Köln- Ehrenfeld, 17th of February 2010. The project "Remembering for the Future" by students from Cologne, in cooperation with the dvv international - office in Sarajevo, will compete in the "Charlemagne Prize of Youth." The International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen, which was first awarded in 1950, is the oldest and most famous European prize wich honours  people or institutions that have made outstanding contributions to Europe and its unification.

Since 2008, the European Charlemagne Youth Prize "is awarded to specific projects aiming at understanding. Young Europeans are working on forming a sense of belonging together. With just such a project the Albertus Magnus High School of Ehrenfeld – Cologne has been promoting. 17 students from the intensified course „social sciences“ spent one week in October in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina. There, they met with 23 bosnian students of the three main ethnic groups (Muslims, Serbs and Croats). Still, the country is torn apart as a result of the bloody civil war of 1992-95. The title of the study tour, which became a project is, "Remembering for the Future". But it concerned not only about addressing the recent past, wich terror the students felt in stunned silence in Srebrenica, the place where occurred the worst genocide in Europe since 1945 with more than 8,000 victims.
Druing the business game „Building Europe new“ the German and Bosnian youth also took over roles from the real political life. The delegations from the EU Commission, Council and Parliament negotiated with applicant countries: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Turkey.
A highlight was the invitation of the former High Representative of the UN and the EU and former German Federal Minister of Post Dr. Christian Schwarz-Schilling. He invited the young people to his private residence in Sarajevo and discussed with them what they can actually do for the understanding in Europe.
The project is not a "flash in the pan": If the project wins, the prize money will be used for the return visit of the Bosnians in Cologne. Via Facebook, the participants are still in contact anyway. This way "Europe" is intended to flow into the normal everyday life. The competition groups and organizations will participate from all 27 EU states. The award will be handed over one day before this year's Charlemagne Prize is awarded to the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.