Princeton Alumni Association summer event which will be held in Trier on the 4th and 5th of August, 2018.
Event Details
In recognition of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx, one of Germany's most famous philosophers, our event will be held in the city of his birth, Trier, the oldest city in Germany.
Founded by the Celts in the late-4th century BCE it was later conquered by the Romans in the late 1st century BCE and renamed Augusta Treverorum. It features a number of the largest and best preserved Roman ruins north of the Alps including the Porta Nigra City Gate, the Barbara Baths and the Trier Imperial Baths. We are fortunate in having as our guest of honor this year: Victor Grossman aka Stephen Wechsler, Harvard Class of 1949
Program:
August 4th, 2018 – 17:00 – Reception with guest of honor at the Park Plaza Hotel
August 4th, 2018 – 19:30 – Dinner at the Park Plaza Hotel
August 5th, 2018 – 10:00 – Walking tour of the Old City of Trier
August 5th, 2018 – 12:00 – Lunch together at a restaurant to be announced
We are fortunate in having as our guest of honor this year:
Victor Grossman aka Stephen Wechsler, Harvard Class of 1949
Mr. Grossman is an author and journalist with a most unusual biography. The grandson of Jewish refugees who fled the pogroms in tsarist Russia he joined the Communist Party as an undergraduate attracted by its opposition to racism, exploitation and, most importantly, Nazi Germany. After taking a degree in economics from Harvard he was employed as a factory worker until being drafted into the US Army in 1951. While serving in Austria and fearing the McCarthy-inspired prosecution of members of left-wing organizations he swam across the Danube and defected to the Soviets. He was then sent to East Germany where he studied journalism at the Karl Marx University becoming the only person holding degrees from both Harvard and KMU. After that he made his living as a journalist and author. He is a frequent contributor to the Marxist magazine, Monthly Review. Mr. Grossman will share with us his reflections after 24 years in the USA, 38 years in the German Democratic Republic and 28 years in the Federal Republic of Germany.