Terre des Hommes as well as the Gestapokeller memorials and Augustaschacht in Osnabrück start model project for young people
06.05.2022 - Against the background of the war in Ukraine, Terre des Hommes and the Gestapokeller and Augustaschacht memorials in Osnabrück have launched a joint model project for young refugees. In the past few months, many people from Ukraine have been recording in the city and in the Osnabrück district. Families from Russia and Belarus also live in the region. The planned project combines the war experiences of different generations. During National Socialism, the Augustaschacht site served as a labor education camp, in which many forced laborers from the German -occupied areas of the former Soviet Union were imprisoned. Against this background, the project is also intended to address affected young people in the region, who now have to experience the war as a violent hostility between states with Soviet history. The aim is to give those affected in workshops the opportunity to reflect on their experiences in the context of a culture of memory and to find peaceful forms of living together. The model project is financially supported by the Lions Club Osnabrück Heger Tor.
The Gestapokeller and Augustaschacht memorial association has already carried out numerous international workshops on the subject of National Socialism and war with young people in the past. Dr. Michael Gander, Managing Director of the Association: »We have already successfully practiced our cultural cultural approach at various youth workshops of the memorials during the Russian annexation of the Crimea and the military separation of eastern areas of Ukraine. It has proven itself as a sustainable model. We also gradually want to involve civil society organizations from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia in the project that has now been decided.
Terre des Hommes supports more than 250 projects in 37 countries, including in numerous civil war regions. Because of the war, projects in Ukraine, neighboring countries and Germany are also encouraged for refugees and their families. »The promotion of peace culture is one of our most important strategic goals. The active participation of children and adolescents in reconciliation of admitted warring is a central concern in our project work. Despite all the traumatic war experiences, it is children and adolescents who have to get the chance for peaceful cooperation. Our projects should make a contribution to this worldwide, «Terre of Hommes board member Beat Wehrle and refers to practical experience from this work that is to be brought into the joint project.
For financial support, the President of the Lions Club Osnabrück said Heger Tor, Dr. Stefan Breer: »We look forward to the initiative of Terre des Hommes and the Gestapokeller and Augustaschacht. We are happy to support this project because we believe that this creates a bridge for the peaceful coexistence of different cultures in our peace city of Osnabrück. «