Reception on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste and the 40th Anniversary of Action Reconciliation Service for Peace in the US at the residence,
New York, March 2, 2008

Dear friends and volunteers,
Tonight we have two reasons to celebrate:

“Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste” or Action Reconciliation Service for Peace, as it is now called in English, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Many celebrations will be held this year and we are proud to kick them off here in New York. The major celebration will take place at the beginning of May in Berlin with Federal President Horst Köhler. “Aktion Sühnezeichen” was founded in 1958 by Lothar Kreyssig. He wanted, as he put it himself, to “ask the people who suffered violence at our hands to allow us to perform a good deed in their countries with our hands and resources… as a sign of atonement”. Christian churches in East and West Germany followed up on this idea and founded Actions Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste as a volunteer organization. In the beginning construction works were in the forefront of a long-term volunteer program, later on social peace services took its place.For 50 years, the ARSP has been working on the successful implementation of Kreyssig’s idea. Thus, ARSP’s work is intended to be a “request for forgiveness and peace”, especially in those countries, that suffered the most from German occupation and aggressions. Today, Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste is active in several areas, including long- and short-term volunteer service, educational work - often together with survivors of the holocaust - to handle German history actively and to challenge right-wing extremism and anti-semitism. Volunteers work in countries all over Europe, including Belarus, the Czech Republic, Great Britain or Norway, only to name a few.

Outside Europe, ARSP is active in Russia, Israel and, as we all know, in the United States – the second reason to celebrate tonight: the 40th anniversary of ARSP’s founding in the US. 25 volunteers are currently active for ARSP in the US, they help elderly people in Jewish communities, work in shelters for the homeless and for battered women or are involved in Holocaust education. Many of these young volunteers are with us here tonight, thank you very much not only for coming, but for you contributions to this “request for forgiveness and peace”.

The work of Aktion Sühnezeichen and of its volunteers would not be possible without partner organizations of ARSP here in the US and in New York City in particular. I especially welcome those of you tonight who are representing these organizations. Through your support and commitment in integrating German volunteers into your work you create the invaluable opportunities of human encounter that form the basis for atonement and peace. Thank you very much, and thank you for celebrating with us tonight.

The ARSP’s 50th anniversary is accompanied by the slogan: Give roots to peace. I think that this sentence clearly shows the objectives of your work. And listening to the news each day, especially today again from the Near East, we realize how difficult and how important it is to “give roots to peace.” Action Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste has done much over the last decades in this respect and the young volunteers of today follow in this tradition. Your services in everyday life help to lay deep personal connections, between young and old, locals and foreigners, between people with different beliefs, ethnic origins, nationalities, which are essential conditions for a peaceful future for all of us. Thank you very much!