SUCEAVA COUNTY COUNCIL Department of external partnerships and diaspora

Schwaben region – Germany

The most important activities commonly developed, since the signing of the partnership between county and Schwaben region from Germany, were as follows:

 the activity of magnitude “Come back in ”, which took place in June, 2001, attended by 400 who left Bukovina after 1940 in Germany, but also in other places in the world;

 teachers from Schwaben region taught elements of and culture at the National Colleges „Ştefan cel Mare” and "Petru Rares" and High schools, at the no. 3 School Group and at the University „Stefan cel mare” from Suceava, also, students and pupils participate annually, with scholarships provided by the German part, at courses to improve their German language skills, organised in profile institutions from Schwaben;

 beneficial collaboration between the Universities of Augsburg and "Stefan cel Mare" of Suceava, materialized and in scientific support and donations consisting of books, electronic equipment, industrial robot of last generation and others;

 the specialized services within the two partner regions have implemented, within the Leonardo da Vinci Program, two projects that had as objective exchanges of experience between specialists from child protection units and psychiatric hospitals in Suceava county in high profile institutions in Schwaben region; Also, an exchange of experience was developed in the field of strategic development, which was provided in the Calendar of activities related to the project Economic and social development strategy of Suceava county 2010-2020, financed by the ESF and implemented by Suceava County Council;

 18 editions of the International Football Tournament for Junior "4 Regions for Europe", were organised, attended by juniors under 16 years old, from the regions Schwaben - Germany, - Ukraine, Suceava County - and the Mayenne Department in France, the last edition was organised in August 2019, in Suceava county; Thus, Suceava County hosted 120 people, representatives of sport, cultural and administrative delegations from the Department of Mayenne - France, Schwaben Regions - Germany and Chernivtsi - Ukraine. Starting with 2010, in addition to the boys' sporting event, cultural events were organized within the tournament, with girls from the 4 regions participating, aged 13-17. For the event of August 2019, Suceava County Council, as organizer, invited young people passionate about chamber music, 5 musicians from each region, who held a recital on the festive evening of the tour, interpreting representative pieces for the 4 regions. The tournament takes place, by rotation, in each partner region, Suceava

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County hosting for the fifth time this event, the previous editions being organized in Câmpulung Moldovenesc (2003), Suceava (2007, 2011) and Pojorâta (2015). The event is part of the cooperation partnerships that Suceava County has concluded with Schwaben region from Germany, Chernivtsi from Ukraine and Mayenne Department from France, since 1997. The aim of the tour is to unite young people of different nationalities and cultures through sport and culture, facilitating bonding between pupils.

 exchanges of experience organised annually between specialists from the two administrative-territorial units in fields such as: health, education, culture, local public administration;

 donations and humanitarian aid of the Schwaben region for Suceava County in various fields (humanitarian aid from the St. Gregor - Heim Home in Augsburg, for the placement centres in Suceava County, for improving the material, training and living conditions of institutionalized children; didactic, hospital furniture, hygiene materials, sanitary ware and objects, complete kitchen for food preparation, toys, school supplies, linen and clothing for children from kindergartens and homes in Fălticeni and Rădăuţi, placement centres in and Suceava; Complete equipment for the dentistry office within the Gura Humorului Placement Centre; Donations in agricultural equipment, medical equipment, machinery and equipment for the Roman and the Local Forum of the Germans in Rădăuţi; an ambulance, fully equipped for the Putna commune; the catholic service "The heart of the righteous Maria" from Augsburg donated a series of goods for people in difficulty from placement centres and nursing homes in Suceava county;

 Granting financial support to the "Bucovina" study centre of the Romanian Academy Rădăuţi for organizing international scientific sessions and symposiums;

 The Schwaben Regional Council has financially supported, for five years, the value of the medicines for 120 patients with diabetes, up to 22 years old, registered in the records of Suceava County Hospital;

 Organizing with the "Bucovina" Institute in Augsburg the bilingual documentary exhibition "Heim ins Reich", which was exhibited in all the cities and municipalities of Suceava county;

 At the invitation of Schwaben Regional Council, it was possible to promote Suceava County from a tourist point of view at the AFA International Spring Fair in Augsburg, the last such action being organized between 31.03.2016 - 07.04.2016. The main theme of the stand of Schwaben region from 2016 was the activity within the partnerships. At the fair, all the partners of the region, participated (Chernivtsi, Suceava and Mayenne);

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 During the period 01-05.05.2017, a delegation from Suceava county participated in the event occasioned by the celebration of 20 years of Suceava-Schwaben- Chernivtsi partnership, organized by Schwaben Regional Council, in Augsburg.

Within this action, in addition to the retrospective on the past years, special attention was paid to future actions, meaning that the delegation of Suceava County had 52 persons, representing from 6 areas of interest for both regions, respectively social, psychiatry, culture, special education (for the hearing impaired), youth and the university environment. The delegation also included 25 representatives of Ensemble, who were invited to hold artistic performances during the anniversary event. The event was attended by our joint partners, namely Chernivtsi region (Ukraine) and Mayenne Department (France). The program of the visit in Schwaben for the delegations related to the social, psychiatric, special schools, culture, youth and university environment implied meetings with counterparts in centres and institutions of profile, during which discussions were undertaken to start future projects of common interest; the administrative delegations had the opportunity to visit important tourist attractions in the area, including the city of Memmingen, and a visit to the town hall. On this occasion, the head of the Suceava County delegation presented the intention of Suceava County Council - to establish an air link between Suceava and Memmingen airports;

 From 2 to 5 August, 2017, in Suceava, several actions were organized to evoke 20 years of Suceava-Schwaben partnership, in which representatives of Schwaben, Chernivtsi and Mayenne departments participated. The program of the celebration event of the 20 years of partnership included visits to institutions and objectives from several localities in the county, as follows: visits to social assistance structures in Gura Humorului and Suceava, to psychiatric hospitals in the county (Câmpulung Moldovenesc and Burdujeni), to the Bucovina Library I.G. Sbiera from Suceava, at the Leisure Centre in Gura Humorului, to the Ștefan cel Mare International Airport. Also, there was a visit to the Fair of folk craftsmen, organized within the Museum of the Bucovina Village, as well as to the Fortress of Suceava;

 The president of the Suceava County Council responded affirmative to the invitation of the president of Schwaben Regional Council and attended the meeting on the 3 rd of October 2017, at the headquarters of Augsburg regional council, on which occasion the future lines of the cooperation between Suceava and Schwaben were established in the field of health, higher education, business and airport. The discussion focused on the continuation of the steps regarding the inauguration of a Suceava-Memmingen airline, the conclusion of a partnership between Suceava County Emergency Hospital and specialized neurological, epileptology and paediatric clinics in Guenzburg and Augsburg, respectively the exchange of students between the Universities in Suceava and Augsburg. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the Emergency Hospital "Sfântul Ioan cel Nou", the Airport "Stefan cel Mare", the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the

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University "Stefan cel Mare", who were in Schwaben from October 3 to October 6, 2017 and had working meetings with German counterparts;  From 15 to 18 March, 2018, the coordinator of the Department for Continuing Education from the Augsburg Chamber of Commerce / IHK Akademie Schwaben paid a visit to Suceava County, at the invitation of Suceava County Council, in order to hold meetings with decision makers in the field of dual education, from Suceava county. The program also included visits to the Technical College "Petru Mușat" Suceava, at „S.C. Ambro SA” Suceava, where discussions were held with the personnel involved in the project on dual education (with the support of „SC Ambro SA” Suceava, the first class of dual education in Suceava county was set up, at “Petru Muşat” Suceava Technical College), as well as to the touristic objectives in the county;  The Augsburg City Library donated to the "I.G.Sbiera" Library of Suceava 99 books in German. The donation was made following a visit of a delegation of Schwaben region in August 2017, which emphasized the need to purchase books in German for the Foreign Language section for the library, especially for the teachers involved in the project "Help with homework”;

 Also, within the partnership between Schwaben region and Suceava county, an exchange of experience was organised during May 20 to June 3, 2018, for four specialists in the field of psychiatry, from the section in Burdujeni "Ioan cel Nou County Emergency Hospital" in Suceava and from the Psychiatric Hospital from Câmpulung Moldovenesc, who paid a documentary visit to BKH Gunzburg and BKH Kaufbeuren clinics. In the continuation of these activities, during June 16 untill June 22, 2018, at the Summer School in Psychiatry, organized at Câmpulung Moldovenesc, three specialists participated in the therapy of dangerous psychic patient, respectively prof.dr. Manuela Dudeck and Stefanie Nigel from BKH Gunzburg Clinic and Klaus Silberger from BKH Kaufbeuren Clinic. The three specialists visited Suceava County and on March 19-20, 2018, the summer school representing a continuation of the exchange of experience-initiated years ago;

 A workshop dedicated to epilepsy surgery was organized on June 7, 2018 at "Sfântul Ioan cel Nou" Hospital in Suceava, followed by a surgery for the first time (in the case of a patient with hippocampal sclerosis). The action was part of the collaboration partnership between the Swedish hospital unit, the Northeast Carpathian Epilepsy Centre with two clinics in Germany (specialized in epileptology and neurosurgery), identified by representatives of the Schwaben region of Germany, at the request of doctors in Suceava. The workshop was attended by the head of the Ruhr-Epileptology department at Knapschaft University Hospital in Bochum, Prof. Dr. Jorg Wellmer (mentor and initiator of the project) and the head of the department of neurosurgery at the Ruppiner Kliniken Neuruppin / Germany, prof. Marec von Lehe, who explained the pre-surgical stages of the eligibility of the patients for epilepsy surgery, the costs of the evaluation, the possibilities to draw up a national epileptic patient registry in the future;

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 From October 31 to November 2, 2018, Mr. Jurgen Reichert, former chairman of the Schwaben Regional Council, paid a farewell visit to Suceava County, at the end of his term, on which occasion he was offered the distinction "Meritul Bucovinei", in a sign of recognition of the special involvement in the development of the partnership between Suceava and Schwaben.

 Between March 21 and 25, 2019, Suceava County received the visit of the person in charge of the Suceava - Schwaben relationship, the program included visits to the Social Centre with Multifunctional Destination Gura Humorului, the Chronic Psychiatric Hospital in and the Psychiatric Hospital in Câmpulung Mold. During the discussions at the Social Centre in Gura Humorului, the representative of Schwaben region mentioned that the German side will continue to cooperate in this direction, namely providing supplies for the activity of the dental office, which serves the 120 children of the centre, as well as part of the doctor's payment. In the field of psychiatry, it was proposed to continue several exchanges of experience between specialists in this field from the two regions. Thus, during June 21-22, 2019 and June 24-27, 2019, the Psychiatric Hospital of Campulung Moldovenesc organized a conference and a summer school, where Dr. Klaus Silberger, a psychologist at the University Clinic in Ulm, lectured. Also, two specialist doctors from the Psychiatric Hospitals in Câmpulung Moldovenesc and Siret, as well as from the section in Suceava, participated, at the Kaufbeuren sanatorium, on June 10-20, 2019, for an exchange of experience. Regarding the educational field, the summer school from August 2019 was organized by the University of Augsburg, funded by the Bukowina Institute in Augsburg and attended by 5 students from "Stefan cel Mare" University in Suceava. On the collaboration in the museum field, it was discussed about organizing, during 2020, in Augsburg and in Suceava, an exhibition dedicated to milling, in which specific objects, photographs and archive documents will be presented, which will come also from Suceava county.

 On May 7, 2019, a delegation of 35 people from Schwaben Region undertook a study trip to Bukovina. During the meeting at the Administrative Palace, the representatives of the county made a brief presentation of the area and the development priorities in the fields of transport, tourism, health and industry. There was a visit to "Stefan cel Mare" University in Suceava, and a Germanic lecturer held a discussion on the profile and activity of the lecturer. Guests also visited tourist attractions in Suceava county.

 Following the steps initiated by the management of the two partner institutions, respectively Suceava County Council and Schwaben Regional Council, on June 17, 2019 the Memmingen-Suceava airline was inaugurated, on which Mr. Jurgen Reichert, the former president of Schwaben Regional Council, was present. The program included visits to the General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection of Suceava County, Neuropsychiatric Recovery and Rehabilitation Centre, Gura Humorului Social Centre with Multifunctional Destination, two centres from Rădăuți, St. Jerome Leontie children's settlement and Sf. Mary Ward Day Centre (which operates near the Catholic Church). On June 19,

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2019, the former president of Schwaben Region held a lecture on social assistance at "Stefan cel Mare" University in Suceava.

 From 6 to 8 February, 2020, a delegation from Suceava County participated in the event organized by Schwaben Regional Council in Augsburg, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary since the signing of the Schumann Declaration, the document that marked the foundation of the current European Union. The event was attended by other partners of Schwaben region and Suceava County, respectively representatives of Chernivtsi Regional State Administration in Ukraine and Mayenne Department in France. On the 7th of February 2020, the partners met in a joint meeting to discuss future activities.

 A cooperation between Bukovina Village Museum from Suceava and the Museum of the Thiehaupten Monastery Mills from Augsburg was mediated, which resulted in the inauguration, in Augsburg, on May 25, 2020, of the joint exhibition “Bucovina. people-mills-Moldavian monasteries”, which aims to capitalize the landscape of the mills in Bucovina, respectively archive documents, photographs, specific objects to the milling activity. The exhibition will also be opened in Suceava and Chernivtsi and will be part of a larger project, which aims to capitalize the road of mills in Central and Eastern Europe.

 Also, measures were undertaken, together with the “Ștefan cel Mare” University of Suceava, to identify the representative of Suceava County, who will participate, with a scholarship offered by the German side, in the Internship Program for a German language connoisseur, at the Bucovina Institute in Augsburg. The program is similar to an internship, and the practitioner will conduct researches, archive activities and receive support for further career guidance.

 Representatives of Schwaben Regional Council launched a project call for theatre lovers in German, which involved the formation of groups in the cities of Augsburg, Suceava and Chernivtsi, consisting of 5-7 students, aged 18-30, German language speakers. The project aims to encourage auxiliary methods for learning and deepening the German language knowledges, including the promotion of a common cultural heritage through theatre. The representatives of „Ştefan cel Mare” University of Suceava supported this approach by identifying students who will be part of the project group related to Suceava County, as well as the persons (director of the Students' Culture House and director of the Fabulinus USV theatre troupe), who created this group and provide communication with the project manager from Schwaben region. The three groups of participants, who make up the theatre troupe, have proven that theatre and cooperation can also take place through the Internet. The initiative is coordinated by the director Gianna Formicone from Augsburg, and on behalf of the Ukrainian partner, the Cultural Center "Gedankendach" will participate. The play was written by the three directors and focuses on the theme of uprooting, starting from the poem "Self-portrait" of the poet Rosa Ausländer, born in Chernivtsi. From the beginning of November 2020, the three coordinators have

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been meeting online, to prepare the play, and will present it on stage in the next period.

 In 2020 Schwaben Regional Council has been involved in making donations for Suceava County, in several areas, as follows: - Schwaben-Bukovina Augsburg Relief Foundation (Hilfswerk Schwaben- Bukovina eV), supported in August 2020 hospital units in Suceava County (Siret, Rădăuți and Suceava) through the donation of sanitary protection equipment (visors, FFP2 masks) and surgical masks; - the Library of Bucovina "I.G.Sbiera" Suceava, the Library of the University "Ștefan cel Mare" Suceava and the German Office received book donations from the Bucovina Institute in Augsburg; - the representatives of Schwaben Regional Council offered, at the end of 2020, sports equipment to Suceava County Football Association and toys for children from the Foster care centre.

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