Freundeskreis Polozk is a German registered association in

Friedrichshafen Friedrichshafen ( or ; Low Alemannic: ''Hafe'' or ''Fridrichshafe'') is a city on the northern shoreline of Lake Constance (the ''Bodensee'') in Southern Germany, near the borders of both Switzerland and Austria. It is the district capital (''Kre ...

that manages relationship with

sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

History

It was founded on the initiative of city councilor Rotraut Binder and citizen Karl Bachmann with the intention to establish a club to stimulate Friedrichshafen committed citizens to organize the new urban partnership between Friedrichshafen and the Belarusian city Polack. In 1985, the regional council of Friedrichshafen identified Polack as a city in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

with a comparable degree of destruction during the second world war and linked with it in 1990. In 1995 the association was founded. The demand was for war reparations. In 1996 and 2004 the group traveled to Polack, In 2011 Project ''Clear water Polozk'' was conducted. In 2013 Project 'Hört mit' ( hearing aids for Polack) was conducted. In 2015 25 ''Jjähriges Jubiläum der Städtepartnerschaft'' in Polozk was conducted. In 2018 the group cycled to Polack. Friedrichshafen's other sister cities are

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

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, Saint-Dié-des-Vosges/

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Delitzsch Delitzsch (; Slavic: ''delč'' or ''delcz'' for hill) is a town in Saxony in Germany, 20 km north of Leipzig and 30 km east of Halle (Saale). With 24,850 inhabitants at the end of 2015, it is the largest town in the district of Nordsach ...

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Imperia Imperia (; lij, Inpêia or ) is a coastal city and ''comune'' in the Regions of Italy, region of Liguria, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Imperia, and historically it was capital of the ''Intemelia'' district of Liguria. Benito Muss ...

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and Peoria/

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Supraregional meaning

Because of the complex political situation and dictatorial leadership of president Alexander Lukashenko,

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

sanctions and the German government, and political pressure on Russian and

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

ian governments, the Minsk administration surrounding Lukashenko is fostering urban partnerships. The association serves a supra-regional function for the projects they organise. The commitment was affirmed at the Sustainability Conference at Minsk, in June 2018. The trip covered. 2200 km in 10 days on a folding bike.

Humanitarian projects

Freundeskreis Polack organized ''Warm Winter'', ''Meeting lonesome people'', ''Woman's help for women'' projects and supported projects together with the Belarusian association ''Strumok'' and ''Tschernobyl echo''.

Meetings

Citizens of the sister cities meet with the group. 13 train trips and 4 camper trips were organized since 1995.

References

External links

* {{official, http://www.freundeskreis-polozk.de 1995 establishments in Germany Organizations established in 1995 Belarus–Germany relations Municipal international relations