MINORITIES YOUTH IN ACTION

The Union of the German Minority Youth in Poland (Związek MA‚odzieA1y MniejszoA›ci Niemieckiej w RP, abbr. ZMMN) is a national, non-profit youth organisation, that was founded in 1992. It gathers creative and studious young people, who during their freetime voluntary commit themselves to the Union's activities and objectives. The head office of the ZMMN is located in Opole, in Upper Silesia, whereas 20 local groups are acting independently in other polish districts with a numerous German Minority (Lower Silesia, Silesia and Warmian-Masurian Voivodship are the most important ones. Our organisation is a member of the Youth of European Nationalities and cooperates with many national and international partners, such as House for Polish-German Co-operation, Institute For Foreign Cultural Relations (IFA), Foundation for the Silesia Development and Support of Local Initiatives, German-Polish Youth office.
We publish a quarterly magazine ("antidotum"), which contains articles in German and Polish and is supposed to entertain, but also to inform about our projects, life and culture in Germany, study possibilities and so on. The main objectives of our organisation are:
- to cultivate and promote the German culture and language in Poland and keep our German identity alive
- to support charity activities in our local communities
- to offer further education and skills training for our members in order to assist their process of personal and professional development
- international youth exchanges
Every year the ZMMN organizes various sporting and cultural events (e.g. canoeing, German Christmas Markets, German Cinema Week) as well as German language courses. Moreover our organisation is known for its standard projects, that already have a long tradition.
These area:
- "Wielkie Slizganie" (The Great Slithering) is a charity project for orphans from Opole and the surrounding area, who get the opportunity to spend a whole day on an ice skating rink. We prepare them a leisure-time program and collect charitable donations for the involved orphanages.
-"Konferencja Mlodziezowa" (Youth Conference) offers every year about 70 young people from the German Minority the opportunity to socialize, exchange experiences and gain knowledge and new skills (4 workshops are organized).
-"Szkolenie Liderow Grup Mlodziezowych" (Training camp for youth group's leaders) aims to prepare 45 young people for being a skilled group leader in their local community
Among our members we have experienced project managers, coaches and tutors. They guarantee professional assistance for our target group: young people eager for knowledge and interested in learning how to organize projects, lead groups etc.
We focus especially on the development of young members of the German Minority in order to strengthen its structures and provide for young budding leaders. Most of our members and local groups operate in rural areas and outside big urban areas, therefore our activities also contribute to social-cultural animation in these areas.