Wendepunkte - Turning Points
One
of our first seminars was held at the beautiful River Elbe landscape, in the
former border zone of the divided Germany. In this distant area, where storks'
nests on the border, 20 EXPO-trainees came together, hosted by the organising
AIESEC-Local Committee of Lüneburg.
The closeness to the former border - frankly a rest of the fence stayed left
directly on the yard where our pension was located - suggested itself to present
a short overview of fifty years Germany to the trainees from all over the world.
Therefore a little spectacle had been prepared: Two actors were included, Denis
from the eastern part of Germany and Nina from the western part. So the spectators
got a real impression about the feelings from the ones who experienced the time.
It was really impressive for everyone.
One of the highlights of the Lüneburg weekend seemed to be the visit of the
former Mecklenburg marsh hide village of Konau. Besides the old salt-producing
and hanseatic city of Lüneburg, the stork village of Preten and the Elbe ferry
town of Bleckede, the marsh hide village of Konau is one of the locations of
the region who has been selected as one of the "World-wide EXPO-projects".
The towns and municipalities on the River Elbe - in the former border zone -
provide many different ideas of how to take advantage of new opportunities in
the protection of pristine nature and in the documentation of German contemporary
history. Rare plants and animals live in the beautiful, unique biosphere of
the riverside reserve.
The northeastern part of Lower Saxony was once an isolated area cut off by the
insurmountable border between East and West Germany. Today, five decades of
colourful German history are being traced along the riverside, which symbolises
the division of Germany. At the same time, new perspectives are arising that
have been possible since the fall of Communism.
A more personal impression of the weekend is given by one of the EXPO-trainees,
Nidhal from Tunisia:
I have been in Hannover for one hour when Vanessa called me: "Hi, Nidhal! We
are going to Lüneburg. Are you ready?" This was the beginning of the four most
enjoyable months I ever had. Lüneburg was my first seminar and my first chance
to get in contact with the other trainees from all over the world and with the
"EXPO-team".
The atmosphere of our seminar was very nice and the theme very interesting.
It dealt with the divided Germany. That was because of the chosen overnight
stay in Bleckede. This small village is a suburb of Lüneburg and before the
fall of the wall it was in the border zone between West Germany and the "Deutsche
Demokratische Republik".
Apart from being acquainted with the region history, past and present of Lüneburg
and Bleckede, I will always keep in mind some nice souvenirs like the powerful
wake up by Martin the "Duschlotse" and the swimming party in the river "Elbe"
with Cornelius. We also visited one of the "World-wide EXPO- projects" in a
very small village near Bleckede, dealing with the hard time the inhabitants
of this village endured during the existence of the border between the two Germanys
and the, ironically, excellent conditions this meant for nature to develop.
The last highlight was our visit to Hamburg before leaving back definitively
to Hannover. I was so well impressed by this kind of seminar that I tried to
attend the following ones and I will never regret it. The last thing I would
like to say is a great DANKESCHÖN to all The EXPO TEAM and all the AIESECers
I met during my stay in Hannover."
Nidhal Battikh
Trainee, Tunesia
Martin Hanf
Team"AIESEC meets EXPO 2000"