Town twinning

Why don't you sit down with me? I'll tell you something about our city.

How nice that you have taken a seat and lingered for a moment, you could even say - slow down! How nice it would be to have someone sitting next to you who knows the city and its issues like few others.

You're in luck - someone like that is sitting virtually next to you right now. Treat yourself to a moment and listen to the topics of our city.

Hallo – Guten Tag — Gruezi – Salut — Bonjour et Bienvenue — Hello and Welcome to
a truly historic place. Pause for a moment here at the Europe Fountain and I can tell you a little bit about the commitment to town twinning, which is very much in evidence here.
Waldkirch has a whole five official twin towns! You can find information on Sélestat, Montignies-sur-Sambre, Worthing, Liestal and Chavanay on the information posts next to the fountain.
I am an active member of the CFA (ed: Deutsch-Französischer Kreis Waldkirch-Sélestat e.V.), which has made it its mission to foster exchange between the people of the twin towns, and I would like to explain why it is important to me that citizens get to enjoy their twin towns and – even better – fill them with life!
An official town twinning arrangement is evidence of a desire and fixed intention to confer with the people from the relevant towns in other countries at all levels of public life in order to learn from one another, break down prejudices or not allow them to arise in the first place, and, last but not least, share new experiences together.
These relationships are based on the principles of peace, communication, friendship and understanding.
The manifold friendly, personal contacts between the citizens of the two towns, e.g. through meetings in clubs and schools, form the energy and life blood of a twinning arrangement.
The towns support the initiative by providing funding and ideas, and themselves set great store by good contacts with the twin towns to provide a stable basis for the twinning arrangements. Ideally, this will mean that more fellow citizens feel inspired to get involved in the town’s ‘small-scale foreign policy’, as you could call it.
We organise exchange projects for children and young people, and meeting projects for adults, allowing people to find out just how much they have in common in their everyday lives. The earlier encounters can be made, the more uncomplicated cooperation and openness to new ideas become a matter of course.
Only when we meet can we get to know one another and learn from one another, enriching both one another’s lives and, perhaps most importantly, our own.
I think organising shared projects and events is one of the real benefits of the scheme. Initial contacts develop into strong networks and even personal friendships. For me, a twin town in another country means having a piece of my home or an anchoring point there.
Curious? You could find out where there are clubs in Waldkirch or in your hometown that are already organising exchanges with clubs in a twin town, or you could get the bug and try to establish contact yourself!
A twin town arrangement is only as strong as the people that support it, help to shape it, feed it with new ideas and thus allow it to change and become future-proof.
Your wishes and ideas would be valued too! Help shape our future together in Europe!
In this respect:
Herzlich Willkommen! Gruezi miteinand! Soyez les Bienvenus ! Welcome!