The AIESEC History Project


 

So what’s behind this story?!

This question was answered a few months ago when one of the members of the large German Alumni community, Alexander Flieger, decided to do in-depth research on the AIESEC history.

Along with his family, Alexander accepted an invitation from Jean Choplin, one of the founding members of AIESEC with the aim to document the founding years of AIESEC as best as he could.

This matter has been discussed by PAAI Alexander Tichy and the current PAI Abdelrahman Ayman during the Supervisory Group meeting held in Rotterdam at the end of August. Alumni Hall of Famer and AAG-EB member Carsten Tonn had the great idea to bring together two elder friends and prominent personalities of the AIESEC founding years to discuss Alexander Flieger’s findings. The plan was to bring AI and AAI leadership together for a task force (TF on AIESEC History) for a few days at a joint venue. It was decided that the best place and time would be the national conference of the AIESEC youth in Germany taking place at the beginning of October 2017.

PAI Abdo and two fellow AI members came down from Rotterdam, PAAI Alex came over from Vienna and the entire board of AAG traveled to the venue near Bielefeld/Paderborn. The highlight of the event, without a doubt, was the reunion of two AIESEC icons: Jean Choplin and the founder of AIESEC Germany Dr. Albert Kaltenthaler. During the dinner with the task force of around 20 people, the discussion revolved around the findings of the research and the creation of a comprehensive story of AIESEC´s history during the weekend. It was a memorable moment when the task force made a surprise appearance at the national conference in front of over 300 delegates.

Having the chance to personally meet two founding members of AIESEC as well as both AI and AAI leadership and the whole AAG board was mind-blowing for the AIESECers present. It was a great example of how cooperation for mutual benefit within AIESEC is possible. The next steps are to commit everything to paper and release a final version during the 70th anniversary of AIESEC at IC 2018.

 

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