Vom 8. bis 11. November besuchten 34 ehemalige jüdische Bürgerinnen und Bürger bzw. ihre Nachkommen Darmstadt. Die GCJZ war an der Vorbereitung des Programms beteiligt und richtete am 9. November nach der Gedenkveranstaltung in der Synagoge ein Abendessen für die Gäste aus.
Mehrere Vorstandsmitglieder begleiteten Gäste in Schulen, auf dem Friedhof und an anderen Orten in der Stadt. Sie werden im nächsten Newsletter von ihren Erfahrungen berichten. Den Bericht der Stadt Darmstadt finden Sie hier:
Ansprache zur Begrüßung der Gäste zum Empfang der GCJZ am 9. November 2023
GCJZ Reception 9th November 2023 Darmstadt
Ladies and Gentlemen,
a warm welcome to all of you.
I greet you on behalf of the board of the Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation in Darmstadt. My name is Ulrike Schmidt-Hesse. I am the Protestant chair, our Jewish chair is Markus Hostalek and the Roman-Catholic chair Bernd Lülsdorf.
I would like to extend a special welcome to our guests from Israel, the US, France, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany.
It is an honour and a pleasure to be able to host you tonight.
We get together to share food and fellowship. And I would like to let you, our international guests, know, who is present together with you.
I welcome the Lord Mayor, Hanno Benz and Ms. Klein,
and I welcome the city councillor Michael Kollmer.
Welcome to Daniel Neumann, the chair person of the Jewish congregation and further members of the board.
I would also like to welcome representatives of the churches:
Rev. Dr. Raimund Wirth, Dean of the Protestant Deanery Darmstadt and Dr. Annette Laakmann, chairperson oft he deanery synod,
and Pastor Michael Mainka, chair person of the Association of Christian Churches in Darmstadt.
I welcome Ms. Doris Krumpholz, the director of Edith-Stein-School and the students and teachers who are engaged in the project on Theresienstadt, which is sponsored by our society. The students spoke to us in the synagogue.
Welcome to the staff members from the adminstration of the city and to the representatives of the initiatives History Workshop and Stumbling Blocks as well as from the Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation who have been preparing the visit.
Now my Roman-Catholic colleague will say a few words to you:
I am very happy, and even more: I am very proud that we come together here to grow in mutual understanding and to deepen our encounters. We do this by sharing bread and having a meal together. If not here, where else can peace and relationship and mutual understanding grow? Peace begins where we share with each other. (Bernd Lülsdorf)
Our Society, which was founded in 1954, has four main areas of work at present:
We are committed against all forms of anti-semitism.
We are committed to remberance work.
We promote the perception of jewish culture, history and current life.
We promote Christian-Jewish dialog.
In this time of rising anti-semitism, it is even more important to be in solidarity with the Jewish congregation and community. And I would like to confirm on behalf of our society: We stand firmly by your side.
The hearts and minds of many of us here will be heavy with sorrow tonight,
thinking of the crimes, which non-Jewish Germans, also in Darmstadt, committed against Jewish Germans and Jewish persons from other countries in the time of the so-called Third Reich,
heavy with sorrow, thinking of the women, men and children in Israel who were murdered by Hamas a month ago, the hostages which where abducted to Gaza and all civilians who are suffering and who are killed in the war which was provoked by the terrorist attack of Hamas.
Yet, we also carry with us our faith that hatred and violence, fear and misery shall not have the last word.
We shall not cease to work for respect and empathy and dialogue. We shall not cease to work for peace and justice for all.
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
I wish you, I wish us enriching and strenghtening encounters.
L‘ Chaim!
9th November 2023 Ulrike Schmidt-Hesse
