Why peacecamp?
This picture was taken a few months ago at the glaciers of Lago Argentino in Argentina. My husband Ronny was born in Buenos Aires, he invited me on this trip in order to show me where he came from. I myself was born in Vienna, but my parents came there from Czernowitz which is now part of the Ukraine. Ronny was born in Argentina because both his parent had to flee the Nazis - his mother from Berlin and his father from Vienna. They had to leave everything behind and to pay money to be able to leave Nazi Germany and could not choose their destination. They were happy to get visa to South America and to escape and survive the Nazi terror. My parents survived the Shoah and could illegally reach Austria towards the end of WW II, but their family - dozens of uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents - were murdered by the Nazis.
During my childhood and youth I often asked how it could happen that human beings did such evil to other human beings. I thought that if there were no borders between countries, no religions, no nations all people would be alike and there would not be wars and bloodshed.
Later I understood that people need a nationality, a religion, a sense of belonging to a place of their own, but that these distinctions are often responsible for a lot of animosity and conflict between groups and people.
My generation witnessed amazing, often unexpected and surprising changes: changes from cruelty, discrimination and inequality to new ways of cooperation and shared responsability between people and nations. The Shoah came to an end, the Jews found ways to reconcile with their hosts in Austria, Germany, and the other European countries. These countries made great efforts after the war to compensate the Jews for what they had done to them and to restore a climate of mutual respect and recognition between the Jews and the rest of society.
The countries of Europe, divided in East and West by an insurmountable Iron Curtain and involved in century-long wars and bloodshed found ways to unite and to cooperate within a permanently growing European Union. The European Union was founded after WW II with the intention to safeguard human rights - equality, freedom, respect - of all people in all its countries. Instead of animosity and war there is now solidarity and shared responsibility between the countries of Europe, which are no longer separated by the Iron Curtain, nor by nationalistic, religious or other factors that had previously led to a lot of hatred and bloodshed.
The Middle East, especially Israel/Palestine, is still very torn and unfortunately shattered by violent escalations of a century-old conflict between the Palestinian and the Jewish people. The political leaders of our time have not succeeded to bring these conflicts to an end. I trust that the young generation will find new and more peaceful ways to settle these conclicts and establish a basis of coexistence and cooperation between both nations.
In Hungary and Austria many problems could be resolved as a result of reshaping society on the basis of fairness and freedom for all people. But a number of issues remained unresolved and are waiting for new social and political modes of action.
I trust that the young generation will find ways to deal with the remaining conclicts and tensions of their countries and of their time and be able to pursue a development leading to less violence and more mutual understanding, respect and recognition between the people of their region.
Since 2004 we have realised peacecamps intended to give young people tools to deal with the problems and conflicts of their time and region. peacecamp 2012 is our 10th peacecamp.
