultures at 1 p.m..