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History of CER

General history of AA Evolution of CER
1950 November 16th Dr. Bob (co-founder of AA) dies
1952 First AA Roundup in Wiesbaden American High School
1953 June The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (12 x 12) is published
1953 November 2nd Hotel Leopold Munich
First invitation to Germans to an open AA meeting.
1954 October The “Alcoholic Foundation” becomes the “General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous”
1955 July 20th Anniversary Convention in Saint Louis, MO
1957 Creation of First Overseas General Service Board of Alcoholics Ano nymous in Great Britain and Ireland; “AA Comes of Age” published AA membership soars to over two-hundred thousand people, with more than 7000 groups in seventy countries and US possessions.
1959 AA Publishing, Incorporated becomes AA World Services, Incorporated
1960 July 25th Anniversary Convention in Long Beach, CA.
1962 Publication of the “12 Concepts for World Service” written by Bill W.
1962 Invitation extended to Bill W. and Lois to attend the 10th Annual Roundup in Wiesbaden
1962 AA meetings started in Hamburg (with the help of Mr. Abel from England) and in Düsseldorf (with the assistance of Robert from Chicago). [information extracted from the German Archives]
1962 First AA meeting at the South Side Chapel at Ramstein Air Base.
1962 Twenty active meetings are listed in the AA World Directory with about 170 members.
1963 First AA meeting in Berlin (information provided by Ed from Zehlendorf)
1963 Meetings in Bad Kreuznach and Aschaffenburg
1964 October 11th First meeting of the Greater Frankfurt Area Intergroup, which consisted one German and seven American groups
1965 July Change of the ratio of trustees of the General Serivce Board (now two-thirds majority of Alcoholic members). The AA Fellowship accepts top responsibilities for all its future affairs
1967 Publication of the book “The AA Way of Life”, now called “As Bill Sees It”
1969 First World Service Meeting held in New York with delegates from fourteen countries Munich
HELD in US Army hospital Perlacher Forst housing area (what was held?)
1970 Thirty-fifth Anniversary Convention held in Miami Beach, FL
1971 January 24th William Griffith Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, dies in Miami Beach, FL.
1971 November 26th First Intergroup meeting held at Sembach Air Base; the existing groups were divided into six areas, each area having its own Chairperson who is to be present at the Intergroup meetings
1972 Second World Service meeting is held in New York. Doctor Jack Norris, the non-alcoholic trustee, is sent from GSO New York to Germany to contact the military and meet with Intergroup members in Wiesbaden and Semback
1973 Publication of “Came to Believe” Intergroup Continental Europe grows to nine areas
1973 Meetings in Mannheim and Bamberg
1973 April Distribution of the book “Alcoholics Anonymous” reaches the one million mark
1973 June 30th to July 1st First Intergroup Roundup in Wiesbaden
1974 Intergroup Roundup in Lahr
1975 Publication of “Living Sober” German-American Roundup in Kassel, Germany
1975 June 1st English-speaking Convention in Brussels
1975 September 25th First AA meeting in Rome at the US Embassy
1975 First AA meeting in Den Haag, Holland
1976 Publication of the Third Edition of the book “Alcoholics Anonymous” First AA meeting in Naples, Italy
1977 Holland joins Intergroup Continental Europe
1979 Frankfurt International group celebrates its 25th Anniversary
1980 Regionalization of GSO in Great Britain occurs Intergroup is invited by GSO Great Britain to send 2 delegates to conference at Manchester
1980 A letter is sent to New York GSO to clarify where Intergroup belongs
1980 GSO Great Britain extends an invitation to Continental Intergroup to become a Region in GSO Great Britain
1980 to 1981 Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Switzerland and Paris become Areas in Intergroup Continental Europe
1981 Intergroup Continental Europe cooperates with GSO Great Britain in planning the First European Service Meeting and since then held every two years in the Fall. Intergroup Continental Europe is represented by two delegates from each Area
1981 Intergroup Continental Europe now has twelve Areas
1981 Bad Tölz and Munich are combined to become Area XIII
1985 Jack G. of GSO Great Britain visits meeting in Nürnberg
1981 Intergroup Continental Europe now has fifteen Areas
1985 August 3-4 Jack G. from London attends the restructure of Intergroup Continental Europe as a Region in Service Structure of Great Britain
1988 At the GS Conference in York, England, Intergroup Continental Europe is accepted as the fifteenth Region in the Service Structure of Great Britain The three new Intergroups (Intergroup I, Intergroup II, and Intergroup III) become Region fifteen in the the Service Structure of Great Britain
1988 October 5th Lois Burnam Wilson dies
1990 District I joins Region as Intergroup IV
1991 Intergroups form Areas for better communication and distances
1994 Intergroups I-IV dissolve, and form new Intergroups:
Rheinland-Pfalz
Scanelux
Triborders
Hessen
Rhein-Neckar
Bavaria
Berlin
Franconia
1995 General Service Conference approves new Region title now Continental European Region Now Continental European Region
2001 April General Service Conference question the feasibility of Continental European Region in Service Structure of Great Britain Continental European Region receives full approval as a Region in the Service Structure of GSO Great Britain

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