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Our story - A vision that connects generations
The European Youth Week is not a product of chance, but a response to history. It was founded in 1953 by Hella Heynmöller. Influenced by the Second World War, it pursued a clear goal: the youth of Europe should get to know, respect, and understand one another so that peace would become a matter of course.
What began over 70 years ago with 60 participants is today a vibrant movement. To date, around 300 folklore groups with approximately 10,000 young people have shared this adventure. It's an opportunity to cultivate cultural values – regardless of one's origin, religion, or worldview.
The Beginnings (1953)
To ensure that such a tragedy never happens again, the youth of Europe should get to know, respect, and understand one another. The founder chose the symbolically significant Ludwigstein Castle as a place for European encounters. It lies directly on the former inner-German border and was, and remains, a center of the German youth movement.
The idea was for young people from all over Europe to communicate and talk to each other through singing, making music, and dancing. This led them through the folk dance groups of European countries.
The first meeting took place in 1953. A total of 60 people participated: a folk dance group from Austria, and individuals from Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, and West Germany. The meeting was organized by the Ludwigstein Youth Castle Association. In 1971, Hella Heynmöller's contributions as an active European were recognized with the award of the Robert Schumann Medal.
→ A report by Hella Heynmöller on the first decades of the European Youth Weeks
Hella Heynmöller, 1984
Hartmut Reiße
Music, dance and organization in transition
From 1962 to 1984, Ward de Beer directed the choir and orchestra work of the European Youth Weeks. It is thanks to him that singing and instrumental music, alongside folk dance, became key pillars of the program.
His successor was Uwe Henkhaus, who led the choir and the group singing until 2004. The various choir and orchestra conductors who followed continued the work, each with their own focus.
In 1981, the group separated from the Jugendburg Ludwigstein association and founded the Working Group European Youth Weeks Burg Ludwigstein eV.
In 1984, Hella Heynmöller became honorary chairwoman of the association, and in 1986 she received the Federal Cross of Merit. She died on February 6, 1988, at the age of 75.
The general meeting elected Hartmut Reiße as its first chairman in 1984, a position he held until 2002 and which he now holds as honorary chairman. His successors were Norbert Gorldt together with Maike Lenz-Scheele, and from 2008 onwards, Michael Göbel.
Financing and Markets
The European Youth Weeks were initially financed primarily through public funds, supplemented by private sponsors. Unfortunately, the meetings had to be cancelled in 1975, 1977, 1981, 2011, and 2014 due to financial reasons. Currently, the organization no longer receives public funding.
Today, the largest contribution to the financing comes from the club members themselves. Since 1983, the working group has organized an annual Easter egg market, and since 1985, an Advent market at Ludwigstein Castle. The proceeds are used to finance the European Youth Weeks.
Internationalization & The Ludwigsteiners
A major innovation for club life was the founding of the club's own folklore group "Die Ludwigsteiner" by Fritz Lenz in the autumn of 1990, which has been participating as the German representation at the Eurowochen since 1991.
Since the very first youth camps, groups from Eastern Europe have been regular guests – including those from Poland, the former Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. After the fall of the inner-German border, groups from East Germany also joined the program starting in 1990.
Since the fall of communism, groups from the newly formed states of the former Eastern Bloc have also participated, such as from Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia and the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia.
Engagement and openness to the public
In 1993 and 1994, Fritz Lenz and Renate Vigelahn, two figures who had decisively shaped the European Youth Weeks, passed away. Both were long-time deputies of Hartmut Reiße and the main initiators and organizers of the meetings and markets.
Over time, the European Youth Week increasingly opened itself up to the public in the Werra-Meißner district. There were numerous appearances, including at the German Hiking Day in Eschwege (1987), on the Hanstein (1990), in Großalmerode-Trubenhausen (since 1993), and regularly in surrounding villages.
The opening events on the market square in Witzenhausen, as well as the performances in Heiligenstadt (since 1996) and on the open-air stage in Fürstenhagen (since 1985), are a tradition.
Anniversaries and their significance today
The European Youth Week celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2006, followed by the 60th in 2018. In total, around 300 folklore groups with approximately 10,000 participants have taken part in the European Youth Weeks during this time.
Unsere Geschichte in Kürze
1953
1960er–1970er
1981
1990s
Today
Founding of the European Youth Week
Hella Heynmöller founded the European Youth Week as a response to the Second World War – with the aim of promoting mutual understanding through encounters, music and dance.
Growth and artistic development
Folk dance, singing, and instrumental music are becoming the cornerstones of the European Youthweek. More and more international groups are participating.
Establishment of the working group
The working group European Youth Weeks Burg Ludwigstein eV is founded and takes over the organisation of the European Youthweek.
Internationalisation & new generations
New international encounters and the founding of the folklore group Die Ludwigsteiner expand the European Youthweek and strengthen its international character.
Encounter with tradition
More than 300 groups and around 10,000 participants are part of the history of the European Youthweek. To this day, it stands for exchange, friendship and international understanding.