“I work in a museum that deals with the massacre of Kalavryta. The 117. Hunters Division of the Wehrmacht has gathered all the inhabitants of the village in the school building and divided them into women and men, after which all the male villagers who were over 12 years old were taken to a hill outside the village and executed there. Meanwhile, another group of soldiers looted and set fire to the village. Many of the women and children were able to free themselves at the last moment, but 696 Greek civilians were murdered in Kalavryta and the surrounding villages.

After my arrival, I was slowly introduced to the theme of the museum and took on simple tasks such as putting up posters, small translations and everyday work in the museum. Gradually, I became more involved in the work. After a short time I was able to prove my knowledge of the local history and gave my first guided tour for a group of German educational travellers.
But also interpersonally, I had very good experiences and was welcomed by everyone with open arms and a lot of helpfulness. I get along very well with my colleagues and we also do leisure activities together, such as trips to the seaside, or to Patras, the nearest city, as well as evenings in the local bars or eating together.”

-short report written by Paul from Kiel, the first ASF volunteer staying in Kalavryta

“Etz Hayyim is the only surviving synagogue and was rebuilt only in 1999, after the German occupation almost completely destroyed the Jewish Quarter. It is both an active synagogue and a place to learn about history
learn. In addition, various intercultural projects are organised. This makes it one of the most important non-state supported organisations in Chania.

My working day begins at ten o’clock with the preparation of the synagogue for visitors, e.g. preparation of items for sale. Afterwards, the team discusses the tasks for the day at breakfast together.
I am currently working with Theo, my Austrian co-volunteer from GEDENKDIENST, on a historic city rally for a youth exchange with students of the FU from Berlin, where young people from Chania and the students get to know each other.
During our working hours the synagogue is regularly visited by people of different nations, to whom we show the premises and also give short guided tours according to their interest. That is why I invested time in the first few days to study the history of the place and the Jewish community of Crete.

Every Friday evening the Sabbath is celebrated in the synagogue, where I help with the preparation and follow-up, as well as participating in prayer. Even if this is not part of my working hours, it has always been exciting and beautiful experiences for me so far, because one is received in a friendly way by the community and thus gets first impressions of Jewish culture. During the first weeks, I also had the opportunity to get an insight into the Jewish holidays of Yom Kippur and Sukkot.
To better follow the prayers Theo and I participate in Hebrew Reading lessons.”

-short report about the first months of her voluntary service written by Carleen from Eberswalde, the first ASF volunteer in Chania

When I first got to Ioannina, I was not quite sure what to expect, since the projects I was told about were just starting to take place and so there were some organisation issues that still had to be solved. It took some time to get used to the new environment and to get a solid working schedule, so in the beginning I found myself being confused and sometimes frustrated but after a short while I started taking part in various projects. One of my main purposes here is to exchange cultural differences. Thus, I started giving German lessons twice and English lessons once per day, from Monday to Wednesday. But other than that I include information about traditions and general culture, to not only focus on the language but to create diverse conversations. On Thursdays and Fridays I spend my time in the office of the Cultural Center, where I research, write and publish articles for the website about the Jewish community of Ioannina and Lingiades that I am currently working on. Another project that I am currently working on is creating an interactive tour around Ioannina, featuring the most important parts of Jewish history there. Right now, the synagogue in Lingiades is closed for renovation, so there are not many activities taking place there. But I am really looking forward to explore this and other places connected to my work in the future. Further than that, I am very motivated to learn and also educate others about the history of Lingiades, because during some conversations with the locals, I noticed that not many of them know about its historical context. And in my opinion, it is really interesting to know about. But on the other hand, working with refugees is very important to me, too. I feel like there is a lot of international apathy towards this issue and I see it as crucial to spread more awareness, regarding the political as well as the historical context connected to it.

In conclusion, I am very happy to be here and to be part of this project. Ioannina is a beautiful city and a great place to make long lasting experiences. Despite feeling a little bit lonely during the first weeks, I have now made quite a few friends and acquaintances, that I am getting along with well. The other volunteers and I also meet up regularly and it is good to have people to share your experience with. In addition to that, I have been taking Greek lessons for a few months now, which helped me a lot so far. Learning this new language is something I enjoy a lot and I am very glad to see a huge progress so far. I am looking forward to making even more memories, like exploring more of the country and getting new skills along the way.

-short report written by Helen from Hamburg, the first ASF volunteer staying in Ioannina and Lingiades

The Orthodox Academy of Crete is more than 50 years old. It was founded in 1868 during the dictatorship under some problems and the one major task of the academy is the Dialogue/exchange between politics, religion and science. The academy stands under the patronage of the Patriarchate, that is why it’s an officially Greek Orthodox Academy.
Nevertheless, the Academy often welcomes groups from science, physics and even apprentices
the landscape gardener from Germany. For example, there was once a seminar/meeting of physicists, where Stephen Hawking took part in. In the future, the Academy will continue its work the Commission’s actions over the last few decades.

During the first month I mostly worked on the reception, helped in the kitchen and took care of the Social Media accounts. Many international groups came in September and October, so I had the opportunity to join some excursions around the island ( for example boat and snorkel tours or exploring hidden beaches) and to meet different kind of people.

Now in winter most of my work takes place in my office where I sort documents and billets but I also have some things to do in the in-house library. Two times a week I participate in Greek lessons in Chania together with Carleen ( who is also a volunteer from ASF) and other students.

I really enjoy living right by the sea and to have the possibility to explore the Crete nature. Sometimes I am a bit bored because I didn’t really get to know some Young Greek people but I am sure that will change in summer and I am looking forward to the next months of my voluntary service.

-report about the life as an ASF volunteer staying in Kolymvari, written by Malena from Nordhorn

A few days after I submitted my application in November, I received an invitation to a selection and information seminar, which had to be held in January 2021 via Zoom due to the covid situation.
I went into the seminar with no concrete idea and was very excited about what was in store for me.
We talked about various topics in small groups. The discussions about one’s own family history were especially memorable for me. Another part of the seminar was called “country and project presentations”, where I came across Greece by chance. Both the opportunity to be involved in the design of a completely new project and the historical background of the Greek village Kryoneri appealed to me very much. When I was able to sign my service contract in March, not only the anticipation began, but also the first preparations for my voluntary service.

This included getting to know the Greek language for the first time, as well as finding sponsors who would like to support me during the year. Furthermore, I was given the interesting task of dealing intensively with my family’s past. As a result, I had conversations with my relatives and learned about situations and stories from war and post-war times that had never been present to me. I became more and more aware of how important it is to talk about past deeds and events so that they are not forgotten. That’s where my service in Kryoneri comes in.

On September 9th, I flew to Greece together with my country group – consisting of four other volunteers. Together, the journey led us to my project in Kryoneri Korinthias, on the Peloponnese, about two hours away from Athens. There we were warmly welcomed by Panos Poulos, who is the Greek contact person for us volunteers, and his wife Athina, and a week of seminar was ahead of us. From excursions to Corinth, to Zoom calls with Contemporary witnesses and a visit to a Greek Orthodox service, it was all there. Since Kryoneri Korinthias is also my location for the year, I already had a first impression of my future home after the arrival week and already got to know some inhabitants. In the weeks that followed, I became more and more comfortable and quickly felt how hospitable and cordial I was received from all sides.

But I also like to look back on bathing trips to the nearby coastal city Kiato or visiting the Kryoneris Observatory at the beginning of my service.

My project is run by the Greek Intercultural Environmental Organisation FILOXENIA, which deals with educational work in the fields of ecology, politics and history. The latter is of particular importance to my voluntary service.
The Jewish family Kamhi was rescued in Kryoneri during the German occupation in the early 1940s. For several years, the seven-member family was hidden in houses by locals.

During the repeated German raids on the village, the family was taken to a small cave in the surrounding mountains to not be discovered. Only with help of the entire village population the family survived and the then six-year-old daughter Rivka Jakobi still looks back with gratitude. In 2018, two Families from Kryoneri received the significant award “Righteous Among the Nations” from the State of Israel for their extraordinary deeds.

An important concern of FILOXENIA is that this story shouldn’t be forgotten and that it should receive more attention outside the region, on which my activities are based to a large extent. The main task of my voluntary service is to develop the websites “Matsani” and “Memory Alive”, on which I document the history of the village and the civil courage of the villagers.
In order to obtain the necessary information, I have access to different text sources and also the great opportunity to speak with contemporary witnesses or their descendants. Most of the time I work independently but I can always contact the person in charge if I have any questions.

During the first two months, I mainly worked on small translations on the website “Matsani”, which represents Kryoneri as a whole village with all leisure activities, clubs and restaurants.
At the moment, my focus is on capturing Kryoneri’s moving story and its background on this website. In the course of the year, I will also report on various projects in which volunteers deal with the occupation in Greece.
My office is in the village’s youth club, where I stay from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m every day.

Another part of my service is the digitization of the village archive, which contains documents that are more than 100 years old. And I also take care of the development and maintenance of the hiking trails that lead to the cave where the Kamhi family hid temporarily.

Almost every day I meet the youngsters from the region– in groups of two, we exchange cultural differences and

everyday situations in English, German or Greek and learn languages in a playful way together. A “language tandem encounter” takes about an hour and is prepared by me.

In addition, I plan various leisure activities and events for young and old inhabitants of Kryoneri together with other volunteers.
In Kryoneri there are regular international exchange projects, which intensively liven up the village and are a cultural enrichment. The Hostel Elisson is an important place of contact for volunteers and offers space for encounters of all kinds. My colleagues and I also stay here.

In my free time, I do a lot of things with the other international volunteers. A great common passion of ours is baking and cooking, whereby we also try the first Greek recipes. We usually use the weekends for small hiking tours in the surrounding mountains and are overwhelmed by the beautiful nature of Greece.
I also attend a gymnastics class twice a week with other women from the village. These hours are always really funny and out of the reason that we don’t have a common language, I am very grateful to be integrated so naturally.

Especially memorable for me was the first small event we did with the youngsters where we met at the youth club to create a poster about our tandem encounters. Although the language is still a big barrier, we had a great time together and we volunteers felt very welcomed in the group.

Another highlight of my voluntary service is definitely the exploration of Greece and I already had the opportunity to visit another ASF volunteer at his project in Kalavryta, as well as to visit Athens for a few days.
I am looking forward to what will await me in the coming months and I am sure my stay here will shape me in the long term.

A huge thank you at this point to all my supporters!
In particular to the IJFD (International Youth Volunteer Service) and all donors, without whose financial support the work of “Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste” would not be possible.
And to all dear people in Germany, in Greece, and elsewhere in the world, who support me when it’s not that easy, and with whom I can share all my beautiful experiences here.