Small Projects Fund (KPF) 2021-2027

IIIn the context of a German-Polish co-operation the history trail was created "Events of the war 1945"initiated with the City of Seelow as lead partner and the Municipality of Słońsk as project partner. The aim of the project was to open up the historical heritage of the region surrounding the end of the Second World War in 1945, make it accessible and communicate it across borders.

In addition to the main partners, other institutions and municipalities were actively involved in the realisation: the municipality of Letschin, the town of Kostrzyn nad Odrą, the Küstrin Fortress Museum in Kostrzyn nad Odrą, the Wuhdener Heimatverein e.V., the Seelow Heights Museum and Memorial, the Gusow-Platkow History and Local History Association e.V. and the Museum Berlin-Karlshorst.

Supported by the Euroregion PRO EUROPA VIADRINAtotal budget of 39,683.27 EUR available, of which EUR 31,746.62 were covered by subsidies.

The project pursued several key objectives:

• Strengthening awareness of the common culture and history in the German-Polish border region,
• Improving cross-border usability and accessibility existing cultural and tourist offers,
• Supra-regional networking and international marketing from seven regional memorials to significant war events of 1945.

In the project, the educational tourism potential of these places of remembrance, networked with each other and promoted nationally and internationally. Partners such as the Liberation Route Europe (LRE) - a cultural route certified by the Council of Europe for the liberation of Europe in 1944-45 - contributed significantly to the realisation with their expertise. Multilingual print and audio information was displayed on weatherproof acrylic signs at the respective locationsto provide visitors with barrier-free access to background knowledge and stories in several languages.

A special event was the Presentation of the history trail at the annual forum of the Liberation Route Europe in Kraków (Poland)where the project will be international trade visitors and specialised travel providers was presented.

As part of the implementation process, the locations Słońsk, Kienitz, Kostrzyn nad Odrą, Klessin, the Seelow Heights Memorial, the Seelow History Station and the Berlin-Karlshorst Museum the Liberation Route Europe vector stamps ceremoniously presented and permanently affixed. These vector brands were designed by the renowned architect Daniel Libeskind and symbolise the connection between the places of remembrance along the route as artistically designed landmarks.

Finally, the Spring 2025, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, Commemorative events along the history trail were held to commemorate the many victims of the events of that time.

31.01.2025 Słońsk

31.01.2025 Kienitz

10/03/2025 Kraków

22/03/2025 Klessin

30/03/2025 Kostrzyn nad Odrą

16/04/2025 Seelow

05/05/2025 Berlin-Karlshorst

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The development and establishment of the "History Trail War Events 1945" was funded as part of the project "Remembering Together - 80 Years of the End of the Second World War 2025" within the framework of the Small Projects Fund (KPF) 2021-2027 of the PRO EUROPA VIADRINA Euroregion as part of the INTERREG VI A Brandenburg-Poland 2021-2027 cooperation programme.

Interreg VA funding project 2019-2023

With the "Sites of Remembrance OderWarthe" funding project, the project partners aimed to City of Seelow (lead partner), City of Kostrzyn nad Odra and Municipality of Słońsk The aim was to jointly maintain and strengthen the unique landscape of remembrance in the Oder-Warthe region and to capitalise on it as a special tourist feature. The measures planned in the project should, among other things, strengthen and supplement the tourist offers of existing memorial sites, link them thematically and market them nationally under a new cross-border tourist brand. This will increase the market presence and visitor appeal of all the sites, with economic effects for those involved.

Various outputs were realised in joint cross-border project work.

Cross-border tourism brand

Around 200 places of remembrance in the Oder-Warthe region offer individual and multi-layered insights into the region's eventful history. Taken together, they have great potential for sustainable tourist attractions with international appeal. The Oder-Warthe region should be understood as a shared, cross-border historical cultural area. The speciality of the project was to promote the exchange of the different perspectives on the culture of remembrance in Germany, Poland and internationally.

Cross-border network of places of remembrance

Places of remembrance, monuments and museums are actively working together as part of a joint regional brand to create a shared space of remembrance, encounter and discovery that supports a better understanding of the multi-layered worlds of remembrance on both sides of the border and openly communicates them to the outside world.

Further project outputs:

• Analysis and categorisation of memorial sites in the Oder-Warthe region
• Development of a common database
• Marketing concept
• Meeting, exchange, supra-regional networking and cooperation
• Development of multilingual marketing tools (travel guide, image brochure, flyers, posters, roll-up displays, website)

Three new places of encounter and remembrance

Three historical buildings were also renovated as part of the project in order to preserve the buildings and put them to new uses. Three new tourist attractions were created for the cultural tourism brand "Remembrance connects", which can be used to inform visitors and attract them to the region.

Project news "Sites of Remembrance Oder-Warthe"