History of the IBB

Overcoming boundaries - Our motto since 1986

unbounded

boundaries have two sides

on one they keep out

on the other they keep in

confine those

that make them

imprisoned

in self-imposed boundaries

where

possibilities are unbounded

 

Kemal Kurt, People and Places, 1999

1986

  • Foundation of the registered association IBB
  • Beginning of educational excursions and exchange programmes

1988

  • Certification as an educational institution (as member of the Ev. Erwachsenenbildungswerk Westfalen und Lippe e.V.) and as a youth welfare institution

1991

  • Foundation of the IBB gGmbH (comparable to the legal entity Non-profit limited company)
  • Laying of the cornerstone at the IBB Minsk in the presence of 400 participants and a delegation of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia

1994

  • Opening of the IBB Minsk

1998

  • Establishment of the magazine “Belarus-Perspektiven”

2000

  • “Aktiv gegen Rechts”: Programme to support anti-racist projects and organisations

2002

  • Start of the Belarus support programme
  • Contemporary witness project: Former forced labourers meet German pupils
  • “Fairplay in Europe”: Multilateral youth conference in Sarajevo

2003

  • Establishment of the History Workshop Minsk

2004

  • “Eurovisionen”: International youth conference as part of the Regional Weimar Triangle (French-German-Polish cooperation) on behalf of the Federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia

2006

  • 20 Years after the nuclear accident at Chernobyl – Event at the Bundestag
  • A famous eponym: IBB “Johannes Rau” Minsk

2008

  • Commencement of ewoca3: three partners_three workcamps_three countries. Funding programme for youth work organisations in North Rhine-Westphalia (Stiftung Mercator)

2010

  • Establishment of the youth network Dortmund – Trabzon (Turkey)
  • 20 Years of German Unification – Project with contemporary witnesses at schools

2011

  • IBB is awarded the “einheitspreis 2011 – Bürgerpreis zur Deutschen Einheit” (Citizens prize of German Unity)
  • Countrywide travelling exhibition and contemporary witness project: “25 Years after Chernobyl: People – Places – Solidarity”
  • 1st German-Turkish Conference for trained professionals in Dortmund

2012

  • The programme “fokus”, giving culturally sensitive trainings to care workers, commences its second phase 2012-2014
  • Establishment of the History Workshop Chernobyl in Kharkiv
  • First Europe-wide action weeks “For a future after Chernobyl and Fukushima”

2014

  • Laying of the foundation stone for the Trostenez memorial
  • Celebrating 20 years of IBB ‘Johannes Rau’ Minsk

2015

  • The programme ‘DoKuMente – Intercultural mentors in Dortmund’ commences
  • The support of programmes on memorial places commences, in cooperation with Bethe foundation, the Federal States, and the Federal Government.