Anniversary trip to Ceyrat: Beratzhausen celebrates 50 years of friendship!

Anniversary trip to Ceyrat: Beratzhausen celebrates 50 years of friendship!

On October 9, 2025, the anniversary year “50 years of partnership” between Beratzhausen and Ceyrat ends with a festive trip in which over 130 citizens from Beratzhausen take part. This final highlight of the celebrations honors the long-standing friendship and solidarity with the French partners, which was established in the 1970s. The partnership year was marked by numerous events, including the “Dîners en bleu et blanc” event, which kicked off 2024. Further highlights were the French cooking evenings in January 2025 and the European Festival in August 2025, which attracted numerous visitors with music, encounters and joie de vivre. Mayor Matthias Beer thanks the partnership committee and all participants and emphasizes the importance of community and intercultural exchange. A review by the Board of Trustees will be announced on the following pages to reflect on the successes of the year and to honor the connections that have been made, as highlighted by eunic-europe.eu.

The European hiking trail promotes international understanding

As part of the celebrations, a European hiking trail was opened on August 9, 2025, aimed at children, families and seniors. This was initiated by the board of trustees to promote the partnership and is intended to further strengthen the connection to Europe and the partner community of Ceyrat. Dr. Marcus Kunz, the chairman of the board of trustees, emphasizes how important such initiatives are in promoting international understanding and cultural exchange. The tour includes twelve stations spread over a period of around 3 to 3.5 km and covers topics relating to Europe as well as specific aspects of the German-French partnership.

The stations contain interesting content, such as questions about the creation of Europe, flag assignments and culinary specialties. One of the stations is dedicated to former mayor Franz-Xaver Staudigl, who would have been 100 years old on March 27th. Another station provides information about travel options to Ceyrat and ends with a short language test. To promote the interactive nature, visitors are invited to take photos in front of a special anniversary banner and send them to the Board of Trustees; a raffle is intended to create additional incentives. This creative idea is intended to particularly appeal to children and young people and to get them excited about partnership work, as bistum-regensburg.de describes.

Common goals in Europe

The partnership year and the opening of the European hiking trail help to promote the principles of international understanding based on tolerance, peace and curiosity. The aim is to reduce prejudices and build bridges between different European cultures, which is in line with the values ​​that eunic-europe.eu also propagates. Projects like the European Hiking Trail support dialogue between different population groups and offer a platform for intercultural learning.

Current developments in Europe show that, despite peace, there are challenges caused by conflicts between individual population groups. But initiatives like these strengthen solidarity and understanding within communities. The experiences and exchanges in Beratzhausen and Ceyrat remain a strong symbol of the power of intercultural cooperation in Europe.