Twinning between towns: friendship between people endures

What role did they play in Franco-German reconciliation?

If the 1963 Élysée Treaty (cooperation treaty between France and Germany, editor’s note) could be signed, it is because there were already around a hundred active pairings. The societal movement proved that people were ready to follow.

This reconciliation comes from an interaction between actions from below, understanding between people, and the gestures and initiatives of leaders at the top. The GDR-Poland rapprochement, decided only from above, never worked.

Franco-German twinnings have also experimented with memorial practices, such as joint wreath laying, even before those of presidents Helmut Kohl and François Mitterrand.

Reconciliation is far behind us. What is the point of these connections?

They are necessary because we must not leave international relations to politicians or large industrial and commercial groups alone.

When relations deteriorated between Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron in 2022-2023, Franco-German associations and twinning committees increased the spaces for discussion and debates. As citizen organizations, they wanted to do something, it was a great societal reaction.