In May 1982, the German-American Friends Niederrhein (GAFN) was founded to promote and deepen the friendship between the peoples of the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States of America.

This family style club was the first German-American club in Northrhine-Westphalia to join the Federation of German-American Clubs (FGAC), the nationwide umbrella organization which comprises at the moment 33 German-American clubs.

The purpose and aims of the non-profit GAFN are achieved through:

1. membership in the Federation of German-American Clubs
2. participating and cooperating in programs of the Federation of German-American Clubs
3. promoting and maintaining contacts between Germans and Americans, particularly taking care of American guests and students
4. taking care of the American students of the program
5. taking care of German applicants to the program of student exchange with the USA
6. supporting the youth program of the Federation

Most of the 132 members of the club - about 15 % of these are Americans or other nationalities - live in the Duesseldorf/Duisburg area.

The club's activities and programs, about every 4 - 6 weeks, cover themes from cultural background such as art, literature, history or music, often concerning mutual German-American issues.
In addition the club also offers a group to go in for sports.

Yearly events are:

• celebration of the American Independence Day in July with a potluck picnic
• celebration of the German-American Day in October with a gala evening under the patronage of the Minister President of Northrhine-Westphalia and the American Ambassador to Germany
• at irregular intervals the FGAC invites both German and American students to get together on the Lower Rhine.
  In all cases the exchange students live with host families, who are members of the GAFN

Since 1985 the club has annually sponsored an American exchange student from the Federation at the Universität Duisburg / Essen, and since 1991 an additional student at the Heinrich-Heine-Universität of Duesseldorf. Accordingly German students from the Niederrhein area could be provided with annual scholarships at universities in the USA. Since its founding in 1948 the FGAC has facilitated more than 2000 student exchanges.

Exchange students visiting Castle Hohenzollern welcomed by Prinz Georg Friedrich von Preußen

Unsere Clubhomepage:
http://www.daf-niederrhein.de