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.
The founding fathers and mothers of the Foundation wanted to create a protected public space in a Europe that was still characterised by block division but was rapidly changing. Today, Western and Central Europe is characterised by liberal democracies, and debates are possible practically everywhere. At the same time, however, many people retreat into the private sphere or hold radical positions that question the very freedom of democracy.
Whereas in 1989 active participation in the political decision-making process was a promise, today the word politics is sometimes used like an insult or avoided.
With this conference, the Krzyzowa Foundation wanted to invite to a discussion on how Krzyzowa - and other existing spaces for dialogue and encounter - can be used today for a good handling of internal social and European conflicts.
In addition to keynote speeches, discussions were planned in plenary sessions and, in particular, in smaller groups, so that all participants could also be protagonists of the conference. The result of the resulting lively exchange and debates were concrete ideas and plans for work in Kreisau and other places dedicated to education in and from the encounter.
The conference was organised in cooperation with the Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Poland, the Representation of the European Commission in Poland, the German Consulate General in Wroclaw and Kreisau Initiative e.V.
