The Foundation
Rueckwaerts und vorwaerts denken , founded in 2005
is a charitable and sponsoring foundation, that means we support particularly certain people , who are in financial feed.The original idea of RUVD was to address Ex-Soviet prisoners of war (POW) held and mistreated in Germany during the years of 1941-45.eine wohltätige , nicht operative Stiftung . Das bedeutet , wir unterstützen ganz bestimmte bedürftige Menschen mit finanziellen Mitteln.
Der Grundgedanke der Stiftung war zunächst, unter den vielen Formen von Leid des 20. Jahrhunderts, das Schicksal der sowjetischen Kriegsgefangenen besonders zu berücksichtigen.
Comparing the fate of these prisoners with the German POW kept in the USSR , one can see a clear difference : from the 5.7 millions of Soviet POW died 3.3 million (58 %) ,whereas from 3.2 milion of German POW held in USSR , it was 1.1 million who did not return home (38 %).
One of the main reasons why so many Soviet soldiers died in German concentration camps , was because of the distinctive racism in Nazi Germany , which, apart from the Jewish people, was also directed towards all Eastern Europeans .
The German POW held in Soviet camps returned to their homes contributing to the country`s economy and the reconstruction of After-war Germany . Many died in peace and prosperitiy.On the contrary the Soviet POW returnees were insulted and harassed during and after Stalin`s dictatorship. Many of those , who are still alive today , live in poverty and they lack of many things.
Our foundation RUVD now takes a tiny part of the accumulated wealth in Germany in form of a little three storeyed apartment house near Munich and distributes its incoming rents to the former Soviet POW ,who are still alive . This is managed by help of the organization KONTAKTE in Berlin, which gives 300.- Euro -rather a symbolical gesture than real aid – to the people.
The recipients are now very old and therefore we ended the transfers with date of 30.6.2020, because there were no more people left who were entitled to get the money . From 2005 until 2020 we had transferred a total sum of 144.000.-Euro to 480 persons , more or less, who lived mainly in the Ucraine, in Belarus, Armenia and Russia .
Foreseeing the biological end of the ex-soviet POW , RUVD right from the start searched for another purpose for the future. Money for educational projects is urgently needed in the whole world and it was coincidence as well as personal preference of the donor to decide in which continent she wished to make a contribution. Consequently RUVD chose Latinamerica and here especially , projects in Guatemala and in Cochabamba /Bolivia , because there already existed intense links and personal relations .
These contacts became more and more intense during time ; we visited one another , meaning that not only people travelled from Berlin to Latinamerica, but also there were visitors in the other direction, i.e. from Cochabamba or from Guatemala to Berlin. Besides , we used the ZOOM technique for conferences with our partners , so that we were able to install a very good comunication (see „News“).
Weil das biologische Ende der ehemaligen sowjetischen Kriegsgefangenen abzusehen war, hat die Stiftung von Anfang an auch vorwärts gewandte , edukative Projekte unterstützt .
Geld wird auf der ganzen Welt für sinnvolle Projekte dringend gebraucht und so ist es letztlich Zufall bzw. persönliche Präferenz der Stifterin ,welchen Kontinent man wählt , um einen kleinen Beitrag zu leisten . Wir haben uns für Lateinamerika entschieden und hier für Guatemala in Mittelamerika und für Cochabamba in Bolivien, weil es zu diesen Orten schon intensive persönliche Verbindungen und Beziehungen gab.
Diese Kontakte sind im Laufe der Zeit immer intensiver geworden , man besucht sich gegenseitig, d.h. es reisen nicht nur Leute von Berlin nach Guatemala etc, sondern es kommt auch Besuch von Cochabamba und von Guatemala nach Berlin . Zusätzlich benutzen wir seit 2 Jahren die elektronische ZOOM Technik für Konferenzen mit unseren Partnern , sodaß wir insgesamt einen guten Austausch haben (s. Nachrichten unter „Aktuelles“).
In Centralamerica we work together with catholic dominican Sisters , who are running various schools and boarding schools ,especially in Guatemala. The Sisters seem to us very committed and not too dogmatic ; they have a rough time fighting the influence of Evangelical Churches who are more and more dominating the religious spheres in Latinamerica .
Sister Maria Teresa , has founded , together with Erika Kammer from Berlin, the program of scholarships , that turns out to be very successfull during the years .
Since Isabell Nordhausen became member of the board of the foundation (2020) we support also projects of the INKOTA network , which is active in Centralamerica and where Isabell works as an employee . So there is a lot of synergies.
In Cochabamba we support the organization Hamiraya , founded in 1996, to care especially for children who have to live in prisons together with their imprisoned parents.
Here , the legal status of the children has changed, meaning that they no longer are allowed to live in the prisons after having finished the age of 6, but their special and precarious situation stays the same.
Whoever is interested to get to know more about our various activities , should have a look at the section „News“ , have much fun !!
