Never Again – The History of Sister Cities (she said)
by Heather 31 Aug 2014
Proudly displaying the village’s sister-city
For two countries who fought two major wars in the last century and three wars within one hundred years, the French and the Germans display remarkably little hostility to one another today. We’ve noticed many German tourists here in France, and the French seem to treat them with courtesy, just as they do all other tourists. Even in towns once destroyed and occupied by Germans, the French don’t seem to harbor any special animosity toward Germans. I’ve asked French acquaintances if there are lingering feelings of hatred, and the answer is no. A lot of effort has gone into creating this good will over the years.
After the Second World War tore Europe apart less than 25 years after the First World War did the same, a populist movement began to repair the emotional wounds and to allay the hatred and resentment from the Wars, seeking to heal rather than to punish. The mayor of Montbéliard (where we visited last summer), a French resistance fighter who had been taken to Buchenwald concentration camp as a prisoner of war, pioneered the modern concept of sister cities. He worked to pair his city with Ludwigsburg, Germany. In French, this relationship is known as jumelage.
French and German flags fly over the port of Le Chesne — A city twice overrun by German troops in the 20th century.
Jumelage with multiple, international cities
Jumelage encompasses cultural and educational events, business relationships and even childhood pen pals. In 1963, these social and cultural pairings were formalized by French President Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, with the signing of the Elysée Treaty. According to rumor, Konrad Adenauer turned to Charles de Gaulle at the formal signing ceremony and said, “Never again.”
There are now over 2,500 French/German sister cities as well as thousands of other sister-city pairs between EU communities. At our friend Marianne’s invitation, we attended Dijon’s celebration of jumelage with the German city of Mainz during our first week here in France. Her long-time German friends, Albert and Manuela, teachers from Mainz, have been coming to Dijon regularly for nearly 20 years. Thanks to jumelage, the two families fostered long-term bonds of friendship across borders.
Now, Europe functions as a cohesive economic unit rather than a location where tribes of white people continually fight each other — thanks in part to the simple yet powerful concept of jumelage and people who worked so hard to forgive and move forward.
