The International Youth Meeting in Wapienne (Małopolska), co-organized by the Villa Decius Association, starts on the one-hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of WWI. The meeting, organized under the slogan “Europe of Youth – Europe of Peace”, is going to be devoted to the historical events and primarily to the discussion on the multinational and multicultural future of Europe.
The meeting, lasting from August 1 to 10, will be attended by students from countries whose soldiers, one hundred years ago, during the time of Austro-Hungarian Empire, were involved in war-time activities: Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine and Hungary. The meeting takes place in Wapienne health resort in the Sękowa commune.
From there, the young people will travel to places located along the Eastern front of WWI, including Gorlice, where, in May 1915, the battle known as “Polish Verdun” took place. This was the largest military operation at the Eastern front, completed with victory of the German and Austro-Hungarian armies and the breaking of Russian front.
During the meeting, debates, lectures and workshops devoted to identity, memory, patriotism, co-existence of various nationalities in a single country have been scheduled. One of the debates will refer to the manners of preventing the next global conflict and one of the workshops will focus on behaviour of individuals with respect to war.
Young people are going to visit war cemeteries at Przełęcz Małastowska and at the Pustki Hill in Łużna, where over 1,200 soldiers of various nationalities are buried. During the meeting, the students will also visit sacral facilities located along the trail of wooden architecture: churches in Sękowa and Binarowa, Orthodox churches in Owczary and Kwiatoń (entered in the UNESO World Heritage List) and the synagogue in Bobowa.
The International Youth Meeting is organized by the Jagiellonian University, the Pedagogical University, the Office of Małopolska Province, the Villa Decius Association and the communes from Gorlice poviat with financial support of the Ministry of National Defence and the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, as well as the Marshal’s Office of the Małopolska Province.
More information about project is available at: www.iym2014.eu