Oldenburg. Dr Christiane Brokmann-Nooren from the University of Oldenburg today received an award from the Dutch royal family for her decades of service to mutual understanding and German-Dutch friendship in the border region of north-western Germany and the north-eastern Netherlands. Consul General Peter Schuurman presented the research associate at the Centre for Lifelong Learning (C3L) with the Order of Orange-Nassau. The recently retired Anja van Berkum from the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, with whom Brokmann-Nooren had worked since the early 1990s as part of the co-operation between the two universities, received the same honour on the other side of the border. Both are now "Knights" of the Order of Orange-Nassau.
The joint seminar series "Border contacts - what unites us, what separates us" was at the centre of the commitment of the two women. This emerged in autumn 2000 from what had previously been annual one-day meetings. On the occasion of the recent celebrations to mark 40 years of co-operation between the two universities, Brokmann-Nooren described the series as "a very personal highlight" of her academic career, "because I believe that we and our participants have learned and achieved a great deal in terms of international understanding".
"Christiane Brokmann-Nooren is one of those people who consistently breathe life into the co-operation between our universities," said University President Prof Dr Dr Hans Michael Piper at the award ceremony, which was held on a small scale due to the coronavirus pandemic. "In addition, for decades it has been making a committed contribution to dialogue and understanding between people who themselves or whose parents fought against each other in times of war and who today, in a united Europe, share something like a regional identity or can at least come a little closer to it - for example through the eponymous border contacts."
The origins of the seminar series date back to 1988, when the first meetings took place between the University of Oldenburg on the one hand and the "Seniorenacademie Groningen, Drenthe, Frysland" on the other. Initially, the participants met once a year to discuss their different study experiences: While the senior citizens in Groningen were among themselves at their own academy, young and old studied together in Oldenburg. The university there was one of the first in Germany to open regular lectures and seminars to guest students back in 1983. After Brokmann-Nooren and van Berkum took over the co-operation in senior studies at the beginning of the 1990s, the academic exchange intensified - as did the personal exchange. In a very intensive and emotional political science seminar in 1997, participants from both countries even worked together on their experiences from the time of the German occupation of the Netherlands. A decade later, Brokmann-Nooren recalled that the meetings had already been characterised by cordiality, but that the war experience had perhaps "stood between us" at times. At the joint seminar, "a knot burst".
Three years later, the "Border Contacts" series was created with meetings in Groningen, Oldenburg and - halfway along the route - in Leer in East Frisia. In the first five-day seminar, 20 participants from Germany and 20 from the Netherlands each focussed on the Middle Ages on both sides of the border. This was followed by a wide range of topics, including topical subjects such as literature and language, culture and religion, economics, environmental and natural sciences. With van Berkum's retirement and Brokmann-Nooren's approaching retirement, it is currently unclear whether the series will be continued, but a wide range of other activities have emerged from it - such as a German-Dutch reading group, which has been working together on fiction texts by authors from both language areas for eleven years now.
Retired hearing researcher and "father of Oldenburg acoustics" Prof. Dr Volker Mellert is one of the supporters who campaigned for the award for the two university employees on both sides of the border. He and his wife attended the "Grenzkontakte" series as guest lecturers for around ten years: "We were not only impressed by the concept of this series of events with lectures covering a wide range of knowledge, but above all by the open and engaging atmosphere created by the two moderators. This motivated us to register to take part every year," recalls Mellert. The series has always allowed participants to discover new facets of their shared region and has led to an ongoing dialogue and even friendships. "We were delighted to be involved in this open culture of dialogue with different people from the region. Anja van Berkum and Christiane Brokmann-Nooren have created valuable opportunities for mutual understanding."
Personal details:
Dr Christiane Brokmann-Nooren holds a Diplom degree in education, specialising in adult and further education. She has been working at the University of Oldenburg, where she also completed her doctorate in educational science, since 1986 - initially at the Centre for Advanced Scientific Training (ZWW) and since 2008 at the C3L. There she heads the "Opening up the University" department and the "Education and Management" department. In addition to guest and senior citizen study programmes, her areas of focus also include the KinderUniversität Oldenburg, the recognition of skills acquired outside of higher education, qualifications for teachers in adult and advanced scientific training, further education - in short: lifelong learning for all.
About the award:
The civil Order of Orange-Nassau is awarded by the Dutch royal family on nomination to people "who have made a special personal contribution to society, the state or the royal house over a long period of time". It exists in six classes: Knight Grand Cross, Grand Officer, Commander, Officer, Knight and Member.
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