Meet Europe, Meet People
See - Listen / Speak - Do; The UNTHINKABLE
A journey of reflection on the foundations of Europe
"Meet Europe, Meet People” is a regular semi-formal IofC gathering especially focusing on building bridges between Eastern and Western Europeans, but also welcoming everybody interested in the future of Europe. This meeting comes after the recent ones in 2023 and 2025 in Poland.
September 11th-15th 2026, the gathering is planned to take place in Świdnica /Poland (near Krzyżowa / Kreisau)
Why Świdnica /Poland (near Krzyżowa / Kreisau)?
SILESIA / Poland has a special history between East and West Europe, between the Germanic and the Slavic tribes. A land of many different peoples. A land of wars, of imperialism with the change of rulers of the centuries. But also times of peace.
Unthinkable became possible: the construction of a Protestant Peace Church (1656) in Świdnica following the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648 in Central Europe – a conflict between Catholics and Protestants in which 60% of the population perished) in a region of predominantly Catholic Poland.
Unthinkable: Krzyżowa / Kreisau: Many of the German resistance groups during the Second World War planned a regime change and with a call to resistance, an assassination or other measures were intent above all on putting an end to Nazi rule. The members of the group later known as the Kreisau Circle, on the other hand, gave thought to the design of a new Germany after Hitler and developed plans for the establishment of a European democratic order. Its aim was the "New Resistance Order" – the title of a monograph by Dutch historian Ger van Roon.
If we want to understand Europeans these places teach us meaningful lessons.
What is Europe?
What does the word “Europe” make us think of? European Union? The continent? Or, perhaps, a set of certain values? In the meantime, Europe, in every sense of this word, is undergoing a major test and might be on the verge of dramatic transformation. And we do not know what our near future will be like.
To discover the calling of our continent, might we be challenged to look at what lies at the roots of united Europe?
- What made European Union possible? What kind of vision predisposed its success?
- What lessons of the past may help us build peaceful and democratic future?
- What is the part of each of us in future Europe? Europe, that’s us.
People from the whole of Europe and other countries will meet in Świdnica to seek answers to these and other questions.
Why us?
We who come from different countries of Europe may bear a lot of bitterness towards each other as well as have deep traumas from our past. And yet it is up to us to build bridges over all the hostility and mistrust and forge friendships between the inhabitants of our torn continent.
Little as we can foresee the future that awaits us, we believe that, as Robert Schuman put it, “democracy and her freedoms can be saved only by the quality of people who speak in her name”.
The unthinkable:
- The work on reconciliation between Poland and Germany
- Monnet-Schuman and Adenauer (Germany) and de Gasperi (Italy) Plan. Therefore we choose to prepare the future of Europe by starting building its foundations in ourselves.
- What do we need to listen to for a future worthwhile living for?
All practical details for the meeting will be provided at a later date.
We, the planning team invite you to this gathering to reflect, in all humility, on these major issues.
Any further information: Ulrike KELLER: ulrikekeller_89@hotmail.com
Artur and Zoriana Grzybowski (Poland-Ukraine) and Ulrike and Christoph Keller (Germany-Switzerland)