what we offer

Current educational modules of the YMC Golm
(last updated: 1.9.2006)

We offer educational modules, meetings with eye witnesses, work modules on the gravesite, creative modules and field trips to Poland.
Educational modules are free for our guests. Eye witnesses receive small gifts from the groups. There is a fixed price for the creative module.

Depending on the chosen program there might be extra costs for transport, entrance fees and guided tours. The team of the YMC Golm would love helping you to plan and arrange excursions and gives advice in choosing the right means of transportation.

Participants need a valid passport to cross the border to Poland. Participants from non-EU-member states need special treatment that has to be taken into consideration early enough! We willingly give further assistance. The field trip to Poland will be organised and accompanied by staff of the YMC that is familiar with the place. At the moment it is only possible to cross the border at the pedestrian checkpoint of Ahlbeck. A second checkpoint closer to the YMC is planned for 2007.

• War cementry Golm:

After an introduction into the topic the pupils divide themselves into small groups and work on selected biographies of survivers and victims of the bombing riad on Swinemünde. This way they are able to overcome the distance and abstraction of the topics bomb war, displacement and abscondence.
Preparation and realisation: YMC Golm.
Length: about 3 hours.

Possible focuses:
• actor or victim? Biographies on the cementry "Golm"
• Bomb war
• displacement and abscondence of germans and poles
• Talks with eye witnesses
• Forced labor in world war II
• quarrel over the graves: the history of the Golm (amongst others: sculptor Leptien,
Superintendent Achterberg)

An Excursion to Peenemünde and Karlshagen would give this work a good frame. Peenemünde was where the infamous V2-Rocket, the „Wunderwaffe“ (silver bullet) that constantly attacked London, was produced. Karlshagen is, like the Golm, a place where thousands of victims of Hitler's "total war" are burried. These places can give precious insights for the understanding of reasons and consequences of war and violence.

The historical technical museum of Peenemünde circels its exhibition around the violence that spread from Usedom in form of the V2-Rocket. The museum offers the possibility of a guided tour. Different aspects could be further deepened by using questionaires.
On the way there will be a stop at the memorial in Karlshagen that is in a direct context with Peenemünde.
Organisation: YMC Golm.
Realisation: historical technical museum Peenemünde.
Length: 1,5-3 hours (plus transportation)

Experiencing the border:

Since 1945 Usedom is an island torn in two. The border, its genesis and current consequences, can be experienced from various different perspectives. The teenagers search for the traces of the german-polish history. Some aspects can be found during the occupation with the bombing raid and the german-polish colective experience of displacement.
Standing at the still closed border in Kamminke pupils can gain ideas to think about current problems of this EU interior border. It is possible to combine different approaches:

• Watching a movie: A movie can show and portrait the problems, chances and conflicts that the german-polish border brings along for the people living on both sides. Watching a movie can be a very good entry to the topic. The pupils will evaluate the movie from different perspectives.
Lenght : about 2 hours.
• research in newspapers: Analysing newspaper articles of the last months about the border enables the participants to get an overview about the discussions and problems the border rises in politics and society.
Lenght: about. 2 hours.
• Border security 2006: A referee of the Bundespolizei (federal police) explains background information of border security and gives insight to the viewing point of the border patrol.
Place: YMC Golm or Bundespolizei Ahlbeck and trip to the border.
Length: about 2 hours.

During an excursion to Swinoujscie (Swinemünde) participants will explore a polish city with german history and will become sensitised for the exciting coexistence of two cultures. It is a journey through past, present and future. The ideal means of transportation are bikes or the ship (during summertime only). Of course there will be enough leisure time, too. A day in Swinemünde might have the following corner points:

• Trace tracking in Swinemünde:
Pupils present different events from spring 1945 at the original places. A tour with bikes and a ferry ride over to the island Wollin gives the great opportunity to gather new perspectives. Climbing the old Lighthouse offers a marvellous view over the city, the harbour, the fortifications, the islands and the Golm.
• Swinoujscie yesterday, today, tomorrow: This rally through the city is appropriate specially for international projects. Participants explore Swinoujscie in small bi-national groups and experience it as Polish, German and international city. Different topics will be dealt with and later puzzled together to from a bigger picture of the city.
Organisation and realisation: YMC Golm.
Length: one day.

• creative module: Voices for Peace / Art for Peace / Work for Peace

A possibility to continue the module on the cemetery on the Golm is an afternoon filled with creative examination of the topic war and peace. The group can also choose their preferred way to deal with the topic.
Optional we offer the following projects with the aid of event artist Vera Valtin:

• Voices for Peace: Sentences become poetry, poetry becomes a song. Ones own ideas create a song for peace.
• Art for Peace: Whether sculptures, pictures or instruments made of waste and natural materials – there are many ways to set signs for peace.
• Work for Peace: Active caretaking for war graves is an important approach to do something for peace that is immediately visible.
Length: About 3 hours
Costs: Voices for Peace/Art for Peace 6 Euro per Participant ; Work for Peace free

Getting in contact with a war grave
• The work of the German War Graves Serive in Germany and foreign countries
• Ways of remembrance
• Reading and evaluating guest books of the war gravesite Golm
• Grave verification
• Project: book of remembrance
• Victims and Actors
• Design of war gravesites and places of remembrance
• Active caretaking for graves
• The situation of law in war grave services
• the online service to find graves

Organisation and realisation: YMC Golm.
Length: 1,5-2 hours.

(German)-Polish encounter

Aim for this module ist the personal encounter of polish teenagers of the same age for (german) groups that do not posses a partner school. We will invite a group of pupils from the polish part of Usedom. The groups will be enabled to get to know each other in a variety of sports and games in Kamminke. The first evening will end with an international barbeque.
A visit at the school of the polish group in the following days is possible. This module is only possible if details are planned early enough!
Organisation and realisation: YMC Golm.
Length: one day.

Places to visit

• Historisch-Technisches Informationszentrum Peenemünde (Historical-technical information centre Peenemünde)
• Gedenk- und Kriegsgräberstätte Karlshagen (War graveyard and memorial place Karlshagen)
• Exhibition about the Golm in the church of Garz
• Natural resort of the island of Usedom (guided hike)
• Travel to Swinoujscie (Swinemünde) by bike or ship
• Canoeing on the river Peene
• Visit of the „Kaiserbäder“ Ahlbeck, Heringsdorf and Bansin
• Prison of the Wehrmacht in Anklam
• Museum of Lilienthal in Anklam
• Museum of Pomerania in Greifswald
• The German Oceanographic Museum in Stralsund
• Centre of Documentation “KdF-Bad Prora” (Island of Rügen)
• Travel to Szczecin (Stettin) by bus or ship
• ...

How old should the pupils be to take part in these modules?
grades of school from the 5th grade, adolescents from age 12 on, educational programs for young people and adults.

Material to prepare your visit:
(unfortunately most publications are not available in English)
Leaflet: „Kriegsgräberstätte Golm–Lernort der Geschichte“. Orders: Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V., Bundesgeschäftsstelle, Referat Ö/J1, Werner-Hilpert-Straße 2, 34117 Kassel, Telefon: 0049 561-7009-114, Fax: 0049 561-7009-295, Email: jbs@volksbund.de

Further material will be created continuously.
The seminar rooms of the youth meeting centre can also be used for short projects (when the participants do not stay overnight). Previous contact with our team is necessary! Groups that stay longer have priority in using the rooms. There will be no fees for using the seminar rooms for long term guests.

Leisure activities
- table tennis
- streetball
- beachvolleyball
- small soccer field
- outdoor chessboard
- tabletop soccer
- barbegue and bonfire site
- beach with possibility to swim (10 min. by foot)
- bicycles

Examples for a project week of a school grade at the YMC Golm (Island of Usedom)

Monday: Arrival. Phase of orientation, getting to know the meeting centre, introduction into the topic, going to the beach/ leisure time in Kamminke.
Tuesday: approaching the war gravesite, dealing with individual fates, in the afternoon: caretaking work on the graveyard or creative module or guided discovery tour through the Usedom Natural Resort (zernien-swamp) or leisure time/beach/sport or canoeing on the rivers Peene or Swine.
Wednesday: Trip to Peenemünde: Visit of the Historical-Technical Informationcentre (museum). Afternoon: Leisure time at the „Kaiserbäder“ (kings beaches of) Ahlbeck-Heringsdorf-Bansin.
Thursday: Field trip to Swinemünde (Swinoujscie) by bike or boat (if the weather is bad). Experiencing the border: On the traces of the Prussian harbour city, experiencing the polish city Swinoujscie. Evening: Barbeque.
Friday: Evaluation of the project, homeward journey.