"I've never forgotten the Foundation." Interview with Stephan Erb, one of the first employees of the IYMC in Krzyżowa, currently Managing Director of the PNWM in Potsdam

• The Krzyżowa Foundation: Do you remember the moment when you were in Krzyżowa for the first time?
  
  
• Stephan Erb: I came to Krzyżowa for the first time in 1994. At that time, I had just finished my studies and got a job as a pedagogue at Krzyżowa. I was one of the young people who worked at the IYMC and supported and led groups that came to Krzyżowa. These were often Polish-German student exchange programs. But at that time, the " Krzyżowa " Foundation also organized workcamps. Young people from different countries met to work together and renovate the building complex. They spent nights in tents near the House on the Hill.
  
  For five years, until 1999, I worked in Krzyżowa, but also after that time I was connected with the Foundation and the place. For several years, I was a member of the Foundation's Supervisory Board and the IYMC Board. Since 2008, I have been working in the Polish-German Youth Cooperation, where I continue to support Polish-German youth meetings.

Read more: "I've never forgotten the Foundation" - interview with Stephan Erb

Before our June happened to us, it took a few months, which suddenly started to flow in Poland at an accelerated pace. In order to understand the circumstances of the creation of the Krzyżowa Foundation, it is necessary to outline the atmosphere of those times.

After the sad years of the grey and coarse communist regime of the 1980s, important and extremely interesting things began to happen in Poland. Everybody frantically discussed the political changes and asked what would happen next. The economy in the country has been ruined. In the Soviet Union, Gorbachev introduces Perestroika, civil movements are beginning to form in the Baltic states, in Hungary, the right to free association (an unknown phenomenon in communism) is enacted, in the USA, the president is Ronald Reagan, who has set himself the goal of defeating communism. Germany was divided into two German states, and in the GDR the rebellion, the first protests and the first arrests began to grow. In Poland, after a dark night of martial law, strikes broke out every now and then and then and it was clear that something was hanging in the air. The authorities bent and agreed to meet the opposition at a round table, where the first free elections, freedom of the press and many other things that were not in the minds of anyone were established. A lot thing was going on at a fast pace. Newspapers became fascinating from day to day, which did not happen before. There was no end to the discussions of Poles until late at night.

Read more: Our June 1989 - Maryna and Michał Czapliński

On September 27th, in front of the gate of the Krzyżowa Foundation, Helmuth Caspar von Moltke - son of Helmuth James and Freya von Moltke, owners of the Krzyżowa estate and members of the Kreisau Circle, in the presence of the co-founders of the Foundation, Father Adam Żak SJ and Annemarie Cordes, planted the Oak of Remembrance. It was a symbolic event showing two dimensions of the history of Krzyżowa - the one connected with the Kreisau Circle and the one connected with the creation of the Foundation.

The tree planted by Hemuth Caspar von Moltke replaced the old oak, which had to be removed due to its bad condition. It was on this oak that in August 1946, on the order of the Governor of Świdnica, a list of Germans still living in Krzyżowa was established. They were to leave the village within three days and go, like their compatriots living in this area, to Gracowice, from where they were transported to various occupation zones in Germany.

- This tree had a special meaning. It grew long, it was seen by all the inhabitants who came to the nearby church. We plant a new oak in this symbolic way, because we want to show what the Foundation is - a place that unites people, unites Poles and Germans, unites us in a common reflection on history, but also unites our common work for the future - said Dr. Robert Żurek, Managing Director of the Krzyżowa Foundation during the ceremony.

Read more: Helmuth Caspar von Moltke planted an Oak of Remembrance in Krzyżowa - 27.09.2019 (PHOTO)

The Krzyżowa Foundation for Mutual Understanding in Europe together with its partners organized a conference which reflected on how Krzyżowa and other places for dialogue and meetings can contribute to the process of conflict prevention not only at national but also at European level.

In June 1989 a conference brought together different people from Poland, both parts of Germany, the Netherlands and the United States of America in Wroclaw. The event was hosted by the Club of Catholic Intelligence in Wroclaw and was entitled "Christ in Society".

The topics of the conference were opposition and resistance, youth and adult education, applied Christianity and democracy. In concrete terms, however, the participants were also concerned with saving the Krzyżowa estate, where the Kreisau circle had met during the Second World War. In Krzyżowa the visible decay was to be stopped and the complex transformed into a meeting place.

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of this meeting, which was described by the participants as a drastic and inspiring experience and which is the birth moment of today's Krzyżowa Foundation, we organized a conference which refered to the one from 1989.

Read more: Conference "The challenge of dialogue: Democracy, Religion and Resistance in Society" - Krzyżowa,...