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The mayor of Apolda, Germany, visits Rapid City for the first time.
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FarkRAPID CITY -- Apolda's Burgermeister Rudiger Eisenbrand lives in an "American style house," so the Apolda mayor's first visit to America is especially exciting.
"We started living in an American house and now we are going to get to know the country," Eisenbrand said.
Eisenbrand and his wife, Sabine, traveled to Rapid City with a group of 13 Apolda students and two teachers who are spending two weeks in Rapid City as part of the Sister City exchange program.
Like all Apolda visitors, the Eisenbrands are staying with a host family -- Daniel and Barbara Gammeter.
Eisenbrand met Rapid City Mayor Alan Hanks on Tuesday. The men huffed and puffed their way to the top of Mount Rushmore National Memorial and spent the evening at a dinner hosted by Ron and Vivian Jorgensen.
Eisenbrand speaks little English and Hanks speaks no German, but with the help of Gudrun Roppernach, a teacher from Apolda, the two mayors managed to draw some contrasts and comparisons between their communities.
"There are a lot of similarities, but there are also some differences," Hanks said. Both mayors deal with many of the same issues and problems, he said.
Apolda, which is a community of about 25,000 people, has 30 commissioners in contrast to the 10 who represent Rapid City's 68,000 citizens, according to Hanks.
Eisenbrand told Hanks that with so many representatives it's hard to get things done. Hanks noted that unlike Rapid City's non-partisan city council, seats on Apolda's commission are political.
"We're both struggling to find additional money for infrastructure," Hanks said.
Eisenbrand, a former computer teacher, joked that he had "kind of a mid-life crisis" when he decided to run for office a year ago.
"That's a life-crisis," chuckled former Rapid City Mayor Ed McLauglin. McLaughlin was mayor in 1993 when Jody Ketel and Vivian Jorgensen first suggested forming a sister city relationship with Apolda.
Hanks, who faced eight candidates and went through a run-off election, was amazed to learn that Eisenbrand won by a popular vote of more than 78 percent against only one other challenger.
When they visited Apolda in 1993, Ketel and Jorgensen were the first American women to visit the former eastern block country after the end of the Cold War, Jorgensen said.
This fall, 51 Apolda residents will have shared homes and cultures with Rapid City residents over a period of three weeks.
The sister city link between Rapid City and Apolda, forged in 1994, is frequently used as a model by the American Consulate in Germany, according to McLaughlin.
The sister city bond between Rapid City and Apolda has created many long-lasting friendships, Jorgensen said.
After growing up under the restrictions of the East German government, the freedom to travel wherever they want is a great experience for all of his countrymen, Eisenbrand said.
Apolda also has sister cities in Sweden and in France, he said.
"Most overwhelming is the friendliness and hospitality of all the people," he said.
"We were taught in GDR times that capitalism/imperialism is the worst, and that people were not friendly," said Roppernach, who is making her fourth visit to Rapid City. "And, this is really not true. We want to bring many people together from Apolda and your town."
Contact Andrea Cook at 394-8423 or andrea.cook@rapidcityjournal.com
It took a good translator, but Rudiger Eisenbrand, left, mayor of Rapid City's Sister City Apolda, Germany, Rapid City Mayor Alan Hanks and former Mayor Ed McLaughlin learned that their city governments face many of the same challenges. McLaughlin was mayor when Rapid City and Apolda began a Sister City relationship in 1994. Pictured are Eisenbrand, his wife Sabine Eisenbrand, Gudrune Roppernach, who teaches English in Apolda, Vivian Jorgensen, McLaughlin and Hanks. (Andrea Cook/Journal Staff)
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