Mayor Frank Klingebiel, who is also the chairman of the Salzgitter district association, welcomed the representatives present and thanked them for their many years of commitment. He continued: "We need the Volksbund for war graves care and youth work. We work for peace in the Volksbund and want to motivate many young people to do this work."
During the district representatives' day, the members of the district board and the delegates to the state representatives' day, which will take place in Wolfsburg in June, were elected. Walter Johannes-Herrmann was re-elected District Chairman of the German War Graves Commission.
Another important item on the agenda was the honoring of deserving members. Walter-Johannes Herrmann and Michael Gandt, the managing director of the Braunschweig association, presented the golden badge of honor to Lord Mayor Frank Klingebiel. He has been chairman of the Salzgitter district association since 2007. Carsten Bauerochse, who has been the district manager in Salzgitter since 2013 and organizes the annual house and street collection and the general meeting there, was awarded the bronze badge of honour.
Sandra Gelf and Eva-Maria Algermissen from the district board, Wolfgang Hage from the Goslar district association and Hans-Jürgen Honsa from the Salzgitter district association were also awarded a gold badge of honor. Merit Bekedorf from the Göttingen-Stadt district association and Rüdiger Kaufmann from the Gifhorn district association were awarded the silver badge of honor. Wolfgang Welge, who has been a member of the Volksbund since 1963 and a delegate for the Peine district association since 2001, received the white-gold badge of honor. Since 2005, he has been the initiator of the house and street collection in the village of Edemissen, which is carried out by pupils from the local secondary school.
At the end of the event, Dr. Dirk Reitz provided information about the project "19 for 19, cemeteries as contemporary places of learning". This project includes an exhibition that can be seen at various war cemetery sites in Europe.
If you are interested in the work of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, would like to become a member or have old documents of fallen soldiers, please contact the district manager, Carsten Bauerochse (see contact below).
Background information: The association has been commissioned by the German government to record, maintain and care for the graves of the German war dead abroad and to look after their relatives. The Volksbund also carries out peace policy projects for young people and adults.