ABSTRACT
This chapter examines from the unique perspective of an academic historian, who also led the institution in the mid-1990s, Wilton Park’s institutional evolution and challenges to its existence before 1996. Wilton Park’s founder, Sir Heinz Koeppler, sought to ‘re-educate’ German officers in the principles of democracy, initially centred on the UK model. Wilton Park became an integral part of Churchill’s liberal vision to rebuild post-war Germany. After the original mission was accomplished, its existence was challenged by various government departments on numerous occasions. Wilton Park survived by expanding both the topics addressed and the basis on which participants were invited, first to include Europe and eventually from the rest of the world. Another primary reason for Wilton Park’s success is that its work is planned in conjunction with, but executed independently from, the British government and is known to be so. Whatever changes and improvements have been made, Koeppler’s aims and methods have stood the test of time.
