An Interview with Secretary-General Knopp: “Keep calm!”
13 December 2011
He has been at the Goethe-Institut for 28 years and has been its secretary-general since 2005. Now Hans-Georg Knopp’s term is coming to an end. This is enough reason for us to look back at the years in which the doctor of Indology made his mark on the Goethe-Institut and was marked, in turn, by it.
Knopp, with a doctorate in Indology, came to the Goethe-Institut for the first time in 1974. He made his career here with an interruption of almost ten years during which he was secretary-general and director of the House of World Cultures. Mumbai, Colombo, Jakarta, Singapore, Chicago – and Munich, of course: Knopp experienced the institute at the most varied times, in the most varied of places and from the most varied perspectives.
As he was preparing to return to the homeland after five years as director of the Goethe-Institut Chicago, on saying farewell, his secretary told him she had never laughed as much as she had in those years. It was a big compliment and a suitable one. For Hans-Georg Knopp does not like taking himself too seriously. And anyway, according to Knopp the deathly seriousness often attributed to Germans does not exist. That is why he was not all that surprised that Germany landed pretty high up on a popularity scale ascertained by the BBC. “Maybe we are a very likeable country.”
What does the 66-year old like to remember most? What moved him in particular? What will he miss the most? Find out in a conversation about Goethe, generals, secretaries and the little prince.
Secretary-General Knopp en route: “Lots of laughter” (Photo: Bernhard Ludewig)
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