"Looking back is painful at first. Because the first thing that inevitably comes to mind is Hamas' brutal and inhumane attack on Israel on October 7. Unfortunately, the resulting war continues to this day and claims many lives on both sides, including many civilian victims. The hardship and worries of the people are great. Many on the Israeli side have also had to leave their homes. According to my counterpart Chairman Giora Salz, over 90 percent of the people in our partner region of the Upper Galilee have fled or been evacuated to safer areas," said the head of the district administration. When he visited his friends in the Upper Galilee with a delegation from the district council at the beginning of September, there were no signs of this disaster, continued District Administrator Allgaier - four weeks later, everything was different: "Nothing there is as it was."
A total of 32,000 euros in concert proceeds and donations for people in the Upper Galilee
The district office is therefore in almost daily contact with the friends in the Upper Galilee and tries to give them courage and confidence. For the same reason, the PKC, district council and district administration have issued various declarations of solidarity and launched solidarity campaigns since October 7. As an example, the head of the district administration mentioned the benefit concert with the Baden-Württemberg State Police Orchestra in the Louis-Bührer-Saal of the Kreissparkasse Ludwigsburg. The proceeds from the concert and a large number of donations made in connection with the benefit concert raised a total of 32,000 euros, all of which will go to the people of the Upper Galilee for humanitarian purposes. District Administrator Allgaier was delighted with the amount raised and thanked everyone who took part in the campaign. "With all of this, we want to make it clear that we are firmly on the side of Israel and especially our friends in the Upper Galilee, that we support them as much as we can," summarized the District Administrator.
support them to the best of our ability," summarized the district administrator.
Declarations and actions of solidarity meet with a positive response
The reactions to the declarations and actions of solidarity were all positive. At the same time, however, there has unfortunately been a worrying increase in anti-Semitism in Germany. "This is not only shameful in light of the historical background, but also in general. We must vigorously oppose anti-Semitism and
its irrationality and contempt for humanity. The PKC will continue to work on this as a place of encounter and education. It is good and extremely important that people in Germany are currently taking to the streets to demonstrate against right-wing populism and its activities. Fascist ideas do not belong in our society and in our politics in Germany - not even out of dissatisfaction," Allgaier made clear, adding: "Our great hope for 2024 is that anti-Semitism will disappear from people's minds and hopefully the war will soon be over and Israel and its people, but also the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, will be able to live in peace again!"
A delegation visit, numerous school exchanges and new school partnerships
As positive events of the past year, the District Administrator mentioned the PKC visit by a delegation of "community managers" from Galil Elion headed by Chairman Giora Salz in June, numerous student exchanges, the PKC's new school partnerships with the district's own vocational schools Robert-Franck-Schule and Oscar-Walcker-Schule as well as the lecture "On the political history of the Middle East" by Matthias Hofmann at the end of November.
In his outlook, Allgaier talked about the multi-day seminar against anti-Semitism for young multipliers and the revision of the Genisa exhibition by the "Genisa" seminar course at the Max Eyth School in Stuttgart. He also mentioned the day excursion to the Shum city of Mainz ("Shum" is the Hebrew abbreviation for Speyer, Worms and Mainz, where very large Jewish communities lived in the Middle Ages), the next compact seminar with the Ludwigsburg PH and the continuation of the work with school classes. The major theme of the PKC cultural events will be "Yiddish and Klezmer".
"If personal encounters are not possible due to the current situation, then we will meet digitally. The war in the Middle East will not prevent or hinder our personal relationships: No distance separates those who are connected at heart," concluded District Administrator Allgaier.
Following District Administrator Allgaier, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz emphasized in his foundation speech that the German-Israeli friendship would not be so deep and reliable if it were only shaped and shaped by statesmen - instead, it depends on each and every one of us. Israel has the right to self-defense and to defeat Hamas in order to prevent future terrorist attacks. We will also have to react to brutal attacks by autocracies and terror in the future. However, we must not lose sight of our values. Only if this succeeds will we live up to the promise of "never again".
