Fortbildung

is the German word for continuing education. Yes, Red Baron, responsible for public relations at the Freiburg-Madison-Gesellschaft, eventually went to a course to be formally educated. Here is my certificate:

The first thing we participants learned was that public relations work aims to build a positive image of an organization or association, making it authentic and likable.

À propos participants. Only four people attended the course, and another four did not show up. While one lady was working for the course organizer, the other two represented an association for Sterbebegleitung (end-of-life care) and the herb garden at St. Georgen, a district of Freiburg.

Public relations is not to be confused with advertising; i.e., an ad in a newspaper is not a press release. Associations in Freiburg are not spoiled by the latter, for announcements of events in the local newspaper Badische Zeitung are generally lost in two fine-print pages or are not published. I recently reported on an exception.

The BZ runs a series Aus unseren Partnerstädten (From our sister cities). Still, Red Baron's attempts to get articles about Madison into the local paper have miserably failed in most cases.

This year, Freiburg's adult education center (Volkshochschule) comes to the rescue of the partnership organizations. In its summer program, it places Freiburg's partner cities in the spotlight. So there will be a Tag der Freundeskreise (Circle of Friends Day) on the VHS premises on April 9, where we will present our associations.

Cover of the 2017 VHS catalog

On March 29, Red Baron will talk on a topic that is dear to his heart: Von badischen Revolutionären zu Forty-Eighters. Here is the abstract:

Following the defeat of the 1848 Baden Revolution by Federal troops under Prussian command, many revolutionaries fled to neighboring countries. From there, Friedrich Hecker, Gustav Struve, Franz Sigel, Andreas Lenz, and Carl Schurz moved to the motherland of democracy, the United States, to establish their new lives.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, these men joined the Union Army, continuing their lost fight at home in the States, this time against slavery.

The talk will be presented in room 204 of the VHS, Rotteckring 12, at 2000 hours.

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