Europe’s violent ruptures, but also the power of European unity, are particularly tangible in German-Polish relations.

Nothing can ever undo the immeasurable suffering that we Germans inflicted on Poland through war and occupation. At the same time, we have taken on responsibility for ensuring that this most heinous chapter never becomes the last one in our exceptionally closely intertwined history.

Commitment to a Europe united in peace and security is our answer to the cataclysms of the past. It is our enduring responsibility as Germans never to flag in this commitment. We must always seek what unites us despite differences between us.

In this search for common ground, which also needs to be supported by the state, Krzyżowa stands for the crucial importance of citizens’ personal engagement and courageous individual decisions. The aim of the Kreisau-Initiative, which was founded by East and West Berliners in 1989 before the fall of the Wall, has always been to overcome borders and to facilitate contact between Germans, Poles and other Europeans in a place that stands for the pursuit of peace in Europe thanks to the Kreisau Circle, an anti-Nazi resistance group led by Helmuth James Graf von Moltke.

The International Youth Meeting Centre in Krzyżowa, which I am visiting today with my Polish counterpart Radosław Sikorski, came about as a result of this initiative. As we mark the 35^th anniversary of the German-Polish Treaty on Good Neighbourliness this year, we look back on an impressive path of reconciliation. This path was never merely a political decision – it was and is taken together by brave citizens in Poland and Germany.

At a time when German-Polish relations face new animosity, I consciously want to send a message about the friendship and ties between our two countries through my visit.

I firmly believe that this German-Polish cohesion and crucial commitment to peace and freedom are more important today than they have been since the end of the Second World War. It will be decided in Ukraine whether the European peaceful order can prevail or if we will return to our continent’s darkest days. The fact that Germany and Poland are among Ukraine’s most resolute supporters in its defence against Russia and that we stand unwaveringly alongside the people of Ukraine in their fight for freedom is thus vital for security, but also the essential lesson from our past.