Debattiergesellschaft Jena elected a new executive board on June 21. Jonathan Scholbach is the new president, Sandrina Küppers his deputy and the treasurer is Robert Stendel. Congratulations and good luck with your work! xzy / tr

To learn more on ZEIT DEBATTE Jena 2011, please do not hesitate to read the German version of this article. The tournament series ZEIT DEBATTEN is organised by VDCH, the Association of Debating Societies at Universities, in cooperation with the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT and German Telekom as well as with the support of ZDF, a German public broadcaster. It has been a decade now since the first ZEIT DEBATTEN series started with at least five big annual competitions. One of these is the German debating championship. Honorary patron of the series is the former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt. tr

This article is not available in English. Please read the German version to learn about how the prelims of this tourney were spread all over town - in shared flats.

The next big event of the ZEIT DEBATTEN series is looking just around the corner: The ZEIT DEBATTE in Jena is open for registration. From 20 to 22nd May this tournament will take place in Jena, Germany. The convenors allure to German speaking debaters with the "Wartburg" style where no proposals are allowed so you have to create questions that can be answered clearly with “yes” or “no”. ...

We are sorry, this article is not available in English. Please read the German version and get to know how debaters from five German cities enjoyed the small tournament in Wartburg style in Jena.

Jonathan Scholbach, Severin Weingarten and Eva Schlindwein (Debattiergesellschaft Jena) have just won this year’s Jena Open defying the Pro side. The motion reads "Open Goverment statt Geheimdiplomatie? – Sollen staatliche Informationen frei verfügbar sein?". ...

Pubs, comedians and potato salad: These things and even more were provided during the debating workshop of Debattiergesellschaft Jena (DGJ) from 12 till 14 November. Originally thought of as an internal event, the non-competitive debaters’ meeting did not only attract speakers from DGJ but also especially debating novices from other clubs like Dresden, Magdeburg and Munich. In a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere the debates were held in the established formats Open Parliamentary Debate (OPD) and British Parliamentary Style (BPS) but also in Wartburg style. Some speakers even tried to discuss under the rules of Disputation. It was very particular for this ...

On 4 November, the Debattiergesellschaft Jena (DGJ) organised its annual ZEIT DEBATTEN evening, which is a public debating contest between students and professors. In the last years, the exhibition debate that is generously supported by the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT had inspired a lot of spectators and made them familiar with debating in general. This year the team of professors consisted of Eberhard Eichenhofer (Law), Alfred Fahr (Biology/Pharmaceutics) and Andreas Freytag (Economics). Speaking for DGJ were Clemens Lechner, Friederike Meyer zu Wendischhoff and Jonathan Scholbach - Clemens being a German Debating Championship finalist of three times, Friederike and Jonathan finalists ...

A weekend filled with fun and debate – this is what the Debattiergesellschaft Jena (DGJ) offers from 12 to 14 November in their Thuringian hometown. Participants get to know various formats, from Wartburg (a special format developped in Thuringia and named after the famous castle), OPD (Open Parliamentary Debate, widely spread in Germany), and BPS (British Parliamentary Style) to Disputation (a format of strict rules based on Aristotle’s disputation). Aim of the non-competitive debaters’ meeting is to experience and learn – especially for adjudicators, since they should not focus on ranking teams during any tournament, but should rather exercise constructive ...