and an honor to welcome you here to gw and to the elliot school and you talked about the period certifica -- perseverance of the cold war and my father was one of those americans based in germany during the cold war, in fact korean war from 1950 to 1953 when he and many in west germany were afraid that the north korean attack on south korea might be mimicked with a soviet attack on west germany. so perseverance and lessons from the cold war, i think, are very important. thank you for sharing that. the elliot school dates back to 1898. we're the largest school of foreign affairs in the united states. we have students from all over the world, including germany. and we have students who are very active, including students who are working with syrian

refugees. so after i begin with the first question with foreign minister steinmeier i'll open it up to all of you, especially students. you'll have your chance to ask a question of the foreign minister. so you can be preparing that. the dean of the elliot school is traveling in europe this week and is so sorry that he can't be here. so, going back to history, my question has to do with the weight of german history and particularly the nazi past and whether you feel in foreign policy that there is still this weight of the past, or whether 71 years after tehe end of the world war ii and demise of the nazi regime whether germany is free from that weight of the past or not.

>> i will switch to german. >> put on your head sets if you need to. [ speaking german ] >> translator: he said there's no stop only commas and question marks. the german history of the 20th century in which, or to which my country has unfortunately contributed many bloody chapter will not stop present in our

active foreign policy. i myself have intensify and close contacts with israel and every time when we visit we go there, they come to germany. i feel time and again how strongly our relationship with israel is marked by that past we share but it is more than that. it also is a historical responsibility which has become especially relevant these days. when we talk about refugees every where, in germany and in the united states it's not only a very lively debate here in the united states, i trust if you have 100 million refugees pour into my country within a span of a year you do get reactions in the streets. some people are dissatisfied with politics, and the actions of politicians, and we also get responses that are very hostile to foreigners and some even go as far to make racist remarks. i believe given the fact that so it's our task especially against

the backdrop of our history. to make use of the means available to politicians and political parties to stand up against racism and xenophobia in germany. >> i'll now turn to the audience, and particularly to students for questions. we have people in the audience with microphones so once you raise your hand and i call on you i ask you to please identify yourself and then ask your question. so we have one down here in the front row. >> thanks very much for the history lesson, it's good to remember some of the things that we may have forgotten or haven't already known. i would like to ask you a question. i also stood that post on that line you were talking about way back when in the 1960s, so i know what that was all about.

but i would like to ask a question about the syrian agreement. it was a very important step forward. we have won some time. but that time may be fleeting. it seems to me that one of the most important issues now and the economic conditions that exist in that region which have created the despair and hopelessness which have led to the crisis there. there are now calls going out for a marshal plan going fourth the middle east. mr. shabla has reflected that. now that china has launched their program of a one belt, one road as they call it or new silk road into northeast with the recent visit of president x xi jinping to the middle east, isn't it time to you night a development program, call it a marshal plan or not that would prevent war in the future?

>> thank you for your question. [ speaking german ] >> translator: thank you for making the point although i don't use marshal plan as a heading it's been misused by so many people when we had to confront different crisis in the last two decades. basically, you know, it didn't quite fit the term marshal plan for many of the situations we are confronted with at the middle east, the difference being, to be found in the fact that after the second world war there was something to build on in europe. you could build on economic developments. you could build on experiences with an industrial history that had been present until the beginning of the second world war and was only destroyed because of the cause of the second world war however could only be revived with american support, financial and other.

whereas when you look to many of the regions in the middle east, this is not the case. industrialization has never taken part there and in many regions of the world. unfortunately we're confronted a situation where basic skills that vocational training and many other things you need to survive have no real tradition. you have to begin at a much more basic level. you're right in making that point. we have to use all the means at our disposal to bring about international cooperation, improve the economic status and the economic situation in the middle east. and china ought to be part of that endeavor. perhaps we have, when we, you know, took that step a couple of years ago not being aware of what was lying in wait for us but at the time we took these decisions, the g-20 form, the g

28 form it was right to established that which brings together many of the important players of today who had not figured prominently or present in earlier forums and china is one of those players. the whole truth really is that as far as syria is concerned we're not anywhere close to where we could claim that marshal plans or similar endeavors could prove effective. we're still talking military conflict here, in iraq, in syria and right now also -- right now it dent make it very likely for us in the foreseeable future to be able to restore economic prosperity on the ground. in this region of the world. and that is how i see it. we're talking about something quite different and that's what's at stake here. i call it forms of stabilization.

take iraq, example. public opinion didn't take notice of that but in the course of the last year we have been successful in acting quite successfully against islamic state. it held and has since lost roughly 30 puerto rico of trough ly 30% of the territory it held last year. i'm making that point because 30% of the territory they used to hold that's been liberated and what we now as i see we have to do is focus on ensuring that in these liberated areas we help create living conditions that allows the people to return to the liberated areas instead of, you know, making them flee to other countries. and we have successful examples. one of the liberated cities in

iraq is tikrit. together with a number of other countries and under the auspices of the united nations we have initiated stabilization which ensures 90% of the original population has been able to return to the liberated stiff tikrit. that's one of the examples i'm talking about. with you can't transfer it to every where in iraq or syria but hopefully we'll be successful if not in the same way but doing what we have done we have given you a measuring rod. a yardstick against to which our future action, we ought to put all our strength together, economic finance politically in order to help restore these islands in iraq first and foremost and if the cessation of hostilities hold to syria at a later point in time.

that's what i would consider most urgent economic task that has to be addressed in the next weeks and months. >> yes, there's a hand. >> my name is thomas. and you mentioned importance of domestic policy in foreign policy and here at gw you represent a united germany but in germany right now there is no unity. on the streets there is alternative for germany on the other side a coalition where there are three parties. now they are all in a clinch and a conflict. what would you say is this -- we germany. how is this regarding our negotiation position with the european union, for example or turkey? [ speaking german ]

>> translator: you know, it is to be taken for granted. as far as democracies are concerned at the beginning of a process you don't necessarily have unity or agreement but that it is at the end of a process or in the course of a process of discussion that you achieve that kind of agreement or unity and we're talking as far as refugees about 1 million refugees that have poured into germany within one year. that's quite a substantial number and we are discussing how we ought to deal and manage the 1 million refugees that have already entered our country and how we continue from here in order not see another such big influx in the course of the next year. and i think that's quite a substantial task. i think that germany will be able to cope with 1 million refugees that we have taken in the course of the last year. the question, however, is and i think you were aiming at that,

is how do we succeed in ensuring that the number of refugees in the year of 2016 does not reach the same dimension and we ought to act in a humane manner in trying to strive for this objective. when i speak about this publicly i admonish people not to place their trust in people who seem to have seemsly easy answers as if it were just a question of throwing the switch, you know. that would put an end to the refugee issue overnight. that's not what we're talking about. that's not the truth. the truth of the matter is that, thus we have to be sincere and honest in talking to our people and public opinion, the truth is that there will not be the one decision or the one measure to tackle the refugee issues, we will have to take a number of actions, a number of decisions at the national level as we did.

we have brought two legislative packages to the german parliament. they are be to signed into law. we will also have to work at the european level in order to strive for greater unity than we've shown so far. we are anywhere close but european solidarity when it comes to tackling the refugee issue there's far too many countries in europe who think the influx of refugee could somehow be made to bypass, you can land these people in italy, austria or sweden and germany. that's not what we would call a fair burden sharing, that's not yet been successfully achieved until now but our intention is to work towards that and convince our neighbors of the need to share the burden here. i think we've made headway when it comes to realizing that your past to correct or put one

aspect that we have neglected in the past is protect our external borders. i don't know how far shengan has been mentioned. some european countries do agree where you work with internal border controls within those european countries, people are quite happy to accept that. at the time they forgot or neglected is probably the better term to ensure the protection of the external borders of europe and to strengthen that protection. we will have to do our homework there and i think there will being a greater readiness to tend to that and there will be readiness to bring about a fair burden sharing when it comes to relocating refugees in europe, and you made the point we will have to entertain agreements with turkey and at the same time

make sure those agreements are upheld. part of those agreements will be that turkey establishes the from your required to provide for the refugees who come from the crisis areas in syria to as to allow them to spend also longer periods of time in these centers. we'll have to also talk to turkey about possibilities of opening up its labor markets in some part limit wade for the refugees. we will also talk to turkey about the need to ensure that they look after refugees in a way that the majority of the refugees who come from the crisis areas in syria have the right to stay in turkey for a certain period in time. do not entrust their lives to rubber boats in order to cross the dangerous waters of the

mediterranean. if turkey complies with the agreement, we will meet with turkey, then vice versa we will also have to agree on the european union being willing to resettle a certain quota of refugees every year, taking them out of the hands of turkey and resettling them in europe. and in so doing achieve a certain burden sharing. there's no way of denying one bitter truth. we can take a certain number of national measure, take measures at the national level. we can improve our european performance. we can agree with agreements with turkey and make sure turkey complies with what it has agreed, but there's one bitter truth that continues to be valid. the people that leave their country we know they are not simply leaving their country because they want to go to

europe but they are fleeing war and the violence and thus the bitter truth is if we do not succeed in putting an end to the war and violence and the strife in the middle east the people will continue to go on dangerous journeys using dangerous means of passage in order to flee their countries. this is not in our interest but neither is it in the interest of countries like syria. no matter how hard we try today to diffuse the conflict, no matter how hard we may be trying to maintain syria as a state and to allow people to be able to survive within the syrian borders, at the end of the day we're going to need a lot of people to rebuild the country and in the long run it doesn't play into the hands of syria. it doesn't help syria if a lot of people leave the country instead of staying close so as to allow the home return. if they leave the country and be

far way they won't be available for the necessary process of rebuilding. we have to tack tell root causes, the root of the refugee issue and that's the core issue that we have to attend to these days. >> right here in the front row. >> good morning. my name is mike and i'm a graduate student here. related to the refugee crisis what is germany doing to address racism and its integration policies because i see that as a driver of disunity on the right side of the political spectrum, and that has an effect not just within germany but twin broader european union and are you working with right-wing groups both politically and outside of the political sphere to incorporate them in that process? [ speaking german ] >> translator: indeed the debate about migration changes. the political landscape in germany not only the rest of

europe but germany too it does have an effect and those who month more about germany as with the case of you who have been following developments there closely know that we are going to have three important municipal election, local elections, but what has become visible already in the run up to these local elections that there's a new political party on the right-wing of this spectrum that seems be focused on one issue and that's frightening refugees and foreigners. of course, my party are very outspoken in standing up to this party, but then again you know that is a responsibility that we bear and that is not limited to my own country. one of the reasons why i'm traveling the united states here is that i've come here not only in my capacity as german foreign minister but chairman of the oec and the oec has a number of

tasks. there's more to the oec than meeting in ukraine. it addresses long term tasks of which the oec has dedicated itself, fighting anti-semitism and racism. and right now we are using our challenge with the oec for that very purpose. what we're trying to do is to point clearly when talking to our european neighbors to the fact that all of us have every reason to be careful, to take necessary steps to ensure that racism and right-wing extremism doesn't spread. do not spread in our country. again, i'm being very honest these days and i trust you probably feel that here too. that's quite a difficult discussion and debate and i hope that we will be getting sufficient support whenever we continue in that vein.

>> hello, i'm also a graduate student at the elliot school. once again thank you. my question revolves around history as well. going back to germany in the 1990s you had over 300,000 refugees from the kbanl wbalkan and by the time the wars ended only 70% returned to their homeland. given the possibility there's continued influx of refugees to germany by time in the future the syrian war has ended and those refugees are not returning what okay prosperous transatlantic partnership with the u.s. offer? [ speaking german ] >> translator: of course that is a question that we are discussing not only with our american friends. last week i was paid a visit by the canadian secretary of state and the foreign minister also

came to see me the week before that. please don't misunderstand me. these people the refugees are fleeing to europe and thus it is first and foremost important for europe to achieve a fair burden sharing. we're happy and grateful for all those on the international scene who are clearly aware of the fact that this is a global responsibility at the end of the day not only the responsibility of the europeans who tried to work with us to diffuse the conflict if not bring to it an end in the middle east but as long as the conflict continues these people from the middle east are refugees concern all of us and i have felt an awareness for that here in the united states. last night i spent part of the evening with secretary of state mr. kerry and we also talked amongst others about the situation in syria and the refugee crisis and the ways in which the united states can help keep that problem manageable and

i think the best way for them to do so is the leadership shown by john kerry, the work he's trying to do in order to keep alive the kind of roundtable with the aim of diffusing the situation. i do not know to what extent you are aware of the genesis of this so-called syria support group, how difficult it was to get in countries like saudi arabia and iran and to make them sit down at the same table. you may know it's anything but to be taken for granted that russia and the united states sits down at that very same table or as they do these days and the support group submit different proposals for how we can ensure the cessation of hostilities agreed in munich is upheld. that's a very important part that the united states is playing these days and i hope

that john kerry, especially, that is american foreign policy will continue to focus much of its efforts and attention on the syria conflict in order to contribute to diffuse the situation there. if we are to be successful in that regard, i repeat my message i'm very confident the refugee movement will not raise the dimensions we experienced last year. >> with your permission i'll take two final questions. okay. so over here in the second row, kind of in the middle. will be the first of the two. >> hello. my name is chance williams. i'm a senior at the elliot

school. the u.s. has been a long standing partner of germany and europe since world war ii and especially for the european union. however, in the last ten years europe has faced increasing series of crisis that created a lot of division within europe. how do you feel that germany and the united states can work together to promote the survival of the european project? >> thank you. let me take the second question just behind you. yes. >> my name is alexander. so what, in your opinion, are the consequences of certain european countries refusing to comply with european agreements such as the fair burden sharing of refugees in terms of their effect on the european union? [ speaking german ] >> translator: these two questions basically belong together, don't they? for the european union used to

live on the fact that and this contributed to the process of integration continuing, this was due to the fact that an important status of the political development over the last six decades we were able to demonstrate cooperation and also when it came to difficult issues we were able to develop common approaches and solutions. the first question mentioned y crises of the last few years and we had greater problems in the last few years or so when it came to providing financial support to suffering countries especially in the mediterranean, south of our community or union. we had heated and lengthy be debates and discussions, i have to grant you that. but at the end of the day we've always been able to agree.

similarly a difficult event took place amongst european union foreign ministers when it came to how to address the ukraine crisis. less to how to respond to the violation of international law by the annexation of crimea and the assessment of that violation of international law, everybody was in agreement, but we disagreed on how best to respond, how important the military momentum and whether the european union could do without economic or political pressure here and would you want be conceivable at all for europe or for parts of europe to assume responsibility when it came to mediating. that difficult question too, you know, we had a very lengthy debate there too but never the less at the end of the day we reached a common agreement. we said pressure is not enough we have to add economic

pressure. so that's the background of the situation where we decided in favor of sanctions. we said at the time if a military solution of this conflict is unlikely, or if the consequences would be even more difficult to foresee, then woe also have to assume political responsibility when it comes to, you know, agreeing on a political situation. again, we did that. we did that in the frame of the normandy format where germany and france are trying to find or set in motion a development that leads to solution of the ukraine crisis and i'm giving you these two examples to simply point out if you look only to the most recent history here, it's fair to say that even if we have difficult and lengthy be debates we've always been able to agree on a common approach. there's two yes, sir where the out come is indeed open and will

be decided for the future of europe, the first of which is the brexit discussion in great britain. again no matter how difficult the debate may have been it has been possible for the european union and great britain to agree on a compromise, of which the british prime minister has been able to say that he has been able to get through important aspects of his demands on the other hand we have been able to say that that compromise does not call into question european union, but it's no longer in our hands. it's now for great britain to decide. it will take a referendum and i'm not one to make any forecast here too the outcome of that referendum. we only know that published opinion that is to say the

public media are very critical as regards the possibility of the likelihood of great britain remaining a member of the european union. i cannot foresee who will be victorious at the end of the day. i think the greatest crisis, those in the history of the european union turns around the refugee issue. but it's no use complaining, lamenting. i'm being very open and honest. we do not agree here especially when it comes to fair burden sharing. there's quite a long way for us to go but i believe that it is in our very own european interest that we work to show that we're capable of addressing such challenges. we, and when i say "we" i think i can speak for the german government in toto. we will not try to stop

convincing our neighbors only through common european solutions can we make cigaretteful headway. whether we'll be convincing enough remains to be seen. our next meeting will take place at the beginning of the month of march, very soon that is in order to discuss the next few steps. i for one hope that the answers we will be able to find will be not only national ans but that europe too will make its contribution to solving the refugee crisis but i'm being very open and frank, it's anything but easy. >> i want to thank all the people that helped to put this event together, betty sailor, caitlyn summer, caley and everyone from the german embassy and foreign ministry. thank you foreign minister stein for your time with us. we wish you the best.

great strength and per severanc and hope in your important work. >> thanks. [ applause ] every weekend on american history tv on c-span 3 featured programs that tell the american story. some of the highlights include saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. the eastern association for the study of african-american life and history host their 90th annual black history luncheon with remarks by the national park service director and the keynote address by loyola university professor. >> first tool is commitment. i think of the 1992 olympics, some of you might remember that with me. i don't remember who won. i don't remember anything else but the guy derek.

remember on that first lap he snapped his hamstring and got up and hobbled around track. they came to help him and he waved them off. a man broke through the stands. that man was his father. and put his hand over his shoulder. they asked why didn't you start. he said i dime barcelona to fash race and not just to start one. >> at 8:00 p.m. on lectures in history, emporia state university brian craig miller talks about confederate veterans during reconstruction and how many southern organizations founded to aid veterans instead put their money towards large war monuments and pro confederate propaganda. sunday afternoon at 5:00, persian gulf war veteran and author steven d.wiehe recounts his participation in desert shield and desert storm. >> we began digging