About the Foundation
In 1986, Mr. Halle created The Halle Foundation as a vehicle for supporting and strengthening the relationship between the United States and Germany for the long term.

Since Mr. Halle’s death in 2004, the Foundation has operated as an independent, grantmaking charity that is tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is classified by the Internal Revenue Service as a public charity described in section 509(a)(3) of the Code. The Foundation headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia, and it is governed by a four-member board of trustees and managed by a full-
time executive director.

The mission of The Halle Foundation is to promote understanding, knowledge, and friendship between the people of Germany, as seen in its European context, and those of the United States. In furtherance of this mission, the Foundation supports, primarily through grantmaking, initiatives and activities in the fields of education, culture, science, technology, language, scholarship, and international relations. The Foundation makes grants to organizations organized and operated in both the United States and Germany. Funding is largely limited to US-based public charities exempt under section 501(c)(3) and to German organizations which are the tax equivalent of such charities. In keeping with the founder’s preference, most U.S. grants are made to organizations and institutions operating within, or with some discernable connection to, the state of Georgia.

About Mr. Halle
Claus Halle was an international business executive and philanthropist. Born in Schwelm, Germany in 1927, Mr. Halle was conscripted as a young teen into the German army during the latter part of World War II and surrendered to the American forces in 1945. Following his release, he began a remarkable career with The Coca-Cola Company as a truck deliveryman in Essen, Germany. Over the next 45 years, he rose to
the most senior ranks of the company, including service as President of Coca-Cola Germany, President of Coca-Cola Europe and, ultimately, Senior Executive Vice President of The Coca-Cola Company and President of Coca-Cola International. He lived most of his adult life in the United States in Atlanta, Georgia.

The GACC South is a private, non-profit organization and serves as the official representative of German industry and trade in the Southern U.S. It is part of an international network composed of 150 German Chambers of Commerce Abroad and delegation offices in 93 countries. The GACCs are one of the largest bi-national chambers in the U.S. The German American Chamber of Commerce of the Southern United States, Inc. (GACC South) was founded in 1978 to promote and support bilateral trade between Germany and the U.S. The GACC South is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with a branch office in Houston, Texas. The GACC South serves eleven Southern states – Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, two U.S. Territories – Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as the Bahamas. In addition, five local chapters located in Florida, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas support the region, as well as our two affiliates the German American Business Chamber of South Florida (GABC) in Miami, Florida and the AlabamaGermany Partnership (AGP) in Birmingham, Alabama.

The German Consulate General in Atlanta is the official representation of the German government to the southeast of the United States. The consular district includes Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

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CLICK HERE to read a message from the Consul General of Germany in Atlanta, Melanie Moltmann

The German Program at the School of Modern Languages at the Georgia Institute of Technology offers a minor in German, as well as undergraduate and graduate degrees in German. They provide students with an integrative academic education that emphasizes linguistic and cultural proficiency, intercultural studies, and applied language use. A close-knit combination of language and culture courses, faculty-led study abroad programs, and extracurricular events and opportunities facilitate the opportunity for our students to make German an integral part of their academic studies and professional careers. They offer students an educational experience that combines intellectually rigorous, interdisciplinary approaches reflecting faculty research agendas with an intercultural education that prepares students as citizens and leaders on the international job market as much as in their local communities. German language skills are valued in many areas, such as manufacturing, logistics, agriculture, software and communications,
and transportation.