Twin cities
Blain and Oldenburg in Holstein –two cities, plenty of similarities
Welcome to the website of the town twinning committee!
The idea of town twinning has it's roots in the school exchange between the 'Freiherr-vom-Stein Gymnasium' and the 'Collège Saint-Laurent'. Since 2016 both cities pursued being on good terms with each other. They aimed for a connection between the people. On the 26th August of 2017 everything was made official by signing the trait. Within a few years it became a basis for projects and many friendships. Due to the great cooperation between the city and the committee, that was founded in 2016, a lot of various projects have been converted. Learn more about it on the following pages and keep in touch with us. We want to share this experience with everybody who believes in Europe being strong and the solidarity of the french and german civil society. If you want to have an overview on the whole project, we invite you to read the article by the author and journalist Hilke Maunder. Have fun reading!
Network
Roughly quoting the title of the bestseller by Anna Gavalda 'Together, you're less alone', the committee in Oldenburg interacts with multiple people. Institutions like clubs, sponsors and associations contribute to the success of the town twinning with Blain.
The committee
The town twinning committee is a group that consists of members of the city government, the civil society as well as several associations. Persistent meetings and events contribute to a regurlar exchange of ideas.
Network
Roughly quoting the title of the bestseller by Anna Gavalda 'Together, you're less alone', the committee in Oldenburg interacts with multiple people. Institutions like clubs, sponsors and associations contribute to the success of the town twinning with Blain.
Join us
Your kids want to visit a family or do a work placement? You want to visit a society there? Or you're excited and have the time to show our french guests the city and everything nearby? Then join us!
Two cities - plenty of similarities
Oldenburg in Holstein
Oldenburg in Holstein has more than thousand years of history, which means it belongs to the oldest towns of Schleswig-Holstein. The city represents the center of a popular touristic region with a lot of other coast cities, called 'Ostseebäder' , like Großenbrode, Heiligenhafen and Weissenhäuser Strand. Oldenburg has a popularity of roundabout 10.000 and is regarded as the middle of the economic and the social life in this region, because of it's geographical location.Due to the wall construction, the old town, the museum and multiple nature reserves and relaxing areas Oldenburg is a famous destination for day trips.
Blain
Blain has about the same population as Oldenburg in Holstein and has therefore a similar country imprinted structure as it's twin town. Because of the proximity to the atlantic coast with the outstanding sceneries, on the one hand, and to the historic cities Nantes and Rennes, on the other hand, Blain is an attractive meeting point. The well-known forest near to Blain (Forêt du Gâvre) attracts bicyclists and hikers during the weekends. The cultural highlights are the municipal museum and the castle, that remind about the time of the dukedom of the Bretagne and about the reign of the Protestant lords.
A partnership for everybody
From the beginning the partnership has been shared by many different groups of interest
- Good relationship between the M. Voigt and J.-M. Buf
- Regular communication with the Blain comitee
- Sportevents in both countries
- Organization of internships
- First contact between firemen fire brigade of Blain and Oldenburg
- Cultural events also with european organizations
- Help by finding accomodations in both countries for private visits