peacecamptexts

For ten continuous years of work for the peacecamp project, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture awarded Evelyn the so-called "Cross of Honour for Science and Art" ("Österreichisches Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst"). The ceremonial act took place in the audience hall of the ministry on October 29, 2013.

Here you can watch the ceremony (29 minutes, speeches in German):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBpS_wrKFgo&feature=youtu.be

• Dear Evelyn!
I hope you remember me, I was in peace camp 2009.
I was going through my old peace camp pictures when I realized how lucky I was for having this opportunity and these memories. I don't think I have thanked you enough! You have given me so much, you have no idea!
I really hope that once I will be able to change and make someone's life better the way you did with mine. With all my respect I would like to thank you again for all my friends, for my happy moments (and for the tearful ones:)), for my attitude for life and for my faith! Faith in myself, in other people and in life.
I wish you a very happy and peaceful life!
Thanks, F.

Understanding the past helps shaping the future
peacecamp 2013 in Reibers and Vienna/Austria

peacecamp 2013 offered 34 adolescents and 16 adults the possibility to explore their personal roots in the light of the historical and the socio-political context within which they are living. The Austrian delegation was a multicultural one with pupils from high schools in different parts of Austria and from the Lycée Français de Vienne; the Palestinian delegation from the Hand-in-Hand Centre for Jewish-Arab Education in Jerusalem and the Jewish-Israeli delegation from Zvulun HaCarmel High School were more homogeneous, and so was the group of Hungarian pupils from the Szent László High School in Budapest – the Jewish and the Hungarian high schools participating in the peacecamp project for the eighth time. All people present were defined as “participants”, regardless of their age or function, meaning that they participated in all the activities and had an equal chance to explore, to question and to revise their own positions with respect to the issues addressed within the peacecamp.

“4 questions concerning peace” had been asked beforehand, stimulating thoughts about ways and obstacles to peace within each person’s social and political context. Preparations consisted in exploring one’s own family and personal history in the light of the political issues pertinent to each person’s and each group’s history. The two groups from Israel were asked to prepare an overview of the attempts and failure of the so-called Israeli-Palestinian “peace-process”; the two groups from Europe were asked to present an overview of the creation, founding criteria and aims of the European Union and of the way in which these are being implemented within their own countries.

A group-analyst led a daily “large group”-session challenging reflections about these issues on a very personal level; three afternoons were devoted to the “talks4peace”-workshop led by a team of four historians and teachers, inviting to explore the meaning and impact of attitudes and policies underlying animosity and hostility between people and groups of people.



A visit to the nearby small Czech town Slavonice allowed tackling the question of borders, nations, territorial changes and major changes of political systems such as those seen within the past few decades of European history. Four artists and art therapists stimulated a most experiential, emotional and creative processing of all these topics, allowing to witness and to experience cooperation and teamwork even when conflicting matters between people and groups of people remained unresolved. Giving conflicts verbal expression and finding unusual, creative and witty solutions to unresolved, tricky problems was one of the core elements of the peacecamp experience.





The final show4peace in Reibers, at which each participant was handed a certificate and appointed as ”ambassador of peace”, was an opportunity to show what has been accomplished during the eleven days spent together. This is what one of the participants wrote us about it: “The camp proved that different cultures can work together peacefully even if their countries have conflicts with one another. We can solve the problems and difficulties if everyone wants to do that.”

The last day was spent in Vienna; with their Austrian friends as guides, participants from abroad could tour the city and spent some of their pocket-money for souvenirs and hamburgers, before performing show4peace/Vienna in a real theatre for a real audience. The historian Helene Maimann who had visited us in Reibers held the opening address, Ronny Böhmer who led through the evening read a message sent to us by the Ambassador of the State of Israel and a video-message was shown in which the Member of European Parliament, Green politician Ulrike Lunacek congratulated the young participants for their engagement and commitment.

A few messages arrived after the peacecamp from some of the young participants: “The camp is one of the most encouraging, fun, enjoying, exciting experiences of my life. I learned a lot, I met great kids and I hope that the project will continue to grow.”

Here a few links to films about peacecamp 2013:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27mSLvz6TU0 (complete peacecamp film)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfzatFHqFa0 (show4peace/Reibers)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqvjex9T11I (short teaser)

to a short radio-transmission in Austrian broadcast Ö1 ("Erfüllte Zeit"):
http://2013.peacecamp.net/static/peacecamp2013/files/Erfuellte%20Zeit.mp3

and to an interview in the Austrian newspaper „Wiener Zeitung“:
http://2013.peacecamp.net/static/peacecamp2013/files/WrZeitung030713.pdf


Evelyn Böhmer-Laufer
Böhmer-Laufer Peacecamp Project (BLPP/Youth)
http://peacecamp.net

peacecamp 2013 bot diesmal 34 Jugendlichen und 16 Erwachsenen Gelegenheit, sich mit ihren persönlichen Wurzeln und wichtigen Kapiteln Zeitgeschichte auseinanderzusetzen, prägende Teile ihrer Identität und entscheidende Aspekte der sozialpolitischen Realität, in der sie heute leben.


Flying high4peace

Die „österreichische“ Delegation war diesmal breit gefächert und multikulturell mit Schülerinnen österreichischer Gymnasien in Vorarlberg und in Wien sowie einer multinationalen Gruppe aus dem Lycée Français de Vienne. Einheitlicher waren die jüdisch-israelische Delegation aus der Zvulun HaCarmel Schule des Kibbuz Yagur in Israel, die palästinensische Delegation aus der jüdisch-arabischen Hand-in-Hand-School in Jerusalem und die ungarische Gruppe aus dem bereits acht Mal teilnehmenden Szent László Gimnázium in Budapest. Wie immer nahmen alle Anwesenden, Jugendliche wie Erwachsene, an allen Aktivitäten des peacecamps teil und bekamen Gelegenheit, eigene Positionen zu reflektieren, zu revidieren oder zu festigen.

Vier im Vorfeld gestellte „Fragen zum Thema Frieden“ sollten dazu anregen, über Hindernisse und Wege zum „Frieden“ innerhalb der eigenen politischen Realität nachzudenken. Im Vorfeld sollten sich alle Schülerinnen auch mit politischen Themen auseinandersetzen, die beiden Gruppen aus Israel mit den bislang gescheiterten Bemühungen „Friedensprozess“ zwischen Israelis und Palästinensern, die beiden europäischen Gruppen mit den Gründungsprinzipien und Zielen der Europäischen Union und dem Umsetzen ihrer Richtlinien in ihren jeweiligen Ländern.


topics4peace


Eine tägliche, von einem Gruppenanalytiker moderierte Großgruppe, ein von Pädagogen geleiteter „talks4peace“-Workshop, ein Ausflug ins ehemals wegen des Eisernen Vorhangs schier unerreichbare, jetzt so nahe tschechische Städtchen Slavonice, sowie von Künstlern und Kunsttherapeuten angeleitete Workshops boten Gelegenheit, sich mit diesen Inhalten emotionell auseinanderzusetzen, sie zu reflektieren und auf verschiedenste Weise kreativ umzusetzen.


Slavonice, Tschechien


Eindrucksvoll, da für alle erlebbar und spürbar, war die sich entfaltende Möglichkeit der Kooperation und des gemeinsamen Schaffens trotz der ebenfalls vorhandenen sichtbaren, fühlbaren, aber auch ansprechbaren Probleme und Konflikte zwischen einzelnen Personengruppen. Für diese Konflikte Formen des Dialogs und für quasi unlösbare Aufgaben originelle Lösungsansätze zu entwickeln, waren Kernpunkte der Begegnungen peacecamp.

Viel Spaß hatten alle an der abschließenden show4peace in Reibers, in deren Rahmen jede einzelne Person mit einer Urkunde zum „Botschafter des Friedens“ ernannt wurde; hier konnten die TeilnehmerInnen des peacecamps einem realen Publikum zeigen, was eine Teilnehmerin uns hinterher schrieb: „The camp proved that different cultures can work together peacefully even if their countries have conflicts with one another. We can solve the problems and difficulties if everyone wants to do that.”

Am letzten Tag konnten alle peacecamp-TeilnehmerInnen – von ihren österreichischen Freunden geführt – Wien besichtigen und ihr Taschengeld für Souvenirs und Hamburger ausgeben, ehe sie im Dschungel/MuseumsQuartier einem Wiener Publikum ihre show4peace/Vienna und den neuen peacecamp-Film zeigen konnten. Die Historikerin Helene Maimann, die uns zuvor mit ihrem Mann am peacecamp besucht hatte, hielt die Festrede, Ronny Böhmer führte durch den Abend, verlas die Grußbotschaft des israelischen Botschafters Aviv Shir-On und überbrachte eine Video-Botschaft der Grünen EU-Parlamentarierin Ulrike Lunacek.

Schriftliche Botschaften erhielten wir von Jugendlichen nach dem peacecamp: “The camp is one of the most encouraging, fun, enjoying, exciting experiences of my life. I learned a lot, I met great kids and I hope that the project will continue to grow.”


Hier einige Links zu Filmen über peacecamp 2013:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27mSLvz6TU0 (kompletter peacecamp-Film)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfzatFHqFa0 (show4peace/Reibers)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqvjex9T11I (kurzer Teaser)

weiters zu einem kurzen Radiobericht in Ö1 ("Erfüllte Zeit"):
http://2013.peacecamp.net/static/peacecamp2013/files/Erfuellte%20Zeit.mp3

sowie zu einem Interview in der Wiener Zeitung:
http://2013.peacecamp.net/static/peacecamp2013/files/WrZeitung030713.pdf


Evelyn Böhmer-Laufer
Böhmer-Laufer Peacecamp-Projekt (BLPP/Jugend)
http://peacecamp.net

peacecamp 2013
Reibers/Lower Austria and Vienna
July 4th – 14th, 2013

The eleventh peacecamp will take place in Reibers, Lower Austria, a remote, tiny village in the midst of fields and forests, far away from the distractions of consumer society and from any kind of social, political or any other turmoil – a place that suggests calm and peace of mind and inspires self reflection, dialogue and the search for new modes of interaction. The last day will be spent in Vienna.

A multicultural group of about 47 people, 32 young people and 15 adults, will participate in the peacecamp:

The aim of peacecamp is to provide an opportunity for people of different cultural and political background to meet and exchange experience, opinions and suggestions on historical and contemporary issues related to the functioning of their societies. A special focus will be on collective trauma, on non-violent modes of dealing with conflict and on the young people’s vision of the kind of society into which they wish to grow.

Participants:
- Hungarian delegation from the Szent László Gimnázium, Budapest
- Jewish-Israeli delegation from the Carmel Zvulun High School of Kibbutz Yagur
- Austrian delegation from the Lycée Français de Vienne
- Palestinian delegation from Hand in Hand School in Jerusalem