Baltimore-Bremerhaven Sister City Program

Think of a city located by the sea and well known as a port city. This locale is also known for its shipbuilding and maritime past. In fact shipbuilding and exportation of seafood and other goods is what actually created this municipality. Sailing ships are an important part of this city’s history and still play an important role in its current activities; in fact you can find them in the harbor. This mystery city had millions of people travel through its portals, and today has a great zoo, maritime museums, art museums, and several fine theaters. This city also is renowned for its seafood, science centers, and recognized for its many maritime industries.

So now, it comes time to guess the name of this enigmatic city. You say it is Baltimore, good guess, but wrong. It is Bremerhaven, Germany.

Now that you are aware of a city with so many similarities with that of Baltimore, surely you can understand why Bremerhaven would be an excellent Sister City. Bremerhaven has gone through recent modernization renaissances much like Baltimore’s Charles Center I & II and Inner Harbor projects which have turned Baltimore into an international tourist attraction. Likewise this has done the same for Bremerhaven. The Bremerhaven harbor has a submarine, a maritime ship, old sailing ships, and vessels of all sorts to visit, just like Baltimore. More importantly over 2 million people emigrated to Baltimore from Bremen/Bremerhaven, and today Baltimore’s port does more business with Bremerhaven than any other port in the world. What other reasons could you possibly want to make Bremerhaven, Germany a Baltimore Sister City?

Sister City Committee

• Established in 2007, the Baltimore-Bremerhaven Sister City Committee is interested in sponsoring various educational, cultural, and business activities that will benefit both cities.
• Some events of the committee included a gathering at the Fairfield Inn in Baltimore in 2010, and a presentation of the Auswanderer Haus traveling exhibit at the German Society Office on Mt Vernon Place. Brigitte and Nick Fessenden attended the "Sail Bremerhaven 2010" event in Bremerhaven, Germany. The exchange visit of the students and teachers from the Geschwister Scholl school took place in April 2011.

The 2011 participants in our Sister Cities student exchange program between the Geschwister Scholl Schule in Bremerhaven and the Bryn Mawr School of Baltimore.

The exchange took place in April and included six German students seen here with their American "sisters" at a Farewell Party hosted by the Baltimore-Bremerhaven Sister Cities Committee. A return visit by the Bryn Mawr girls to Bremerhaven is planned for next year.