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Pandemic and German-Polish relations | Agnieszka Łada

The current crisis will affect most areas of our lives. It will also affect German-Polish relations. It may turn out to be a big challenge for them, but, like any change, it may also have a creative element in some areas. This is not the time for crystal-ball gazing, what, when and how exactly something will happen in the Polish-German relations. There are more questions than answers. But in order to be able to look for solutions to the problems that will arise in the future - the one that is closer and a little bit farther away - it is possible to name them today, even if only by calling their respective areas.

A force in the Community or an escape into nationalism?

Read more: Pandemic and German-Polish relations | Agnieszka Łada

Between yesterday and tomorrow - a crisis that can become an opportunity | Robert Żurek

Recently, I looked into the report from the February’s Foundation Board meeting. We planned in detail  a very promising year there - with a record number of projects and visitors. We even complained a bit that a very busy period is appearing on the horizon while we were hoping to slow down after the jubilee year.

Now, just a few weeks later, this report is read like a document from a distant, alien world. Instead of planning how to use resources most efficiently so that our team is not overloaded with managing a large number of projects, we are thinking about how to save the Foundation from imminent collapse.

Between March and June, 69 multi-day projects were to take place in Krzyżowa, in which nearly 3,000 people were to participate. Mostly they were Polish-German school exchanges. All these meetings had to be canceled in consequence of a coronovirus pandemic.

Read more: Between yesterday and tomorrow - a crisis that can become an opportunity | Robert Żurek

How to prevent fears and the atomisation of society during a pandemic | Bishop Waldemar Pytel

We have become participants and witnesses of an extraordinary experience. The global epidemic not only stopped us on the run and excluded from our daily activities, but also forced us to reflect and perhaps redefine our priorities.

It's understandable that we are afraid, especially of losing our health and work. The virus of fear is spreading faster than the coronavirus, fuelled by successive media news and uncertainty, which does not allow us to determine anything in the long term. We do not know how long the epidemic will last, it is hard to even imagine its effects. Thinking about them, it causes fear, sometimes anger and even aggression. All the more so, we should be sensitive to such states, we should notice them and stop them before they gain momentum. The worst is uncertainty - how long will it take?

Read more: How to prevent fears and the atomisation of society during a pandemic | Bishop Waldemar Pytel

Will the pandemic change the school youth exchange in Germany? | Joanna Szaflik-Homann

Schools in Germany, as well as in Poland, have switched to the distance learning. Students receive sets of tasks to solve them at home, sometimes communication with teachers is supported by chat or video conferences.

The isolation order has enormous consequences not only for the operation of the schools but also for school exchange projects. International meetings are canceled, students and teachers must stay at home. This is obviously a huge loss for everyone who was eagerly awaiting meeting young people from other countries. Certainly some meetings will be postponed, others may never take place.

Read more: Will the pandemic change the school youth exchange in Germany? | Joanna Szaflik-Homann