Friedenskreis Halle e.V.

The experience of the peaceful changes of 1989 awoke hopes of a Germany without military in many people. In 1990, these hopes brought people from different civil initiatives in Halle together and the Friedenskreis Halle e.v. was founded.Today, people of various world views, religions, nationalities and political affiliations are working together at Friedenskreis. For us peace is not a state of affairs, not a far-off goal and not just the absence of war. For us, peace is a means towards a life in coexistence determined by co-operation, justice and non-violence, which enables the individual to pursue and live its freedom. Ways leading towards a life in cooperation have to be developped in every day life, while reflecting on them at the same time. Having said this, we commit ourselves to the fields of education work, peace policy and to set up projects for civilian conflict management in Germany and abroad.

Our current programme and projects:
o Seminaries and educational programmes in the areas of communication, conflict resolution, mediation, dealing with violence and learning how to speak out
o Consulting services for initiatives and projects that are working with the same ideas
o Lectures and seminaries on current peace-associated themes
o Civil conflict resolution through the development of an educational and encounter centre in Jajce, Bosnia
o EVS-Seminaries in cooperation with ICJA e.V., Berlin
o Workcamps, youth encounters and volunteer work in the countries of the Balkans
o Counselling on military service and conscientious objection
o Cooperation in activities and campaigns against militarisation
o Operation of the biggest peace-related library in eastern Germany

Our work is made possible through full-time and voluntary work, private donations and public funding. At the time 9 employees, 1 EVS-Volunteer and a high number of volunteers and trainers are working in the association.