Who we are ...

The Maximilian Kolbe Foundation
takes its inspiration from St. Maximilian Kolbe, the martyr of reconciliation, who gave his life in place of a fellow inmate in the Auschwitz concentration camp. In so doing, he gave witness that hate and violence need not have the last word. It is from this act of witness that the Maximilian Kolbe Foundation finds the strength for its reconciliation work. It has a special obligation to the victims of injustice and violence.

The Maximilian Kolbe Foundation
is associated with the work of reconciliation – that is between Germans and Poles – which the Maximilian-Kolbe-Werk has carried out in recent years with its voluntary and full-time staff in Germany and Poland, and with the support of its donors, by assisting survivors of National Socialist concentration camps and ghettos in a spirit of sympathy and solidarity, and with offers of concrete assistance, as they continue through life, by founding fellowships of reconciliation through personal encounters, and hence at the same time making contributions towards the culture of remembrance within the countries involved. In the context of this mission, it will be supporting the future reconciliation work of the Maximilian-Kolbe-Werk.

The Maximilian Kolbe Foundation
regards itself as being on the path which is clearly marked by the correspondence that was exchanged between the German and Polish bishops in 1965, as well as by the admission of guilt which Pope John Paul II gave for the Church in 2000. It makes contributions towards ecclesiastical peace and reconciliation work, and seeks to refine that work.

The Maximilian Kolbe Foundation
pursues the objective of founding and promoting initiatives which bring people together on the path of reconciliation in Europe so that communities arise across national boundaries which place personal encounters at the centre of their efforts and which are marked by solidarity in which all concerned are givers, takers, donors and receivers. It understands these fellowships to be an indispensable element of ecclesiastical life springing from the Christian message.

The Maximilian Kolbe Foundation
wishes to make issues in Europe which have not been reconciled a subject of debate so that a new, peaceful co-existence becomes achievable in practice. Through its reconciliation work, it provides a contribution towards the culture of remembrance in Europe by linking the perception of the ecclesiastical, social and political tasks for the present and the future with remembrance of their origins in a past that is burdened by injustice, violence and guilt, with awareness of the moral foundations of human interaction, as well as of the Gospel mission to be witnesses for Christ and ambassadors of reconciliation (2 Cor 5, 19-20). From the power of such remembrance, it works to develop and promote dignified, just, free co-existence based on solidarity in a peaceful Europe.

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