The idea
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of commemoration the political changes in 1989 the "Freedom Charity Run" wants to remember where it all began and what events were milestones on the way to the Fall of the Wall.
Already in the 1980s the Solidarność trade union movement in the People's Republic of Poland headed by Lech Wałęsa led to a substantial strengthening of the opposition movements in Eastern Europe and gave new hope to government critics and civil rights initiatives. Supported by the eased exit via Hungary and Czechoslovakia the peaceful revolution in the GDR succeeded and culminated in the Fall of the Wall in November 1989.
After the successful completion of the Lions Charity Run from Szczecin (Stettin) to Hamburg in 2013 (www.lions-charity-run.com) the Lions friend Ludwig Schlereth and the Rotarian J. Christoph Berndt from Halle (Saale) and the Lions friends Dr. Mariusz Szeib and Daniel Wcisło from Poznań (Posen) want to organize another cross-country charity run. Regarding the 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall and just prior to the current context of the crisis in Ukraine, it is especially important to promote friendship and solidarity among European neighbors. In this activity both Lions and Rotarians from Poland and Germany will run together for the same idea and remember this historical connection and the political change started with the Fall of the Wall.
The runners will start on 24 September 2014 at the former Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk (Danzig), the city of the Solidarność, and will reach the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin after 9 days and a distance of 621 km on 3 October 2014.