From Dresden Eastern Europe seems closer than in other more distant regions of the continent. Along with our direct neighbours – the Czech Republic and Poland – a first opportunity has been taken to develop a joint message of reconciliation. In 2009 the four Dresden Cross of Nails Centres agreed on the path of an Ecumenical Memorial Route, introduced on 1 September to
commemorate the 70^th anniversary of Poland’s invasion by German troops. More than 100 Polish guests were welcomed to Dresden. It was a moving moment to stand with Protestant and Catholic German and Polish clergy on the Augustusbrücke bridge in Dresden and, accompanied by a “Boat of Hope”, to recite the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation together in Polish and German.

An ecumenical service offered an opportunity to come together, as a meditation card recorded:

Approaching one another boldly
from different times and zones

not important who
first holds out a hand on the bridge

important only that we want it
important only that we meet
high above the abyss we touch

 (Ute Zydek, Wuppertal, Germany)

The evening was rounded off with a commemorative festival on Neumarkt square, a Polish film and a programme of literature and music with letters by soldiers at the start of the war.

In future the Dresden Cross of Nails Centres are planning further encounters with our Polish neighbours.