Rudolstadt Mayor sees bright possibilities for Letterkenny partnership growth

The Mayor of Rudolstadt, Letterkenny’s twin town in Germany, has praised the partnership and expressed his hopes for the future.

A delegation from Letterkenny recently visited Rudolstadt for their St Patrick’s weekend festivities. The towns have been officially twinned since 2018, largely thanks to Letterkenny man Karol Kerrane, who has lived in Rudolstadt for over a decade and owns the Letterkenny Irish Pub there.

Rudolstadt Mayor Jörg Reichl expressed that the St Patrick’s weekend festival, which included music acts from Letterkenny, has become a staple event in the local social calendar.

“It’s the first festival after a hard, grey, cold winter in Germany,” he said. “So the people are very happy to visit the festival because it’s the first big social event in the year. The days are longer. All is coming up with life so it’s the right time to celebrate St Patrick’s Day.”

He added: “Music is connection between people, and Ireland is famous for its traditional music.”

Before the official twin relationship was established, Karol Kerrane called for Heidecksburg Palace, which overlooks Rudolstadt, to be lit up in green for St Patrick’s Day. This caught local attention and was the first step towards the partnership.

READ NEXT: Donegal culture and traditions gain a platform to shine in Germany

Karol then introduced Mayor Reichl with Fine Gael Cllr Jimmy Kavanagh, and Mayor Reichl visited Glenveagh National Park. Impressed with the natural landscape, Mayor Reichl brought the twinning idea back to Germany, and the agreement was made with then Letterkenny Mayor Ian McGarvey.

One of the most important aspects of the twinning has been the student exchange programme. It takes place with students from St Eunans College, Coláiste Ailigh, and Errigal College with local schools in Rudolstadt. Mayor Reichl believes the nature of the exchange, which sees students living with families, is more beneficial than exchanges to language schools.

“The partnership started with the pupil exchange and it's very important that we can provide exchange for students, and especially young adults,” said Mayor Reichl. “It’s standard in Germany for students to go to London, but it’s much better to come to families and experience the language in a familiar way, to be among the population.”

The Letterkenny delegation visited the Schiller-Theater in Rudolstadt as part of the official itinerary. It is hoped that more ties can be established within the arts, with Mayor Reichl proposing that the 45-piece Rudolstadt symphony orchestra visit Letterkenny in the future to perform a special concert.

The idea has been pitched to the Thuringian government and a non-verbal theatre exchange will also take place later this year with a German pantomime artist set to perform in Letterkenny.

With relations between the two towns going from strength to strength, a delegation of 55 people from Rudolstadt will repay the visit to Letterkenny in September.

READ NEXT: Letterkenny and Rudolstadt: ‘One of the best twinnings we’ve ever done in Donegal’

“I was surprised the first time I saw the local shops on Letterkenny Main Street, the sign saying ‘Welcome Rudolstadt Delegation’,” said Mayor Reichl. “This was the first public promotion for the town twinning partnership and I hope we are able to provide the symphony orchestra exchange and that there is a promotion in Letterkenny for the concert.”

While Rudolstadt has another twinning arrangement with Bayreuth in the German region of Bavaria, it is mostly between clubs and administrations. Mayor Reichl believes that the Letterkenny twinning should be open to everyone.

“The German pupils have to do a special project and the locals created a special handout in German and in the English language of the sights of Rudolstadt,” he explained. “It was an experiment, so maybe it would be possible to create the same for Letterkenny and do the same with the flyers or handouts.

“When you first think of Rudolstadt, your first thoughts are not that it’s so open to the world and open to foreigners and so on because the east of Germany is assumed to be not so friendly to the world. We as Rudolstadt want to show how friendly we are. We want to welcome foreigners because we want to exchange with the world. We have a special festival in July and it’s so multicultural.”

Mayor Reichl is full of enthusiasm for the local reception he receives in Letterkenny.

“I love the friendly people, the heartwarming culture of everyone, from the hotel staff to the pub owners and so on,” he said. “I am very happy about the friendliness and the hospitality of the Irish, and the natural wonders and scenic landscape. Whether it’s Sliabh Liag or Fanad Lighthouse, or the sheep farms and the greenery and the mountains.

READ NEXT: Donegal musicians go down a treat at St Patrick’s weekend festival in Germany

“It’s very important that we Europeans stand together. We have to accept each other, we have to accept the rituals of each other. We have to work together to create a proper future.”