| 
4.2.6 German-Polish Cooperation: Experiences and Interests
The overwhelming majority of German organizations interviewed showed a general interest in learning more about the situation in Poland with respect to hate crimes and particularly about Polish NGOs involved in anti-racist and anti-Fascist activities. A few groups have already established long-standing forms of formal and informal transnational cooperation; the most relevant relationship involving Poland is the European network of gay organizations active in support of victims of homophobic attacks (MANEO/Germany, SOS Homophobia (SOS Homophobie)/ France, Lambda and the Campaign against Homophobia/Poland). Other NGOs interviewed in Germany are also long-term members of the European network UNITED; some have close contacts to monitoring groups from France and Great Britain; others were part of international research and educational projects like, for example, the Lidice House in Bremen, which was involved in training Hungarian street workers and is working with Dutch NGOs active in anti-discrimination work. Most NGOs included in our sample, however, declared that maintaining and further developing their local and regional networks remain a priority for them in the near future. Organizations with a strong outreach approach are constantly trying to strengthen their contacts to self-organized groups of potential victims, local and regional alliances of anti-racist and anti-Fascist organizations and other NGOs, experts and state institutions. This alone is already a very time consuming responsibility. Furthermore, the pre-existing level of cooperation between victim support organizations in East Germany has been weakened by the loss of the coordinating position in 2007. (16) Sustaining the existing level of outreach activities and networking, and/or expanding contacts to groups in the West German states were named as major challenges. (17) This, in fact, illustrates the rather limited resources of most German NGOs included in our sample for the field of international cooperation.
Moreover, attempts to build contacts with NGOs in Poland and other countries in the past (for example, with groups active in the area of refugee support) have not been very successful, since they did not lead to longer-lasting relationships and concrete joint projects. Some organizations such as the Cultural Office in Sachsen (Kulturbüro Sachsen) or the victim support center AMAL in Görlitz, Saxony, for instance, have tried to find NGO or other contact partners in the Polish border region. Lack of time for more intensive search, scarce opportunities for personal meetings, language barriers and a general low density of NGOs in the border region were named as the main difficulties for establishing viable forms of transnational networking.
Fields of Possible Transnational Cooperation
At least three fields for possible cooperation in the future were identified in our interviews:
1. Exchange of experiences/knowledge with regard to monitoring hate crimes and victim assistance:
A couple of organizations have declared their interest in sharing information and knowledge about various fields of activities, such as monitoring techniques, active consultation and counseling of hate crime victims and other strategies (for example, outreach activities that support refugees according to the needs and special focus of Polish organizations). The associations Opferperspektive and ReachOut have shown enthusiasm for the possibility of exchanging knowledge about counseling techniques and outreach activities. BOrG in Strausberg expressed interest in sharing its experiences in utilizing volunteers involved in hate crime victim assistance. This grass-roots initiative also has considerable knowledge on how to build local alliances and influence the political climate in municipalities affected by right-wing manifestations. The educational project Lidice House in Bremen proposed bilateral or multilateral exchange of professional staff active in outreach to adolescents. Some interview partners also showed an interest in discussing different legal systems and respective litigation strategies for victims of hate crime and discrimination.
2. Cooperative projects within the Polish-German border region:
Efforts to build up networks of Polish-German anti-racist and anti-Fascist NGOs in the border region were considered by some groups as the most important task. Especially in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, anti-Polish activities and sentiments (racist graffiti, damage to Polish residents’ property) have increased over the last two years and need a more resolute response, which could be facilitated by the cooperation between German and Polish NGOs. The NGO LOBBI, active in this region, would like to get in touch with the individuals and communities affected and develop local strategies for intervention, but they have not yet had the opportunity. Some groups such as Opferperspektive, the Cultural Office in Sachsen and LOBBI are also concerned about the increase in cross-border activities between Polish and German hooligans and other right-wing activities in the border region. NGOs should be monitoring this more closely.
3. International joint projects:
Most of our interview partners were questioned with respect to proposals and ideas for bilateral (German-Polish) cooperation; however, another option that arose in the course of our inquiries and discussions was to place the ongoing activities of individual organizations within the framework of international projects. The availability of EU funds or the advantages of a comparative perspective are incentives to do so. Potential fields of cooperation include: raising awareness; developing training material for public institutions; conducting research projects relevant to hate crimes, developing strategies to provide counseling services to rural areas, and joint campaigns to put political pressure on national governments or EU bodies to improve hate crime policies.
16. Opferperspektive held this position under the CIVITAS program and helped to coordinate various activities (training, common campaigns, the development of a joint database etc.). The new funding programs no longer provide financial resources for such a position.
17. Interviews with various victim support organizations. See also: Armonies, Grit 2008. Die Bundesprogramme gegen Rechtsextremismus: Eine Bestandsaufnahme, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, Bundestagsfraktion, Berlin, p. 47.
(OPP)
