User:Christian Pletzing/Akademiezentrum Sankelmark



The Sankelmark Academy center is an academy for political, historical and cultural education with a conference center in the German municipality of Oeversee-Sankelmark in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. The academy center consists of the Sankelmark academy, which is a registered association of the German Border Association (Deutschen Grenzverein), the European Academy Schleswig-Holstein (Europäische Akademie Schleswig-Holstein), the Baltic Academy (Academia Baltica) and the Minority Competence Network (Minderheiten-Kompetenz-Netzwerk Schleswig-Holstein/Süddänemark.

Sankelmark Academy
The Sankelmark Academy is an adult training programme etablishment which offers seminars and training programmes on politics and culture in the area of Sønderjylland/Schleswig, the state Schleswig-Holstein and the Federal Republic of Germany. The main focus here is on:


 * Political education, the shaping of a democratic coexistence
 * History, culture and religion ; literature and visual arts, and therefore the ethical founding principles of our society

The Sankelmark academy is offically open in 1952 as a place of “free intellectual, political and cultural debate […] [as] a link between a true understanding between people”. This is the wording of the founding charter. The academy is sponsored by the non-profit German Border Association, whose members come from the districts and municipalities of the Schleswig region.

European Academy Schleswig-Holstein
The European Academy Schleswig-Holstein offers seminars and conferences on European political and cultural issues with a special emphasis on the Baltic Sea region. The work rests on two pillars:


 * The European Academy focuses on primaraly the European institutions and politics, culture and daily life of our European neighbours.


 * The European Academy for minority affairs provides information on minority problems and approaches to solving them.

The European Academy Schleswig-Holstein was built in 1978. It is relocated in 1999, from the old residential adult education center of Leck to Sankelmark. This non-profit association finances the academy. Its members are institutions from Germany, Denmark and Belgium.

Baltic Academy
The tasks and the goals of the Baltic academy, founded in Lübeck in 2001, are to promote an understanding with Germany's eastern neighbours, to foster cooperation in partnership in the Baltic Sea region and in East Central Europe, and the communication of European history and culture. The tasks topics of the academy are various, from politics to economics, from literature and art to bi- and multinational colloquia on recent history and international media cooperation in the Baltic Sea region. Conference reports and monographs are published in the series "Colloquia Baltica". The Academy is supported by the non-profit association Baltic Aacdemy, based in Lübeck. In 2011, the baltic academy relocated its offices to Sankelmark. The events of the three academies are open to everyone interested in and take place at the Sankelmark Academy Centre. Since 1952, around 500,000 guests have attended events at the two academies in Sankelmark.

Minority Competence Network (Minderheiten-Kompetenz-Netzwerk)
The goal of the Minority Competence Network Schleswig-Holstein / Süddänemark is to promote activites by and for national and regional minorities in the German-Danish border region.This Competence Network started its work in 2020 at the Sankelmark Academy Centre. Helen Christiansen has been the coordinator of the network since autumn 2020. The network orginizes events meant to introduce the experience of the relationship between minorities and majorities in Schleswig-Holstein and Southern Denmark known on a European scale. Thus, this network aims to contribute to a meeting of minorities and majorities. The key areas of work of the MKN are the following:


 * Events and projects on minority issues and the implementation of minority policy in the German-Danish border region.


 * Regional and cross-border networking between minorities and the majority population in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, southern Germany and Europe.

The members of Minority Competence Network are:


 * Bund Deutscher Nordschleswiger


 * Deutscher Grenzverein (German Border Association)


 * Europäische Akademie Schleswig-Holstein (EASH ; European Academy Schleswig-Holstein)


 * European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)


 * Federal Union of European Nationalities


 * Frasche Rädj / Friesenrat – Sektion Nord (Frisian Council Section North)


 * Region Syddanmark (The Region of Southern Denmark)


 * Stadt Flensburg (city of Flensburg)


 * Sydslesvigsk Forening  e.V. (SSF: the south Schleswigian Association)


 * Verband Deutscher Sinti und Roma e.V. (Association of German Sinti and Roma)


 * Landesverband Schleswig-Holstein (Schleswig-Holstein Regional Association)

Minority Competence Network is promoted by the state of Schleswig-Holstein and by the region of the southern Denmark.

Europe Direct
The Südschleswig Europe Direct is part of the Sankelmark academy since 2013.

They wish to kindle the public's enthusiasm for Europe and to make the European Union more transparent to citizens. This Europe Direct is available as a contact point for all questions concerning Europe. The events and informations provided by the Südschleswig Europe Direct.

Sources of information include official EU documents, brochures, reference books and magazines. During the “Sankelmark Europe Talks” representatives of the political, economic and scientific world discussed topics such as the european policy and its impact the region of Southern Schleswig (Südschleswig).

The Südschleswig Europe Direct is part of the Europe Direct network in Germany which belongs to an european association of centers. These centers make Europe concrete to the locals and encourage them to get involved in the debate on the future of the EU. This network is administered by the European Commission.

Building
The main building of the academy, built in 1952, was extended by a north wing in the late 1950s. In 1966, the guesthouse was built next to the main building under which the "Simon" bunker of the Schleswig-Holstein state government was located. A second bunker of the government is located in the german municipality Lindewitt, also close to Flensburg. In 1972, a seminar wing with three seminar and conference rooms and a gallery was added to the main building. Guesthouse 2 was built in 1986, which allowed the government bunker to be extended considerably. The restaurant and kitchen wing were built in 2004 after a complete/full renovation of the building in 1999. Then, from 2018 to 2019, followed another complete energy renovation of the buildings. In addition to the entire heating system, about 300 windows and panes were replaced. In 2021, a bar facing the lake will open in a room that was a kitchen until 2004.

Directors

 * Johann Heinrich Martens (1952)
 * Franz Schriewer (1952–1954)
 * Heinz Dähnhardt (1954–1968)
 * Joachim Oertel (1968–1991)
 * Gerhard Jastram (1991–1998)
 * Rainer Pelka (1998–2010)
 * Stefan Vöhringer (provisional, 2010)
 * Christian Pletzing (since 2011)