PRESS RELEASE
25 February 2008
Awards for exceptional international projects by young people for peace and understanding
Berlin. Young people from Poland, Israel and Germany have together produced a documentary musical into which they weave impressions gained in their interviews with Holocaust survivors and former forced labourers. In a photography exhibition, a German-Polish team captured the revolutionary atmosphere that prevailed in Danzig and Leipzig at the end of the 1980s, documenting one example of fundamental and yet non-violent political change.
The Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” launched the Europeans for Peace programme to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. Up to 2006, the main task of the programme was to make payments to former forced labourers. In programme year 2006/2007, young people in Germany, Central and Eastern Europe and Israel were called on to form international partnerships and to address the question: “Which men and women have shown particular courage in working for peace in the 20th century?”
From the over 110 applications submitted by international partnerships, 50 were selected for funding and received support amounting to EUR 673,000. The project results included 17 exhibitions, 13 films, 12 publications, two plays and four new websites. The school pupils from Israel, Poland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Bulgaria who worked on the 12 top projects will receive their prizes in Berlin on 25 February.
Prize money of EUR 1,500 will be handed over to each of the award-winning projects and the members of the project teams can enjoy a three-day weekend in Berlin. The international jury, comprising education experts and historians, evaluated the projects on the basis of quality and sustainability criteria. “The prize-winners in the Europeans for Peace programme have shown a high level of creativity and commitment in exploring these historical issues. They discovered inspirational figures who acted with courage and integrity - and at the same time formed friendships across national borders. This motivates us to come together and to learn from history and also to make a contribution to international understanding,” commented Guenther Saathoff, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Foundation “Responsibility, Remembrance and Future” on Monday in Berlin.
Dr Marek Prawda, Polish Ambassador, and Ilan Mor, Chargé d’Affaires at the Israeli Embassy, will be among the guests at the awards ceremony on 25 February. Holocaust survivor Erna de Vries will take part in a panel discussion and answer questions fielded by the young people.
Europeans for Peace, which is being implemented by MitOst on behalf of the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future”, supports the active commitment of young people to peace and reconciliation. The programme encourages participants to examine the history of World War II and the post-war era in Europe and to link this to contemporary questions about democracy and human rights. To date, over 200 project encounters involving more than 5,000 individual participants have taken place between schools and youth groups from 25 countries. Around EUR 2.5 million has been provided for this purpose.
The Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future”
The Foundation has a mandate to support international projects that promote cooperation in a spirit of partnership between Germany and countries which suffered particular hardship under National Socialism. Out of the income generated by the Foundation assets specifically set aside for long-term project funding, the Foundation makes available around EUR 8 million each year, primarily for projects in the following areas:
- A critical examination of history
- Working for democracy and human rights
- Humanitarian assistance for survivors of National Socialist dictatorship
Courage for peace – awards ceremony
of the Europeans for Peace funding programme for international youth projects
Monday, 25 February 2008
Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften Markgrafenstrasse 38 (Underground station: Stadtmitte, near the Gendarmenmarkt)
10117 Berlin
Start: 5 pm
Reception from 7 pm
Close, around 8 pm
Press Release as a PDF file for download.
Contact:
Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future”
Press and Public Relations
Franka Kuehn
Markgrafenstr. 12 – 14
10969 Berlin, Germany
Tel.: 0049-(0)30-259297-76
M: 0049-(0)174-9801424
Email: kuehn@stiftung-evz.de
www.stiftung-evz.de
www.europeans-for-peace.de
