Omaha, USA - City in the "Heartlands"

The friendship city in the heartlands lies in the heart of the United States, directly on "Interstate 80", the only coast-to-­coast highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Omaha was founded by settlers from the neighbouring state of Iowa, when in 1854 they were at last allowed to cross the Missouri and settle on the west bank of the river.

According to a native-American legend, the name Omaha ­means "higher than all other places along a river". After President Abraham Lincoln had declared Omaha to be the terminus of the first transcontinental railroad, immigrants from Europe, among them many Germans, streamed into the rapidly growing town.

The favourable site, the fertile soil and the waters of the Missouri still form the basis of Nebraska's modern agriculture and industry and influence life in the city of Omaha, with its population of some 360,000.

Relations with Brunswick go back to a 1985 initiative by the German-American Society in Omaha. In the following years youth- and adult exchange programmes were carried out by both cities. School partnerships and contacts between Brunswick's Technical University and the University of Nebraska in Omaha developed and intensified.

After a visit by an official delegation from Omaha in autumn 1991, a friendship agreement was signed in Brunswick six months later, on 22 May 1992. On this occasion Omaha participated in the Harz und Heide Fair. An official delegation from Brunswick returned the visit in the same year.

There followed regular youth- and school exchange programmes, study excursions and cultural events. In May 2000 a choir and a music group from the University of Nebraska visited Brunswick and gave concerts.

Activities

1985: start of the youth- and adult exchange programme
Exchange between the Technical University, Brunswick and the University of Nebraska

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