Left: Between the Lines: published by Arbeitskreis deutscher Bildungsstaetten (AdB) and right: Anette Klasing from Bremen at Givat Haviva delivering a copy of the publication

 

A group of Israeli, Palestinian and German women that met periodically for over a decade have chronicled their individual and collective journey in a publication entitled ‘Between the Lines: Voices of Women Engendering Peace and Democracy.

A copy of the publication was delivered personally to Givat Haviva this week by Anette Klasing, one of the German participants in the exceptional trialogue of dialogue who took it upon themselves to deal with the most sensitive of issues in what became a personal and group experience never to be forgotten - and fortunately for the rest of us major elements of that experience published in ‘Between the Lines.’

Anette and a number of other women who participated in the project initiated and coordinated by Berlin based Arbeitskreis deutscher Bildungsstaetten (AdB) have more than close ties with Givat Haviva.   Deep friendships formed through a no longer existing exchange program between Givat Haviva staff members and German educators and social workers belonging to the AdB - an umbrella organization coordinating activities for those involved in civic and political education for youth and adults throughout Germany.

Anette first came to Givat Haviva in the mid-1990s with a group of colleagues led by the charismatic educator of educators Dr. Hannelore Chiout who established in 1975 the International Department of the AdB and was at the helm (until retirement in 2007) of long-term and short-term projects in many different arenas of conflict such as the Middle East, Mongolia, Spain and Eastern Europe with the main focus on the development of democracy.

It was Hannelore Chiout’s concept and drive that brought the women of Israel, Palestine and Germany together for their extended project with meetings held in all three countries, sometimes during the most difficult of times in our region.

Another of the German participants Katrin Wolf (better known as Tinka) has also participated in Givat Haviva seminars on a number of occasions and stayed in close contact with staff.  In 1989 Tinka, who was born and brought up in the GDR, founded the East-West-European Women’s Network (OWEN e.V.) and was also involved in the ‘Dealing with the consequences of the Holocaust’ bringing together ‘second generation’ of victims and perpetrators.

In present times Tinka is the Associate Director of the Hamburg based Filia.die Frauenstiftung, a women’s foundation supporting the feminist movement worldwide.  To take up this position she and her artist husband Martin – one of the founders of Amnesty International in East Germany and also a good friend of Givat Haviva – had to relocate from Berlin to Hamburg.

Anette Klasing is an educational adviser and facilitator of LidiceHaus in Bremen.  She came for a short private visit to Israel but being as Givat Haviva is almost home away from home a visit to the campus was a must.  Like Hannelore and Tinka, Anette is a valued honorary member of the Givat Haviva clan!  With their dedication to the empowerment of women and the development of educational projects encouraging democracy and peace in Germany and other countries the trio from Bremen, Hamburg and Berlin have gained the high regard and respect of Givat Haviva staff over the years.

A former social worker dealing with the pedagogical side of the profession when she first started out, Anette went back to the books to further her studies

“I wanted specifically to deal with women and female youth in the fields of empowerment and counseling and also be involved in intercultural education,” explained Anette during her recent visit.   She has been with LidiceHaus since 1994 with a break for two years (2004 – 2006) when she took up a post with the International Centre Bethlehem and Willy Brandt Centre, Jerusalem on behalf of the Forum Civil Peace Service.

 

Anette Klasing meeting with Dr. David Mendelsohn from the International Department – the academic advisor for the MASA Intensive Arabic Language course

 

The not for profit LidiceHaus Center is so-called after Lidice near Prague, a village in the then named Czechoslovakia.  In June 1942 Hitler’s henchmen slaughtered all the male residents of Lidice.  The Nazis Gestapo also razed the village to the ground as part of their campaign against the local resistance.  One hundred and seventy-three men were murdered, their wives and children sent to concentration camps.

“The main target group in LidiceHaus today is youth from all over Germany and the topics dealt with are basically issues of identity, cross-culture and inter-culture issues, the developing of democracy and peace education and last, but certainly not least, to challenge the rapid spread of the New Right in Germany,” said Anette.

“Basically, LidiceHaus stands for any kind of struggle against discrimination, racism, anti-Semitism and exclusion.

Youth are coming to LidiceHaus projects through their schools.  After preparatory activities in their own schools they come together for seminars at the center.  We also arrange seminars for teachers, youth leaders and social workers around the same topics to help them better deal with what they come across in their own fields of work.”

As for her involvement in the intense and passionate process of finding common ground and language between women from Israel, Palestine and her own country, Germany – Anette says it was a life-changing and enhancing - if difficult and draining at times – experience she wouldn’t have wanted to miss out on.

“We came together to learn from and strengthen each other in our common endeavor of protecting women’s rights in our societies, strengthening mutual respect for each other and fostering democratic values,” writes Hannelore Chiout in her ‘Between the Lines’ preface.

“Within ten years we learned to share our experiences openly, with all the difficulties and risks.  We created dialogue and listened to each other – to the differences and the contradictory narratives, trying to experience and understand each other’s stories and histories,” she also writes.

The powerful 185-page book, published by AdB in 2008 and sub-titled ‘Voices of Women engendering Peace and Democracy’ should be read by all those who want to raise their voices, individually and collectively, in their own and other countries, in the hope that the sound of their own and other voices calling out in unison for positive change will not fall on deaf ears.

 

The book can be purchased through Larissa Doring of AdB.  Email address: doering@adb.de

BY: Lydia Aisenberg