History

History​

1961 - 1989

From 1961 to 1989 the Berlin Wall was the symbol for the Cold War and the separation of Germany and Europe. The people of Central and South-Eastern Europe share this experience with the Germans. For centuries they have lived on the border between east and west behind the Iron Curtain.

1989

In 1989 the power of the people overcame this artificial border.

2004

With the fifth and to this point largest expansion of the European Union on Mai 1st 2004 the Central and South-Eastern European countries the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia became members of the European Union next to Cyprus and Malta. With this act the European Union consisted of 25 members.

2005

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the parish of the Church of Reconciliation has managed that life can flourish again on the death strip. The current Chapel of Reconciliation is situated in the center of the Berlin Wall Memorial. Without the work of this parish and especially its pastor Manfred Fischer the Memorial would not exist. Since 2005 every year a rye field is tilled and harvested at the Chapel of Reconciliation and the flour is turned into bread.

2007

Bulgaria and Rumania become members of the European Union on January 1st 2007. Thus the number of members of the European Union from Central and South-Eastern Europe increased to a total of ten.

2012

A part of the rye harvest from 2012 from the field at the chapel of Reconciliation on Bernauer Street is reserved to be cultivated in 2013 on symbolic and historical important locations of the reunification time in those countries that became members of the European Union after 1989.

21.09.2012

The civil society Association PeaceBread is founded in the premises of the Protestant Reconciliation Parish in Berlin-Mitte (13355 Berlin, Bernauer Str.111) to organize the PeaceBread project. The celebratory signing of the founding document takes place in the Chapel of Reconciliation. Every member is handed a small bag of rye and a rye bread by pastor Manfred Fischer.

20.12.2012

Ilse Aigner, Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, assumed the patronage of the project “PeaceBread”.

2013

02.01.2013

With the entry into the register of associations the Charlottenburg District Court confirmed the official foundation of the Association PeaceBread e. V.

September 2013

Hans-Peter Friedrich, Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, assumed the patronage of the project “PeaceBread”.

2014

Februar 2012

Christian Schmidt, Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, assumed the patronage of the project “PeaceBread”.

29./30.09.2014

The conference „Peace and Agriculture” with more than a hundred participants takes place in Brandenburg. The participants sign the mutual declaration “Commemoration and reconciliation in Europe – impulses for the future”.

01.10.2014

„Sowing and harvesting in peace“. The ceremonial act takes place in the “Senatssaal” of the Humboldt University of Berlin. The ceremonial breaking and tasting of the European PeaceBread is held at the Chapel of Reconciliation.

2015

21./22. September 2015

The second conference of the European Forum “Peace and Agriculture” takes place in Poznan, Poland combined with a press conference in the presence of the Polish Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Marek Sawicki, discussing the project “PeaceBread”. In addition the PeaceBread 2015 was handed over to a representative of the Agriculture Ministry of Hungary on the occasion of the opening of the International Fair “Polagro”.

A seminar of the PeaceBread network was held which discussed “Socio-economic changes during the 25 years of territorial self-government in Poland”.

2016

Preparation of the third conference of the European Forum “Peace and Agriculture” in Szarvas, Hungary, which will take place in September 2016.