After a journey of almost eleven hours, we arrived in Terneuzen in the evening of 07.06.2022 and were warmly welcomed by the students of Lodewijk College. After a small snack, the host families took us home. The following day we were shown the buildings and the outside of the school before continuing with the work on the magazine we had started in Meerane. After completing the brochure, we were given the task of making a portrait of Etty Hillesum. At noon we took the bus to Middelburg, where we split into two groups and took turns participating in a tribute at the Etty Hillesum House and a guided tour of the city, visiting various places that played a role in Etty's life. At 18:00 we had dinner together at the school. On Thursday, 09.06.2022, we went to Amsterdam, where we were allowed to visit the city independently in mixed groups. Of course, the purchase of souvenirs of the national capital as a souvenir was not to be missed. Afterwards we visited the Anne Frank House, where we learned a lot about the Frank family and their living conditions. Our last day started with a trip to the prison "Fort van Breendonk" in Willebroek, Belgium. There we were given a very detailed and harrowing insight into the cruel circumstances of that time. In the afternoon we participated in the workshop "Ordinary Heroes" in Mechelen, which taught us how to actively show civil courage in cases of racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination. The day ended with a guided tour of the Universal Human Rights museum. On the day of departure, we were given a warm farewell by our host families and the Dutch students and teachers of the partner school before we started our journey home.
We found it difficult to say goodbye to the Dutch because of their warm, open-minded nature, but the trip was a wonderful conclusion to a great project with monumental significance. We look back with pride on an instructive, interesting year from which we can all take something away. Now we hope to be able to make others aware of the unfortunately sometimes very current issues of racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination.