The Jugendakademie Walberberg was founded over 60 years ago. Many of its founding members had lived through the Nazi era, the Shoah, and the Second World War. At that time, society was shaped by bloc thinking and the Cold War. At the same time, the past—guilt and involvement — was often repressed. Many people focused their attention on a consumer-oriented, affluent society, but not everyone, especially not all young people, could participate in it. Moreover, this development came at a high cost: the exploitation of our limited resources. The late 1960s were marked by protest, resistance, and a spirit of new beginnings.

This movement also inspired the members of the Dominican Sisters’ community and their mentor, Dr. Stephan Pfürtner. They wanted to create a place where young people could think critically – from a Christian perspective and in the service of peace. This place was to be open to all young people. Outdated structures in politics, church, and society were to be questioned and changed through new ideas. From the very beginning, one of the goals was to offer international seminars and projects. These were intended to create spaces where international relationships could be based on respect and dialogue. Within these spaces shared perspectives for mutual understanding can emerge.

Today, the Jugendakademie Walberberg is an non formal educational centre for youth that conducts around 100 educational seminars annually and serves as a conference centre for guest groups. A low and high ropes course, as well as a climbing wall, complement the program with experiential educational day events.

From the outset, the Jugendakademie Walberberg has aimed to reach young people from different countries, with different beliefs, religions, and social backgrounds. A particular priority is making educational opportunities and societal participation accessible to disadvantaged youth. To this end, the academy organizes numerous national and international seminars, trainings, and conferences. Young people and professionals from Europe and other parts of the world are welcome to participate.

The educational programs focus on topics such as civic education and democracy, social learning and personal development, religious education, climate change and sustainability, and diversity-conscious work—especially in the context of forced migration.

The seminar offerings of the Jugendakademie Walberberg are generally open to all young people – with or without a refugee background. However, there are also specific seminars that either explicitly target young refugees or are tailored to their needs, focusing on self-representation, empowerment, and political participation. For example, the academy offers seminars for international welcome classes, multiplier trainings for mentoring partnerships between refugee and non-refugee youth, and holiday camps for young refugees on the topics of empowerment and political participation. These address the topic of forced migration and asylum, encouraging participants to discuss their various life situations, perspectives, and challenges in the host country.

…we want to gain new impulses for the professionalization of our civic education work with young refugees from a power-critical perspective. This includes both expanding our methodological repertoire with new approaches from cultural education and reflecting on our practice through a discrimination-sensitive and empowerment-oriented lens. We also hope to expand our national and international network on the topic of forced migration and asylum to jointly improve the structural conditions for civic education work with the target group.