Your support is needed to improve facilities of the community: The estate is to become a place where people can discuss, learn and spend time together all year round. Up to now, the art, culture and political education events have mainly taken place in summer and outside - also because there is not yet a heatable roofed room for them. Together with the work camp, a room in a former stable building is to be renovated so that meetings and events are also possible in the colder months.
Secondly, we would like the group to help in the build up of the actual highlight: From July 26 to July 28 there will be an international festival. We will offer a number of workshops on the topics of promoting democracy, combating anti-Semitism and racism. The festival will address current issues in the region relating to anti-democratic structures, as well as the current situation in Israel and Gaza. It is all about exchange and networking.The study part is about the history of the estate, a history of Jewish self-organisation under the pressure of National Socialist persecution. How can culture of remembrance function in rural areas? What is the significance of remembering the past at all for our societies today? What are the challenges? Theoretical aspects of democracy and the possibilities of developing a place for meeting and learning in orphaned rural areas are the focus. If desired, excursions to other sites can also be organised.
Accomodation and food
Accommodation is in tents on the farm and some rooms. The tents are provided by the project. There are indoor and outdoor cooking facilities.
Location and leisure
In Fürstenwalde there are shopping facilities, a swimming pool, cultural and leisure activities. There is a public bathing area at Lake Trebus about 15 minutes away by bike. From Fürstenwalde train station it takes about 30 minutes by train to the centre of Berlin. Bicycles are provided by the project. The Neuendorf im Sande estate is run by a collective of people from a wide variety of backgrounds who organise cultural, art and educational events or work the estate's land agriculturally. There are often evenings together around the campfire and a lot of desire to meet and exchange with international guests. Visits to other, similar community projects in the region can also be offered.
Project hosted by
In the project "Gutshof Neuendorf im Sande", the history of the site is documented and made accessible to the public. In the 1930s, the estate was a hachshara site, an agricultural training estate where the increasingly persecuted Jews were to be enabled to leave Nazi Germany through agricultural training. From 1941, the estate became a forced labour camp, and in April 1943 the last Jewish residents were deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where many were killed. In GDR times, the farm was a state-owned property. The project offers workshops on history and political topics, organises concerts, readings, film evenings and theatre performances and wants to become a meeting place for the region. We see the project as a place where a shared vision of a solidary and democratic society without racist exclusion can be developed. For more info, please visit: https://www.zusane.org/ and https://geschichte-hat-zukunft.org/
Directions to meeting point
Additional comments
An interest in Jewish history and remembrance work, a willingness to do light manual work indoors and outdoors and a desire to get to know the project and its people are desirable. Motivation letter is needed. You should be able to ride a bike so that the group is mobile in the countryside.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Project name: Bridging past, present and future in Neuendorf im Sande.