By Heidi Trautmann

It is with the words ‘The old captain leaves the vessel, a new one takes over’ the Counsellor at the German Embassy Peter Neven bade farewell to the old captain and expressed a welcome to the new one. Mr. Björn Luley navigated the ship for three and a half years very successfully and leaves it to the new captain Dr. Christiane Krämer in good order.

It is the right moment to think back to the same event when Mr. Luley took over. I was present and wrote about it, see the link below:

http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=6142272448#.VMpMKtKUfg8

In May 2011 Mr. Luley took over the ship from Mrs. Ute Woermann-Styliano, having led the Goethe Zentrum in such a manner that the transition back to the form of Institute was trouble-free for Mr. Luley, it is on the basis of her work, that the new Institute could without any problems continue where Mrs. Ute Woermann-Styliano and her team had left it in a well functioning order.

The philosophy of not taking sides in the political scenery but to help building the road between the two separate sides was continued on the basis of bi-communal events in the arts and culture. Many artists on both sides of the green line remember gratefully the many opportunities in the past and they sincerely hope that it will continue to exist as a venue of trust and peace. 

Cyprus is part of Europe not only by the fact of membership but by the many centuries long history, Turkish as well as Greek Cypriots regard themselves as Europeans and not as part of Asia.

Mr. Luley made his farewell speech with the humour we are used from him and he is very much looking forward to enter the new adventure of being a retired man and having plenty of time to travel to distant coasts with his wife.  A member of the staff recited a long poem on his working style and we all had a good laugh which made parting easier but he promised to come back to Cyprus.... to see how we all are getting on.

The new director Dr. Christiane Krämer has just left her last post at the Goethe-Institut in Amman/Jordan and with her entrance speech she promised to continue the successful road of cooperation her predecessors have walked along.

The lecture hall was crowded with invited guests, the tables were loaded with food and drinks and a good friend of Mr. Luley’s, the pianist Axel Zwingenberger, surprised us with some jazz and boogie-woogie played on the Goethe piano which brought a festive note and more animated conversations. It was a sort of a teaser for the concert on January 29 at the Shoe Factory in Nicosia, organised by the Goethe-Institut and the Pharos Foundation.

Axel Zwingenberger is called the ‘King of Boogie-Woogie’ and we saw not only his fingers dance over the keys but his red shoes too.

May Mr. And Mrs Luley fare well, they have left on Friday, 30 January 2015 for Frankfurt, and may Dr. Christiane Krämer have a pleasant start in her new position.