The Club
A good place...
The Club
It was Sir John Dunlop who had the idea to found the Anglo-German Club in 1948, when he was the High Commissioner of the British Military Government. He later became the British Consul-General in Hamburg. The club's main object was to restore the traditional friendly relations between the British and the Germans, which had suffered as a result of the war.
The founder members included key officers in the military government and the leading representatives of Hamburg's business, political and cultural life including the city's current and future mayors Max Brauer, Dr. Kurt Sieveking, Dr. Paul Nevermann and Dr. Herbert Weichmann, Albert Schäfer the President of the Chamber of Commerce, plus celebrities like Prof. Dr. Karl Schiller, Axel Springer, Dr. Karl Klasen, Erik Blumenfeld, Ernst Rowohlt, John Jahr and Heinrich von Berenberg-Gossler, who was to preside over the club for 29 years until his death in 1997.
The club has no political affiliations. Its sole objective is the promotion of good international, especially German-British, relations in all walks of life. It organises events at which friendships can be forged and consolidated, information communicated and opinions exchanged. These include its well-publicised ‘stag events’ and dinners (with ladies) addressed by prominent British and German guest speakers from the worlds of business, politics and culture. There is an annual golf tournament and a Christmas Dinner featuring well-known performers. The highlight of the events calendar is the annual Garden Party in honour of the Queen's official birthday.
The club supports institutions like Hamburg's English Church, British Day, and German-British school exchange programmes, and also funds scholarships for British university students coming to Germany and German students going to Britain.
It has reciprocal guest membership arrangements with several clubs in Europe and overseas.
The club's committee is made up of German and British members. Ever since its foundation it has had dual Honorary Presidents, the Lord Mayor of Hamburg and the British Ambassador in Berlin, who took over that function from the British Consul-General in Hamburg when the consulate was closed down.
The club's restaurant is famous for both its excellent cuisine and its first-rate wine cellar.