Egyptian queen in the German capital - The motion of the second masters’ debate of Berlin Debating Union (BDU) was especially directed to a Berlin audience: "Who is owning Nefertiti? This house would give the bust of Nofretete back to Egypt!" Georg Sommerfeld and Johannes Häger (Opening Government) talked about the rude and somehow illegal methods that were used to bring the bust to Germany in 1913. They also explained that Nefertiti is an important symbol for the Egyptian history and identity and so would belong to Cairo. Juliane Mendelsohn and Niels Schröter (Opening Opposition) disagreed. Nefertiti's bust has been exhumed ...

Actually there are no debates scheduled in Dresden because the Technical University Dresden (TU Dresden) is having its semester break. But Dresden Debating Union (DDU) is always on the ball and organized a special event due to current happenings. On 15 February there will be a debate about the topic "welfare scrounger" with an additional discussion afterwards, which is especially addressed to students. The reason for this event is the statement of Henry Hasenpflug, state secretary of the Saxon State Ministry of Science and Art, who said that long-term students are "welfare scrounger". Caz, the student newspaper of Dresden, already published ...

Just founded a few days ago, the Duisburg Debating Society has already got an article in a big regional newspaper, the WAZ Westdeutsche Allgemeine. Jörn Hahn, one of the founder of the society, spoke about debating in general and how a debate is well performed.  ...

This will be the motion of the show debatte which is to be held on 7 February by the Debattierclub München. The debate starts at 19.30 hrs in room M 118 of the main building of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, admission is free. The professors Prof. Dr. Stephan Lorenz, Prof. Dr. Gebhard Rehm (both teaching Law at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität) and Prof. Dr. Ekkart Zimmermann (Political science, Hochschule für Politik München) are going to call for privatisation of universities. Almut Graebsch, Wladislaw Jachtchenko and Valerio Morelli are going to defend the state universites. The decision upon victory or defeat in the debate ...

Again it’s Tuesday night. Time for a bit of debating at Dresden Debating Union (DDU). Today the "Crosstalk" is scheduled, like one could read in the announcement of the weekly newsletter. "Crosstalk" means that only two speakers compete against each other. Each one of them may speak three and a half minutes for two times. At the end of the evening there is a winner, who could defend himself successfully in all the preliminary rounds. Like every week, the motions are important for lively debates. In opposite to the usual debates, this time the motions were drawn. Afterwards the speakers had ...

We're sorry, this article is not available. Please read the German version of this article to learn more about the success of the first "Tübinger Forum".

A new debating union has been founded: last thursday, four students founded the "DUEbattierclub" in Duisburg: Paul Wypych, Philip Scharf, Markus Krümpel and Jörn Hahn, former vice-president of the debating union in Dortmund. During the first debates of this new union all four had strong support: vice-president of the VDCH, the Association of Debating Societies at Universities (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy), Esther Reinert, Lukas Haffert, debater in Cologne and Oliver Knüpfler, president of the debatig union in Münster.

Sorry, this article is not yet available in English. Please read the German version of this article to learn about the Second Bayreuth Varsity that was held in January.

We are sorry, this article is not available in English. Please read the German version and get to know how debaters from five German cities enjoyed the small tournament in Wartburg style in Jena.

The masters' debate of Berlin Debating Union (BDU) gets into its second round: on 10 February the societies' best speakers compete another time with each other in a public debate. This time, the motion reads "Who is the owner of Nofretete?" Like the last time, when the debate is closed and the speakers have left the room, the audience is allowed to follow the process of adjudication. The masters' debate takes place at 7 pm on 10 February, the venue is "Orbis Humboldtianus" situated above the Audimax at the main building of Humboldt University Berlin. vro / glx

Debatte Karlsruhe elected a new executive board. Leo Vogel was elected as the new board member, joining Christian Zimpelmann, whose period on the board will expire in half a year. The Karlsruhe club elects one of its two board members every university semester, each for the duration of one year. Congratulations and good luck for your work!

Who is top of the club? The Dresden Debating Union (DDU) wants to figure that out and therefore hosts on Tuesday, 25 January, an internal tournament called "Crosstalk". ...

Jonathan Scholbach, Severin Weingarten and Eva Schlindwein (Debattiergesellschaft Jena) have just won this year’s Jena Open defying the Pro side. The motion reads "Open Goverment statt Geheimdiplomatie? – Sollen staatliche Informationen frei verfügbar sein?". ...

The Berlin Humboldt Intervarsity 2010, formerly known as Berlin Open, was awarded an exemplary project for transnational youth initiatives in Europe by the EU programme “youth in action”. The former executive of VDCH, the Association of Debating Societies at Universities, had encouraged the Berlin Debating Union (BDU) to apply for support of their competition. The tournament held by the BDU was subsidized by the commission of the European Union through “youth in action” among others such as film and theater projects. The website says the following about the Berlin Open: "'Berlin Open 2010: The European debate tournament‘ is the biggest and ...

The guys of Debattiergesellschaft Jena (DGJ) never stand still: they are already very busy with the preparation of the ZEIT DEBATTE in May, but that doesn’t seem to be enough. That’s why the board of DGJ invited selected debaters to the friendship tournament in the “City of Light” situated at the river Saale. Speakers and adjudicators from Ilmenau, Leipzig, Dresden and Potsdam will come to Jena for the weekend to practise the Wartburg style in four preliminaries and the final. Also members of DGJ take part in the tournament and offer places to sleep to the participants from other cities. Today ...

The International Office of RWTH Aachen is regularly interviewing different student initiatives, founded in of the university in Aachen. This time, the Chairman of the debating society, Marc-André Schulz, is about to answer some questions. Read the complete interview in german language. ...

On January 23rd at 4 p.m., the debating society Streitkultur Tübingen will be organizing the "1st Tübinger Forum"! The overall topic of this first issue will be "Stuttgart21, smoking-ban and an education reform - do we need more civil participation?" The Tübinger Forum is characterized by a panel discussion with audience participation and well-known speakers. tr / apf

Fritz, the radio station for youth by Radio Berlin Brandenburg (RBB), visited the Berlin Debating Union (BDU). On the website of Fritz you can find a short article and an audio file in German language about the visit. The speaker of the story explains the issue "debating" in an interview with Georg Sommerfeld, who is a member of BDU, to the listener. There are also some live recordings of a debate where Georg, who is a vegan in reality, had to argue for the consumption of meat on the side of the opposition. vro / tr

They have got a master-class coach: The Streitkultur Berlin could win Peter Croonenbroeck, German debating champion 2010, as a coach for their novice nights. He will introduce the art of sovereign appearance and effective arguing and also the fun of debating to all the interested novices. The novice nights take place on 12, 19 and 26 January at 7.15 pm at the “En Passant”, which is situated in Schönhauser Allee 58. Afterwards there will be the regular debate at 8.15 pm on all three days. More information is available on the website of Streitkultur Berlin. vro / tr

Warm-up for the ZEIT DEBATTE in May: the Debattiergesellschaft Jena (DGJ) hosts a friendship tournament from 22 to 23 January in the "City of Light" situated at the river Saale. There are three preliminaries and a final scheduled. The debates are going to be held in Wartburg style. So all the speakers and adjudicators can get to know the format better and prepare their selves for the ZEIT DEBATTE in Jena. Members of DGJ and debaters from other societies, who can find an invitation in their mailbox, are allowed to participate. For those who are in need of a place to sleep, ...

On December 21st, Christmas found its way to Dresden Debating Union (DDU): About 15 members of DDU came together at the annual Christmassy Debate in the Dark. This debate wasn’t really dark, but a fun debate with candlelight. There were motions offered like "Are only people who are paying church tax allowed to celebrate Christmas?", "Should Christmas take place twice a year?" and "Christ Child versus Santa Claus". Finally there was a debate about the appearance of Santa Claus with candle light, hot spiced wine and self-made biscuits. The government promoted a well-fed, easy-going Santa Claus with a big bushy beard ...

Cheers, New Year: The Berlin Debating Union (BDU) welcomes year 2011 in its own way and hosts the Invitational on 7 January, as already announced. Speakers who could find an invitation by the board of BDU in their mailbox are allowed to participate. Now the list with the teams that accepted the invitation was released on the blog of BDU. Everyone is invited to join the public final on the evening of 7 January. You may listen to the best of these invited speakers. The final begins at 7.00 pm, venue is Orbis Humboldtianus, which is situated above the Audimax at the ...

Debatte Dortmund (DebaDo) has elected a new executive board. Michael Blomeyer is now DebaDo's president and Christoph Niewerth their vice president.

This article is not yet available in English. Please read the German version of this to learn more about how S.A.E.C.L.O. Greifswald hosted a public debate between representitives of the students and members of various fraternities. Angela Westphal / apf

Candlelight instead of electric light: The Dresden Debating Union (DDU) turns off the electric light for its Christmas party on 21st December and debates just with candlelight. The debating society not only offers debates with Christmassy fun motions in the Open Parliamentary Style (OPD) but also hot spiced wine and biscuits. Usually DDU publishes two days before each debate three motions, but this time the motions will be presented and chosen on the evening of the event itself. Originally thought as St Nicholas Debate, the Christmassy Debate in the Dark takes place since 2005 yearly in the Advent season. The event ...

Only two weeks until Christimas Eve: The debating societies in Berlin and Jena are very curious and arranged on Tuesday 14th December Christmas parties for their members. ...

Reaching a broad public, debating controversial social topics, provoke thoughts – that’s the idea behind the Masters’ Debate. In this way the Berlin Debating Union (BDU) wants to perform its sociopolitical role. Furthermore the members of BDU want to show what is possible in a really good debate and that even difficult, controversial and contra intuitive motions can be discussed in a reasonable, ambitious and entertaining way. So early December's motion was a heavy one: “This house would allow disabled parents (in countries where pre-implantation diagnostics are allowed) to choose embryos with the same disability.” The Opening Government with Annette Kirste and ...

Please read the German version of this article on how a reporter from the newspaper Badische Neueste Nachrichten visited Debatte Karlsruhe. ...

Two debaters from Debatte Dortmund (DebaDo) set out in summer to visit debating clubs all over Germany. Jörn Hahn and Jens Schulze now presented a video about their trip. Have fun watching Es gibt immer eine Begründung - Gespräche mit deutschen Debattierern. (In German, no subtitles.) msi / glx