Krzyżowa Foundation for Mutual Understanding in Europe has been in existence for over 30 years, building civil society and working for dialogue between nations. However, this year the coronavirus pandemic has called into question the possibility of its further functioning. Almost all projects that were to take place in the first half of 2020 and in which almost 3,000 people were to participate were canceled. This deprived the Foundation of a significant part of its revenues and only thanks to the support of the Polish, German and local governments, our partners and donors we managed to survive this, we believe, the most difficult period.
However, the struggle for the Foundation's survival and its good future continues. The pandemic and the economic crisis caused by it will continue to accompany us for a long time, and thus limit our activities and reduce our funds. Therefore, in this particularly difficult period, we count on the support of Donors. It is necessary for the Foundation to be able to run its activities, create projects at the highest level, develop and meet the expectations - to implement its mission, deepen European agreement and serve the local community.
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On 25 June, we hosted Thomas Oppermann, Vice President of the German Bundestag, together with the Consul General of Germany (and a member of the Council of the Krzyżowa Foundation) - Hans Jőrg Neumann.
Our guests, accompanied by the Foundation's Managing Director, Dr. Robert Żurek, as well as the Director for Organisation and Development, Aleksandra Królak-Wąsowicz, visited the palace, the exhibition "Courage and Reconciliation" and the House on the Hill.
The meeting was an opportunity to present the history of this important place for Polish-German relations to the President of the Bundestag. The time spent in Krzyżowa also includes conversations about the Foundation's mission, Polish-German relations, European issues, as well as the difficult situation of NGOs in the era of pandemics and the challenges facing international meeting places.
Thomas Oppermann, Vice-President of the Bundestag, visited Krzyżowa as part of his journey and series of meetings in Lower Silesia and the Opole region.
Read more: The visit of Thomas Oppermann, Vice-President of the German Bundestag, in Krzyżowa - 25.06.2020
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Partners and Friends of Krzyżowa Foundation!
The coronavirus pandemic has brought with it a real threat to the existence of our Foundation. With the "freezing" of activities and the cancellation of almost all projects to be carried out in Krzyżowa in the first half of 2020, the Foundation was cut off a significant part of its incomes. We faced the perspective of dismissal of employees and even bankruptcy. To avoid the worst, we decided to take all possible measures: we reduced the salaries of the entire team, took advantage of the anti-crisis shield provided by the Polish government, reformulated some of the projects in order to implement them online, appealed to our partners and friends for help and asked for extraordinary support from the governments of Poland and Germany, whose political and financial support enabled the creation of the International Youth Meeting Centre 30 years ago.
Read more: Three months of the fight for survive is behind us. What will bring the future? Management Board...
