Annemarie Cordes

*29 July 1951 ꝉ 22 May 2023

"Was it courage? Or maybe it was something much simpler: sometimes you just have to start without knowing where the journey will lead". With these sentences ends Annemarie Cordes' account of the founding evening of the Kreisau-Initiative association on 10 November 1989, when, in the spirit of change and vibrant excitement following the fall of the Berlin Wall, people from West Berlin and East Berlin who were interested in the Kreisau Circle met for the first time. Annemarie Cordes enthusiastically followed the spirit of the period. She trusted in the beginnings and, together with a group of like-minded people, decided to turn the idea of establishing a European educational and meeting place in Krzyżowa into a reality. The result was almost 35 years of social activity, a lifetime project.

The House on the Hill is the heart of the Krzyżowa remembrance and education work. The members of the Kreisau Circle met in the former home of Helmuth James and Freya von Moltke during the Second World War.The building was completely renovated in the '90s and ceremonially opened as a memorial and residential building in 1998. Over the past decade or so, the technical condition of the building has deteriorated significantly due to humidity and under the influence of weather conditions.Therefore, in 2022, a technical dossier was started, which will form the basis, planned for the following years, for the renovation of our memorial.

External construction work will begin later in 2023. The foundations will be drained and insulated, and the roof and elevation renovated. Therefore, guests visiting the Krzyżowa Foundation must expect restricted access to the House on the Hill from July onwards. Work on the interior will continue in the coming years. In addition, renovation and modernisation of the educational area and revitalisation of the garden are planned.

The big challenge for Krzyżowa now is to secure the necessary funding. The Willy Robert Pitzer Foundation, the Dr. Rolf M. Schwiete Foundation and the Georg Zinner Foundation have already pledged the initial funding, while funds are still lacking to complete all the necessary construction and renovation work and the new exhibition and educational space.

From 9-11 June 2023, the Bosch Alumni Forum met for the second time in Krzyżowa. This time the focus was on the topic: Envisioning the Future in Times of Emergencies. Approximately 60 former scholarship holders of the Robert Bosch Foundation from all over the world came together in Krzyżowa with their families. Some of the staff and Board members of the Krzyżowa Foundation were also present. Together, topics and methods from among the group were discussed in open forums and thus perspectives and experiences were exchanged. The question came up whether the crisis-like nature of the present is the new normal or whether stability over so many years was also the old abnormal. Despite such gloomy topics, optimism dominated and many saw new opportunities emerging from the crises. What is certain is that new key skills and approaches are needed to prepare societies for the new challenges. 

The Artistic Council of the Konrad and Paweł Jarodzki Artist-in-Residence Programme (Bożena Grzyb-Jarodzka, Renata Jarodzka, Rafał Jarodzki, Anna Kudarewska, Zbigniew Libera, Dorota Monkiewicz, Ruth Noack, Joanna Sokołowska, Vera Zalutskaya) has selected artists to participate in the upcoming edition of the programme in September and October 2023. The work of the Council is supported by the Permanent Guests: Maryna and Michal Czaplinski. Joanna Sokolowska is the curator of the programme.

The following artists have been selected for the programme: Ulufer Çelik, Daniel Mikulski, Andrea Pichl, Kateryna Lysovenko.

"Come home alive!", "Win!", "May the Lord take care of you! We pray for you!" - these are the slogans we can read on the huge Ukrainian flag donated to our foundation by soldiers fighting at the front.

The flag was prepared by Ukrainian citizens who wanted to give encouragement to those fighting at the front in Bakhmut. After a few months, the soldiers decided to donate the gift to our foundation as a sign of gratitude for the work we do for people in Ukraine.

The touching slogans on the flag form a litany full of pain:

"Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes of the Armed Forces!"

From May 22 to 26, two partner schools from the Hanseatic cities were hosted in Krzyzowa as part of a school exchange: the Sterntalerstrasse school from Hamburg and the Dr. Urszula Mroczkiewicz Elementary School No. 15 from Gdansk, each with 15 students from fourth and fifth grades! After a fun-filled day of integration and an excursion to Görlitz/Görlitz, the children worked on a shadow play that connects the two cities: it tells the story of a drop of water that enters the water cycle through a toilet in Hamburg and, after an adventurous journey, ends up in a rain barrel in Gdansk. In this way, the children were able to experience an artistic connection between their hometowns.

On 3 April 2023, the The ‘Krzyżowa’ Non-Public In-Service Teacher Training Centre started its activities! 

The main objective of the institution is to develop the competence of male and female teachers in the field of knowledge and skills necessary in the educational system.

The main objective of the institution is realised through more specific activities, namely:

• raising the quality of education,
• improving the professional qualifications of male and female teachers and increasing their knowledge and skills,
• developing the education and in-service training of teachers,
• strengthening creative attitudes of teachers and inspiring them to undertake innovative actions,  
• activities for teachers' own development,
• improving didactic and educational work methods.

The Krzyżowa Foundation for Mutual Understanding in Europe has the honour of inviting you to a concert by an orchestra of young artists from Poland, Ukraine and Germany entitled MUSIC FOR FUTURE. 🎼

Tomasz Zwoliński conductor
Mateusz Rusowicz conductor

Dmitry Bortniański Overture to the opera "Falcon"
David Popper Hungarian Rhapsody op. 68
Edward Grieg Pieces selected from the Suite Peer Gynt
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony no. 2

📅 22 July 2023, 18:30

📍PIEKARNIA Żywa Kultura (Centrum Sztuk Performatywnych)

Wrocław, 62 Księcia Witolda St.

Free entry!

Summer Guitar Festival odbywa się nieprzerwanie od 2001 r. Co roku znakomici muzycy z Polski i z zagranicy dzielą się tu swoją wiedzą i umiejętnościami.

The Summer Guitar Festival has been held continuously since 2001. Every year, outstanding musicians from Poland and abroad share their knowledge and skills here. . Mutual understanding and respect is the secret of the success of this magical place, which creates a friendly and comfortable environment for the guitar development of every participant - regardless of level.

Invariably, for over 20 years, the artistic director of the Summer Guitar Festival has been it initiator - an outstanding guitarist and lecturer at the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, Professor Krzysztof Pełech.
Details of the festival can be found at: https://guitarfestival.okis.pl/en/about-sgf/

August 20 marks the beginning of the 9th edition of the Krzyzowa-Music Festival. Music for Europe. Once again the sounds of classical music will resound in the concert halls of Lower Silesia. They will be performed by world-renowned musicians and talented juniors. This year's summer concerts are scheduled in Krzyzowa, Świdnica, Szczawno-Zdrój, Jawor and Wroclaw.

We invite you now to the concerts and symposia organized as part of the ninth edition of the festival from August 20 to September 3, 2023.

Press release 21.04.2023

Press release from the Lüneburg University Society and the Lüneburg Museum Foundation.

The award ceremony commemorates the famous rescue of a Polish pianist by a German officer in 1944 ( known from the film 'The Pianist').

Lüneburg. On 17 November 1944, a German officer discovers a pianist of Jewish origin in his hiding place in Warsaw. Instead of shooting him, he takes care of him and saves his life. Today, a prize for memory culture projects is named after these two men: the Hosenfeld-Szpilman Prize. This year it went to the Krzyżowa-Music Chamber Music Festival.

Festival director Ph.D. Matthias von Hülsen came to the award ceremony in the Libeskind Building at Leuphana University Lüneburg together with four long-time participants of the Krzyżowa-Music Festival: Miriam Helms Ålien (violin), Pablo Barragán (clarinet), Alexey Stadler (cello) and Amadeus Wiesensee (piano).

"You give us hope," said political scientist Prof. Dr. Gesine Schwan in her laudation towards the musicians. "They unwaveringly believe in the peaceful and joy-giving power of music. Music is the royal road to understanding." Reconciliation in Europe after the German war of aggression would not have been possible without the generosity of neighbouring countries. A "courageous confrontation with guilt" is needed. The Chamber Music Festival aims to overcome the legacy of suffering and prejudice.

Schwan called the meeting between German officer Wilm Hosenfeld and Polish pianist Władysław Szpilman "a deeply moving and comforting human encounter". After the soldier discovered the Jew in his hiding place in Warsaw, he provided him with clothing, blankets and food for weeks. When Hosenfeld himself became a prisoner of war, Szpilman tried to free his saviour. He was unsuccessful. Hosenfeld died in a camp in Stalingrad in 1952.

On 20 April, the programme 'Facts about the World' aired on TVN24 BiS showed material presenting the robbery of children from Ukraine by the Russians, showing some parallels between the contemporary situation and the crimes committed by Nazi Germany during the Second World War. The material was based on an interview with Dr Tomasz Skonieczny, an employee of the Krzyżowa Foundation.