Action West-East
The Action West-East - Association for European peace issues is the umbrella organization of four Catholic youth associations. These offer international youth encounters with partners in Central and Eastern Europe and hold seminars on political, social and religious topics. Aktion West-Ost is a member association of the Federation of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ).
history
Aktion West-Ost was founded in 1952 by youth associations which, as expellees, campaigned for the needs of people from East and West Prussia, Silesia, Gdansk, Bohemia and Moravia. Until 1990, the legal entity was held by the Ackermann community based in Munich . Then Aktion West-Ost eV took over the sponsorship and the seat was moved to Düsseldorf in the youth center Düsseldorf . Since it was founded, Aktion West-Ost has set itself the goal of creating reconciliation and understanding beyond the borders of old Western Europe.
Events
The association and its member associations organize 12 to 15 international youth encounters and seminars for young people from Germany and Central and Eastern Europe every year.
The events are aimed primarily at teenagers and young adults between the ages of 16 and 26. The focus of the work is the cooperation between Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. For a number of years there has also been cooperation with Lithuania, Ukraine and Slovakia.
There are the following events of the association and its member associations:
- German-Polish, German-Czech youth encounters
- Multinational youth encounters
- National seminars on political, religious and creative topics
- Advanced training
- German-Czech children's encounters
- Culture and retreat days
structure
The four member associations are the Adalbertus-Jugend , the Junge Ermland community , the Junge Aktion der Ackermann-Gemeinde and the Junge Grafschaft , which support the West-East campaign and are represented by it in the BDKJ.
The federal committee is the highest body. Federal committee meetings (BAS) take place twice a year. Two representatives of each member association and the board of directors are entitled to vote. The aforementioned persons instruct the managing director and receive a report from him.
The second body is the board of directors. His task is to lead the West-East campaign according to the decisions of the BAS. He also represents the interests of Aktion West-Ost and its member associations as a whole, both internally and externally. The BAS participants can delegate tasks to the members of the board. The board consists of a chairman, two deputies and two assessors. He is elected by the federal committee for two years. The board meets once a year and at BAS.
The management is the responsibility of the only full-time employee. All other offices are purely honorary. The managing director is commissioned by the federal committee and the federal executive committee, he advises the federal executive committee, works to it and reports to the BAS participants.
Support association
The association of friends and supporters of Aktion West-Ost eV was founded in 2001. Through sponsoring memberships he generates free funds for the work of Aktion West-Ost and maintains the connection to formerly active members. It is administered by the management of Aktion West-Ost.