Founding
When Sir John Dunlop, the first post-war British Consul General in Hamburg, founded the Anglo-German Club in 1948, his chief aim was to revive the good relations that had formerly existed between the British and the Germans. It was a considerable challenge so soon after the war.
So, as well as recruiting high-ranking members of the British occupation, such as the Regional Commissioner Sir Henry Vaughan Berry who became the club’s first chairman, he sought out German founder members who shared his vision. Among these Hamburg personalities, who were often invited to the club by the British, were well-known figures such as Max Brauer, Dr Kurt Sieveking and Dr Paul Nevermann, all of them mayors of Hamburg. The publishers Axel Springer, John Jahr and Ernst Rowohlt were also part of the club from the outset, as were Erik Blumenfeld and the banker Heinrich von Berenberg-Gossler, who ran our club for nearly 30 years. He did so with political impartiality but with dedication and in a manner both locally rooted and cosmopolitan. These are values that are maintained to this day and underscore the particular spirit of our club.
Membership
The Anglo-German Club is a meeting place for men and women who make a difference and whose opinions are heard. We would be glad to hear from you should you be interested in becoming a member.
Membership of the club entitles you to use our clubhouse and to participate in our events. Members and their guests may also use the club’s facilities for private as well as business meetings. In addition, membership also gives you access to our worldwide network of reciprocal clubs.
Individuals and companies may apply to join the Anglo-German Club. A company may nominate up to three representatives, who may be changed during the year. Individual membership is non-transferable. Each application for membership must be supported by three club members. Please do not hesitate to contact our club office to discuss the kind of membership most suitable for you.
Club life
Its more than 1,000 members make the Anglo-German Club an institution in Hamburg. Our building is open to both men and women, and our member’s guests are also most welcome. We are a club with set rules and an established code of behaviour, rooted in the tradition of English clubs the world over. Or, as a former mayor of Hamburg once put it, it is “the last British colony on the Continent”.
In the long history of our club there have been many special events that we look back on with pleasure even years later.
These include our regular events with speeches by prominent figures from home and abroad who address important economic, political, scientific and cultural issues – Joachim Gauck, Mikhail Gorbachev, Shimon Peres and Heidi Simonis, to name but a few. When asked which prominent people had been among our guests, our president of many years, Heinrich von Berenberg-Gossler, used to answer with a question of his own: “Who hasn’t?”
In addition, we hold further social events for our members throughout the year. In spring we host a kitchen party or a jazz event. For decades we held a joint garden party with the British Honorary Consul in Hamburg to celebrate the official birthday of the British head of state, Queen Elizabeth II. In late summer we organise our golf competition and a generational evening. Our Advent Dinner, at which a well-known performer always appears, rounds off the year’s events at the club.
Club Juniors
Our Club Juniors are aged between 22 and 35. They meet regularly for their own events. Junior Evenings always begin with a speaker followed by a dinner for all those present. In addition to these lecture evenings, the year’s programme includes a whisky tasting, a croquet competition, a summer party, a goose dinner in the winter and joint trips.
The Club Juniors have been a fixed part of club life for more than 25 years. This is an opportunity for the younger generation to become established in the club. The interaction between the generations is more than a characteristic feature of our club culture, it also helps secure our club ethos for the future.
Social responsibility
Since the Anglo-German Club was founded shortly after World War II, the furtherance of mutual understanding between the peoples of Germany and the United Kingdom has been paramount. While this topic was of particular importance in the post-war period, it is still close to our hearts today and has recently come to the fore again with Brexit. We thus constantly devote our energies to cultivating and maintaining close and friendly German-British relations.
To this end, scholarships are still regularly awarded to German and British students of both sexes, thus encouraging mutual cultural exchange.
We also regularly support British institutions and events in Hamburg, such as the Anglican Church, British Flair, the Sir Vaughan Berry Prize awarded by Hamburg University, the Hamburg Players, plus choir and school trips to the UK, the HSBA Hockey Trophy, British films at film festivals and much else.
Although the Club is politically impartial, we attach great importance to our members’ shouldering responsibility in society.
Committee
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Claus-G. Budelmann OBE
Chairman
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Dr Hans Wilhelm Jenckel
Deputy Chairman
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Gunter Mengers
Treasurer
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Dr Thomas Seiffert
Secretary
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Gunnar Heinemann
Committee member
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John Jahr
Committee member
![](https://anglogermanclub.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/club-vorstand-schroeder-500x500.jpg)
Dr John Benjamin Schroeder
Committee member
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Nikolaus H. Schües
Committee member
Our Honorary Presidents are His Britannic Majesty’s Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany (Berlin) and the First Mayor of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.
Club events – speakers
We regularly host speakers on our club premises. Prominent figures from home and abroad reflect on the important economic, political, scientific and cultural issues of the day. These events are at the heart of our club life.
An overview of our most recent speakers
Prof. Dr. Christian Gerloff
Medical Director and Chairman of the Board of the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE)
»Digitalisation, robotics and artificial intelligence in medicine«
Lord McDonald of Salford GCMG KCVO
Member of the House of Lords, former British Ambassador to Germany
»The German-British relationship after Brexit«
Maestro Sylvain Cambreling
Chief Conductor of the Symphoniker Hamburg
Hamish McRae
Economic journalist and author
»The world economy – a view from post-Brexit Britain«
Major General Markus Laubenthal
Deputy Inspector General of the Bundeswehr
»The security policy challenges for Germany and the Bundeswehr in the Zeitenwende«
Dr. h.c. Sonja Lahnstein-Kandel
Board University of Haifa, Board of Trustees Israelitisches Krankenhaus Hamburg
»Salomon Heine, Albert Ballin, Max M. Warburg«