Forty children and young people from Republika Srpska and Serbia, including twenty children from Bijeljina, recently visited Germany, where they built new friendships and bridges of cooperation through socializing and learning about the country’s culture and history.
 
Among the young people from Bijeljina were the top students of their generation from local primary schools, as well as several of the most successful participants in the “Through Knowledge, Song and Dance” festival in the “Knowledge” category.
 
During their five-day visit, the young people from Bijeljina visited Langenhagen, Hanover and Osnabrück, as well as the Orthodox and Jewish communities and a memorial site at the location of a former camp where officers of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia were imprisoned during the Second World War, many of whom did not live to see liberation. Visiting these places of remembrance gave them an opportunity to learn about history first-hand, in the very places where it unfolded, as well as to discuss the importance of peace, tolerance and understanding, and the ways of life of different national and cultural communities.
 
A particularly warm welcome was extended to the group at the Serbian Orthodox Church of St. George in Osnabrück, where they were welcomed by representatives of the Serbian community. They also visited the Jewish community in the city.
 
The exchange visits between young people from Bijeljina and Langenhagen were initiated more than two and a half decades ago by the non-governmental organization “Help for Young Life,” led by Željko Dragić. The program also represented the first step toward bringing the two cities closer together and ultimately establishing a town-twinning partnership.