Cities partnerships strengthen the cohesion in uncertain times!

Cities partnerships strengthen the cohesion in uncertain times!

The focus is currently on topics such as "diversity human", "We all belong to it" and "no to racism". The municipal library has raised the city partnership between Stockelsdorf and Le Portel on the central topic and thus wants to promote understanding of the importance of international relationships. Petra Müller, the chair of the Partnership Committee, will report on the history of this city friendship on March 7 at 6 p.m. in Villa Jebsen.

In addition, the event "Bonjour Le Portel!" Instead of gaining children and young people for the partnership with Le Portel in particular. Müller emphasizes the social and human importance of the city partnership, especially in the current, uncertain world -political situation. These partnerships were created after the two world wars to promote the exchange between people from different countries and cultures.

a tradition of international understanding

The mayor of Stockelsdorf, Julia vamamleben, also emphasizes the continued relevance of the city twinning. In Eutin, for example, there has been a partnership with the US city of Lawrence, which is based on a student exchange since 1989. Young people from the Weber School and the Voß-Gymnasium from Eutin regularly travel to Lawrence. Here the Lawrence Partnership Association - Eutin is committed to maintaining this friendly relationship.

In Scharbeutz, the connection to the Spanish community of Navajas has been maintained since 1986, supported by a friendship and partnership association. The chairman Volker Owerien emphasizes the importance of city twinning for international understanding. Another remarkable exchange takes place in Oldenburg, where a friendship with the French small town of Blain was created, which also results from a student exchange. The city twinning committee of Oldenburg, which was founded in 2019, is working on deepening contacts with Blain through numerous activities beyond the student exchange.

city twinning has played a central role in municipal foreign policy since their origin after the Second World War. They not only serve as a framework for friendly encounters and exchange of citizens: inside, but also promote integration within Europe. According to the German section of the RGRE, there are 5497 German-international city twinning in Germany, although the actual number could be higher. Particularly noted that approx. 90 % of these partnerships are located in EU countries and thus contribute significantly to European integration, as well as bpb.de explained.