“We’ve grown together because we belong together!”
Headlines for the year 2036 like this one rounded out the morning program at the Volkhaus Jena. About 200 residents of Erlangen traveled to their Thuringian sister city, Jena, for German Unity Day to celebrate the 39-year-old city partnership. At tables with residents from the other city, lively conversations took place about their experiences with and the future of the sister city. The music provided by the Carl-Zeiss Jena e.V. Accordion Orchestra and the accordion ensemble of the Erlangen School of Singing and Music, conducted by Elke Niedermeier, created a festive atmosphere.
Afternoon Program Highlights the Diversity of the Sister City Partnership
Throughout the afternoon, friends reunited; residents of Erlangen took the oppoto learn more about Jena during city and museum tours; and teams competed for victory in a pub quiz hosted by Big Kev Murphy. For the past four years, Jena and Erlangen have also been connected by a joint solidarity partnership with the Ukrainian municipality of Brovary, and so the JenaUA association invited guests to the Historic City Hall to learn about its activities supporting Ukraine. Sports exchanges are also a staple of October 3, so the two mayors attended the award ceremonies for the volleyball and table tennis tournaments.
The day concluded with an ecumenical service and the traditional farewell singing in front of the City Church as part of the “Deutschland singt und klingt” initiative.
City partnerships thrive on encounters between people—people who talk to one another, visit each other, and forge connections across borders.