Together for Peace: Dilment campaign for war graves starts!

Together for Peace: Dilment campaign for war graves starts!

In a significant call to the fundraising campaign, the Volksbund Deutsche Wargräberfürsorge calls up the population, to actively contribute to the support of war graves until November 30, 2024. This campaign aims to maintain the graves of the two world wars and to promote the historical-political educational work of the Volksbund. The donations can be collected in different locations, including pedestrian zones, at events, at the front doors and at cemeteries, where volunteers draw attention to their mission with special ID cards.

The initiative is also supported by Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst, who accompanies the Volksbund in North Rhine-Westphalia. He emphasized the pressing topics of peace in view of the current conflicts, especially with regard to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and pointed out the teachings that can be drawn from the war graves.

commitment to peace and understanding

Especially Thomas Kutschaty, the chairman of the NRW state association and former Minister of State, made it clear: Almost 80 years after the Second World War, it was important to recognize the fact that peace is not a matter of course. "The pictures from Ukraine make us painfully aware of how fragile peace is," said Kutschaty. The Volksbund actively campaigns for peace, democracy and understanding in his youth projects and appeals to the citizens for support from donations.

The Volksbund Deutsche Wargräberfürsorge has a mammoth task in front of it. It maintains over 2.8 million graves of the two world wars and is active in over 800 cemeteries within 46 states in Europe and North Africa. His work promotes international communication through various youth and school projects that support the exchange and understanding among young people in Europe

The four youth meeting facilities of the Volksbund are visited by around 20,000 people each year. In addition, there is a comprehensive database with more than five million entries for research, which is known as a "grave search online". This enables people to learn more about the war dead and gives a deep insight into history. In Eastern Europe, too, is specifically searched for missing German soldiers of the Second World War. Around 10,000 missing wars are found annually, which underlines the continuous and respectful work of the Volksbund.

A remarkable event took place in September 2024 when the Volksbund was able to mount the millionth since the case of the Iron Curtain, which was buried in Kaunas (Lithuania). This shows not only the scope of the efforts, but also the sustainable importance of this work.

To support the donations, the Volksbund has set up a collection account that is managed at Commerzbank AG:

Commerzbank AG Essen
IBAN: DE83 3604 0039 0132 5000 00
BIC: COBADEFXXX
Use: "Collection of war graves care"

Every contribution counts and contributes to the preservation of the memory of the deceased, but every donation is also of great importance for the education and peace of the coming generations. This persistent effort of the Volksbund is indispensable to carry the teachings from the past into the future. Further information can be found at www.mettmann.de .