Member associations

Who we are

Warmia is a landscape in the former East Prussia province, the population of which consisted of Catholic peasants and bourgeoisie. At the end of the Second World War, a lot of German citizens fled or were expelled from Warmia, and scattered across the territory of today’s Federal Republic. In order not to lose the contact with each other and to overcome the situation through the mutual exchange, the Warmia youth founded Gemeinschaft Junges Ermland (GJE).

What we do

We manage numerous meetings, youth exchanges, and various leisure activities. Each year we manage from 7 to 10 conferences in Germany. We deal with social, political, and religious topics. We also manage international youth exchanges in Germany and Poland at least twice a year.

Our structure

By and large, GJE events are accessible for everyone. There’s a governing body that is responsible for planning and managing the events; this governing body is also a supreme body that makes important decisions and gathers together at the annual general meeting. The members of the governing body are elected at our events. Besides that, the executive board consisted of 8 people (that can also be a part of the governing body) can involve people in the governing body.

Our goals

Through our international youth exchanges, we want to consolidate and expand our friendly contacts with Eastern Europe and promote international understanding.
We bring faith and solidarity to life through our self-conducted church service and related songs. In our discussions, we aim to deal critically with the faith aspects. We attempt to lead youngsters to the way of becoming responsible people through our youth education service.
In addition, GJE offers its members an opportunity to gain valuable experience in managing our events, an excellent practice of participation in democratic processes, and also experience and reflection on issues that democracy brings.

vorstanddergje@junges-ermland.de

www.junges-ermland.de

„Europe for People“ is the aim of Junge Aktion der Ackermann-Gemeinde (JA), a Catholic youth organization founded in 1950. We are sure that the political unification of Europe will make it possible to overcome nationalism in the long term. Through our international youth exchanges and projects, we wish to make Europe more accessible to young people.

Even before the Iron Curtain fall, the organization has been focused on contacts with the Eastern European countries, especially the Czech Republic. Personal contact between young people from different European countries is a central element of the JA events. We make it possible for all participants to express themselves in their mother tongue and, thus, to bring their knowledge and skills into the community without having any obstacles.  The European interaction, friendship, and relations are still active thanks to our commitment that has emerged more than 60 years ago.

Every year Junge Aktion manages several projects focusing on the European exchange. We have some meetings that have become traditional for us; for example, the Easter Meeting in the Lower Bavarian Abbey named Niederalteich, the German-Czech-Slovak New Year’s Eve meeting in different locations every year, or German-Czech youth project for 8-15 year old youngsters held in Haidmühle in Bavarian Forest for already 20 years. There are also additional projects, such as a German-Czech bicycle tours or German-Czech language tandem courses. Our participants are German, Central- and Eastern-European (especially from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary) youngsters aged 8 to 26 years.  

www.junge-aktion.de

Junge Graftshaft is a nationwide community of youngsters engaged in youth education, the transmission of te Christian faith and international understanding.

Our community appeared after the war and expulsion. The common faith, shared cultural heritage and common destiny brought Glatz Catholic youth together. According to the origin Junge Grafshaft, the organization seeks to encourage the youth to recognize and fulfill their role in the church, state and society as mature Christians. Experiencing Junge Grafshaft means taking part in events that include political or social thematic approach. In lectures, working groups and discussion groups, we deal with past and current content.

We manage international exchanges for young people and young adults from different countries in our umbrella organization Aktion West-Ost together with the other three member organizations. In doing so, we strive to make our contribution to building and maintaining a pan-European peace. The borders can no longer exist and prejudices should be diminished. Our community wants to help ensure that the injustice of expulsion is never forgotten so that the same thing does not ever happen again. We stand for the respect of human rights and the right of peoples to self-determination. One can experience faith, community spirit, and cross-cultural exchanges, where hospitality between neighbors is common and one gets to know how other people live.

With all these activities we make our small contribution to the mutual people understanding in East and West.

jungegrafschaft@aktion-west-ost.de

Adalbertus Jugend sees itself as a community of young people who are interested in political, cultural and personal exchange with Eastern Europe in general and with Polish young people from Danzig/Gdańsk in particular. Being closely connected with Danzig/Gdańsk and Eastern Europe is not a prerequisite for the participation in meetings and projects.

Adalbertus Jugend came from the "Gemeinschaft der Danziger Katholischen Jugend," which had been reorganized at Gemen Castle after flight and expulsion as the consequences of the Second World War in 1947. From the very beginning, the focus was on meeting and reconciliation work with the people living in Danzig/Gdańsk region that time. At the late 1969, when the previous generation had become less influential, the community has been renamed into Adalbertus Jugend. The educational and exchange activities became a central motif of their work. Since 1989 and the fall of the Iron Curtain, in which the people in Danzig/Gdańsk played a key role, continuous meetings have been carried out.

Since 2001, Adalbertus Jugend has also had a Lithuanian partner group from the youth centre Klaipŵda/Memel (Jaunimo Centras), which is now involved in and enriches the projects.

Everyone who‘s interested and aged 12-26 is welcome to participate in our annual meetings and our educational youth projects to Eastern Europe.

E-Mail: adalbertusjugend@adalbertuswerk.de

adalbertusjugend@adalbertuswerk.de

www.adalbertuswerk.de/adalbertus-werk-e-v-adalbertus-jugend/adalbertus-jugend