Executive Director Nina Lüders leaves the Kreisau-Initiative e. V.

Even before joining the Kreisau-Initiative, Nina Lüders had gained important experience in the German-Polish and European field, including as a student in Poznań and at the German-Polish Youth Office. For the Kreisau-Initiative, she initially headed the “Model International Criminal Court” (MICC) programme and the Contemporary History and Human Rights focal area as educational programmes specialist. In 2014, she became the association's executive director.

Nina Lüders has worked closely and with commitment with the Krzyżowa Foundation for Mutual Understanding in Europe and the Freya von Moltke Foundation for the New Kreisau to advance the joint “Kreisau” project and open it up to new topics. At the same time, during her years as executive director, the Kreisau-Initiative established important contacts with new partners, funding organisations, networks and umbrella organisations, such as the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future, the Skala-Initiative or the Arbeitskreis deutscher Bildungsstätten (Orgnisation of German Educational Institutions, AdB). In this way, the Kreisau-Initiative became better known and more recognised, was able to develop new formats and reach new target groups.

Nina Lüders has developed the content-related work of the Kreisau-Initiative, always keeping in mind its German-Polish core. Whether inclusion or socio-ecological transformation, the new project “Uprooted – History(s) of Stolen Children in World War II” or the participation project “360 Grad Deutschland–vielfältig, demokratisch, engagiert” – Nina Lüders, together with the team, has sharpened the profile of the Kreisau-Initiative as an innovative educational organisation over many years.

She has succeeded in developing the finances of the Kreisau-Initiative in a stable and positive way. The very broad-based funding and the best evaluations by European programmes such as Erasmus+ and various funding institutions contributed to this. She steered the Kreisau-Initiative with bravura and a lot of flexibility through the coronavirus pandemic, which was extremely stressful for all educational institutions, and opened up new digital possibilities together with the team. She was able to benefit from the fact that she had already set up the work of the Kreisau-Initiative in a more flexible and hybrid way beforehand.

Nina Lüders has led the Kreisau-Initiative team in a very competent, friendly and committed way. We, in the Board, often noticed how much she cared about fulfilling the needs of every member of the team as best she could. She created room for development, always showed sympathy and flexibility and always supported the team members personally. Towards us, members on the Board, she was wonderfully reliable, solid, sometimes self-critical and always very well informed about all areas of the work of the association. Despite her heavy workload, she always found time for a talk.

The Kreisau-Initiative, but also Krzyżowa/Kreisau as a place, were and are very close to Nina Lüders' heart. I personally was very pleased that she also came to our early summer Friends of Krzyżowa Meeting with her family.

On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Nina Lüders for her great work, personal commitment, cheerfulness, clever humour and many very good and productive hours of meetings online and offline.

Dear Nina, we wish you that you will be able to use your important experience from the work in and for Krzyżowa in your new work place. But we also hope that you still will be with the Kreisau-Initiative e. V. and Krzyżowa as a place. Dziękuję bardzo, dear Nina, all the best for you, we will all miss you very much!

Ulrike Kind (on behalf of the Board)