Where do they hide among  Announcement Hall der WUDC 2013

“I was really eager to be part of the largest debating tournament on earth,” says Lucas Danco. The 20-year old experiences his first Worlds and is enthusiastic. “It’s totally fascinating to see so many different people from so many different cultures come together and compete by the same rules. ”

Lucas is one of 28 speakers from VDCH clubs that compete at the Worlds in Berlin. The umbrella association VDCH (Verband der Debattierclubs an Hochschulen, engl. Association of Debating Societies at Universities) represents more than 70 debating societies in Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland.

“The Worlds in Berlin has increasingly become a VDCH-wide, common task in the last months,” says Marietta Gädeke. The 29-year old coordinates the volunteers and recruited most of them personally and it almost seems as if she has called upon each debater in “VDCH Land” to stimulate the enthusiasm for the major project. “Over 200 volunteers come from VDCH clubs,” she says proudly.

Her club, the debating society Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz, for which she broke two times (2011 and 2012) to the ESL quarters, does not compete this time. “I think I have recruited all Mainz debaters to the team,” she says and laughs. The most successful VDCH club of last year’s world championship does not have a team in this year’s competition either: as host of the WUDC the Berlin Debating Union’s (BDU) members are fully occupied. It’s good that other clubs hold up the VDCH flag.

Or may be here?

The societies of Heidelberg, Freiburg, Iserlohn, Kiel, Cologne, Munich, Münster, Stuttgart, Tübingen and Vienna have sent teams to Berlin. One of the speakers from Kiel is Rauad Abagela. The 26-year old became Northern German Champion in 2011 and made some international experiences at the Cambridge and the Oxford IV 2011. This time he accepts the challenge of Worlds for the first time. “Quite honestly, we do not expect to break, we just want to debate as well as possible and learn as much as possible,” says Rauad. “We were already debating against Princeton A, and that team was really impressive,” he says.

Melanie Sindelar is competing for the Debattierklub Wien (DKW, Vienna). “Please include that I believe the volunteers are wonderfu”” is the first thing she asks the reporter for – a message that the Achte Minute of course happily delivers. “Without the volunteers, this tournament could not happen,” says the 23-year old. Melanie participated in many international tournaments. The DKW usually tries to send large delegations and this time they sent three teams to Worlds. “It’s fascinating to meet so many people from countries I have an ethnographic interest in,” the student of Social Anthropology says.

Melanie Sindelar during the Tilbury House IV (c) Henrik Mädler

Konrad Gütschow of Streitkultur Tübingen, Germany’s oldest debating society, is also enthusiastic about the diversity of cultures. With a wink he says: “To use a Swabian saying: No complaint is quite the praise.” He does not miss the opportunity to show his fighting spirit: “The first day of debates did not go to well for us but we had the plan to break and we still want it and still hope for it!”

Achte Minute’s team naturally has the fingers crossed for him and all the VDCH team. Let’s go!