Adam-von-Trott-Lecture

The Adam von Trott Lecture is a public lecture series in memory of the resistance fighter Adam von Trott zu Solz. It takes place annually in the winter semester since 2016 and is an integral part of the university's commemoration of its alumnus. The format was modelled on the established Adam von Trott Memorial Lecture at Mansfield College in Oxford, where the life and work of the resistance fighter has also been commemorated for many years.

November 5, 2024: Prof. Dr. Bertram Schmitt holds Adam von Trott Lecture

“Truth, recognition, justice. Reflections on the Victims' Perspective in Proceedings at the International Criminal Court” is the title of this year's Adam von Trott Lecture on Monday, November 25, 2024, in the Adam von Trott Hall at Wilhelmsplatz 3 at the University of Göttingen.
Thr lecture will begin at 7 pm.

Prof. Dr. Bertram Schmidt is a lawyer and legal scholar. He became a judge at the Federal Court of Justice in 2005 and was a judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague from 2015 to 2024. The lecture provides an insight into the reality of proceedings at the ICC. It focuses on the perspective of victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity. On the one hand, the lecture deals with victims who appear as witnesses in the proceedings, with their expectations of truth, recognition and justice. On the other hand, it examines the extent to which the victim communities in the countries concerned regard criminal proceedings in the faraway Hague as a meaningful contribution to justice and coming to terms with violent conflicts and what contribution the ICC can make to this.




Former Lectures (in German only)

27. November 2023
“Freedom is what we want! The impact of protest and resistance on the GDR state and society”
Dr. Maria Nooke (Commissioner of the State of Brandenburg for Dealing with the Consequences of the Communist Dictatorship, former Deputy Director of the Berlin Wall Foundation. In the last years of the GDR, she was extensively involved in the church peace and environmental movement.)

Ash
24. November 2022
„From post-war Europe to post-wall Europe - and back again"

Timothy Garton Ash (Professor of European Studies at the University of Oxford, Isaiah Berlin Professorial Fellow at St. Antony's College Oxford and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute of Stanford University)
Hofacker
2. Dezember 2021
Cäsar von Hofacker: From admirer of National Socialism to resistance fighter against Hitler

Alfred von Hofacker (Contemporary witness)
Richter
14 December 2020
The Great Education Project. Education, equality and democracy

Prof. Dr. Hedwig Richter (University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich)
Wood
25 November 2019
Britain's exit from the EU – a broader perspective
Sir Sebastian Wood (British Ambassador to Germany)
Merkel
5 November 2018
The crisis of democracy – an invention?
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Merkel (Berlin Social Science Center)
Birthler
6 November 2017
Remembering and Commemoration - A European Task
Marianne Birthler (Former General Comissioner for the Documents of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic)
Zimmermann © MPI für Privatrecht
28 October 2016
England and Germany: Different Legal Cultures?
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Reinhard Zimmermann (Director am Max Planck Institut for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg)