Friends in the heart of Europe
The Friends in the Heart of Europe association is an alliance of Czech and German communities.
The start of the company was the signing of a contract in 2001 on the regional, transnational, city-partnership association of the cities of Aš , Rehau and Oelsnitz / Vogtl. to be viewed as.
The association was founded on October 11, 2002 in the West Bohemian city of Aš (German: Asch). At the time it was founded, it had 14 members. It now has 16 municipalities.
All places belonging to the microregion are located in the Czech region of Aš (usually called the Ascher Ländchen in German ), in Upper Franconia and in the Saxon Vogtland. The Aš region shares borders with the Free States of Bavaria and Saxony and is part of the Vogtland (controversial in science) . In any case, the Ascher Ländchen was ruled for a time by the bailiffs of Plauen and Weida , like the places in what is now the Bavarian, Saxon and Thuringian Vogtland . Thus, strictly speaking, the microregion is an association of Vogtland places around the triangle of Bohemia - Bavaria ( Franconia ) - Saxony.
Until several years after the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, the German Bohemians in the Aš region were numerically by a clear majority, alongside very few Czechs living there. The deterioration in relations between Czechs and Germans after the First World War culminated in German nationalism under the leadership of Konrad Henlein's Sudeten German Party . Since the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the German Wehrmacht in 1938, the subsequent creation of the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the expulsion of the German Bohemians in 1945 due to the Beneš decrees , German-Czech relations remained rather cold until 1989. Official expressions of friendship between the GDR and the ČSSR and later the ČSFR did not change anything. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1990, the collaboration has been working quite well again. Dalibor Blažek said in a program on Radio Prague: “After the fall of the Wall, Asch tried to build on the previous relationships. We are currently working with a number of Bavarian and Saxon cities. For the cooperation we are looking for support on all sides, both moral and financial. "
The aim of the association is the further rapprochement between Czechs and Germans and the removal of the irritations resulting from history , here German-Czech relations . “It is hoped that the Friends of the Heart of Europe Association will primarily improve the communication structures between the individual institutions. Actual EU accession should then, according to Mayor Blažek, only be a formal matter for the region. ”(Radio Prague)
In the meantime, following the accession of the Czech Republic to the EU, with the expansion of the scope of the Schengen Agreement, the relationship between the two countries was further normalized and the joint work was significantly simplified through improved transport connections, such as on the Rumburk – Sebnitz railway line .
Patron of friends in the heart of Europe is the former expansion and Industry Commissioner of the European Union and Honorary Professor at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) , Günter Verheugen , who is also the "patronage" (commonly known as: the auspices ) on the founding conference had taken over.
Member municipalities
- Adorf (Saxon Vogtland), Free State of Saxony
- Aš / Asch (Bohemian Vogtland), Czech Republic
- Bad Brambach (Saxon Vogtland), Free State of Saxony
- Bad Elster (Saxon Vogtland), Free State of Saxony
- Eichigt (Saxon Vogtland), Free State of Saxony
- Hazlov / Haslau (Bohemian Vogtland), Czech Republic
- Hranice u Aše (also called Hranice v Čechách in the railway sector) / Roßbach (Bohemian Vogtland), Czech Republic
- Krásná / Schönbach (Bohemian Vogtland), Czech Republic
- Oelsnitz (Saxon Vogtland), Free State of Saxony
- Plesná / Fleißen (Bohemian Vogtland), Czech Republic
- Podhradí u Aše / Neuberg (Bohemian Vogtland), Czech Republic
- Regnitzlosau (Franconian Vogtland), Free State of Bavaria
- Rehau (Franconian Vogtland), Free State of Bavaria
- Schönwald , (Franconian Vogtland), Free State of Bavaria
- Selb (Franconian Vogtland), Free State of Bavaria
- Triebel (Saxon Vogtland), Free State of Saxony
Individual evidence
- ↑ In an interview with the First Mayor of Aš, Dalibor Blažek, before the Czech Republic joined the EU, radio editor Dagmar Keberlova of Radio Prague described the association as “microregion”.