Our regular community cafés offer survivors of Nazi persecution an opportunity to meet in a safe environment. They receive support by our employees and our team of volunteers. Most survivors have been severely traumatised and are well advanced in years. Our community cafés help improve their living conditions and fight isolation in old age. Café get-togethers take place on a regular basis in Cologne, Dusseldorf and Recklinghausen.
Several times a year, our community cafés turn into public testimony cafés. We welcome school classes and other guests with whom survivors share their memories of persecution. The personal stories and intergenerational exchange make our testimony cafés a place where history comes alive. Thus, the project makes a major contribution to preventing right-wing extremism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia. The nationwide competition promoting democracy and tolerance “Aktiv für Demokratie und Toleranz” described the project as “a creative and effective example of civic engagement”.
Location:
Testimony Cafés take place in a protected space without public.
Appointments 2026:
Thursday, 08.01. Thursday, 22.01. Thursday, 05.02. Thursday, 19.02. Thursday, 12.03. Thursday, 26.03. Thursday, 09.04. Thursday, 23.04. Thursday, 07.05. Thursday, 28.05. Thursday, 11.06. Thursday, 25.06. Thursday, 09.07. Thursday, 23.07. Thursday, 06.08. Thursday, 20.08. Thursday, 03.09. Thursday, 17.09. Excursion Thursday, 15.10. Thursday, 29.10. Thursday, 12.11. Thursday, 26.11. Thursday, 10.12.
Gerd Kuhlke and Barbara Keimer have been volunteering at our Café Recklinghausen since 2015. They created the "Zeit- und Zweitzeugen" website, which features many background stories and videos from our Testimony Cafés.
