Horse trek promotes peace and reconciliation from Dresden to Chemnitz

No distance is too far for peace and reconciliation: over the next three weeks, a trek with horse-drawn carriages will make its way from Dresden via Prague to Chemnitz to campaign against warmongering and for a peaceful world. The trek is also a dress rehearsal for a campaign planned for next year - 80 years after the end of the Second World War. The Peace Bells Association will then set off from Berlin to Jerusalem with a bell cast from military scrap. "We want to send a powerful signal that there will one day be peace," said Helmut Kautz, head of the association, to the German Press Agency. We will not stop believing that swords will be forged into plowshares and that people will come to their senses.

Especially in times of uncertainty and helplessness, it is important to hold on to the promise of peace. Kautz: "We want to meet people and celebrate reconciliation with them." At the end of the Second World War, no one believed that the Germans would once again get along with the world as they do now. "That's why we believe that peace and reconciliation will be possible. We want to take the bell to a school in Jerusalem where Hebrew and Arabic are taught. To send a signal that reconciliation is possible. The Germans have experienced it."

Peace is a universal good

On the current tour, the association is traveling with five teams and twelve horses. In addition to a peace bell, there is also a directional sign with the inscription "Berlin-Jerusalem 4,800 kilometers". Kautz hopes that Czech supporters will join the trek. He plans to be in Prague on August 11 and in Chemnitz, the European Capital of Culture 2025, on August 22, where a message from Tartu will be handed over at the finale. Tartu is this year's European Capital of Culture alongside Bodø in Norway and Bad Ischl in Austria. "With 'Probetreck 24', we want to send a message of hope and cohesion. Peace is a universal good that we must protect together," emphasized Kautz.

The Peace Bells Association sees itself as a non-partisan and non-religious initiative "that brings people of all backgrounds together to spread the idea of peace around the world with simple words". Since its foundation in 2019, the association has organized horse treks and has already transported a peace bell from Arnhem Bridge to Waterloo - two important sites in European war history. For the trip to Jerusalem, the association says it has been able to win over Brandenburg's Minister President Dietmar Woidke (SPD) and the General Superintendent for the Potsdam district of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia, Kristóf Bálint, as patrons.