Dear Brilonerinnen and Briloner,
dear friends of the International Hanseatic Union,
dear partners of the 40th International Hanseatic Day,

24 years ago in Bergen we were successful in our application to organize the 40th International Hanseatic Day in 2020, 
for 5 years we have been preparing this event intensively 
and since June the 4th 2019 we have been counting down the days.
The counter now says: „Only 71 days left“, but the situation in our country, in Europe and all over the world forces us to cancel the Hanseatic Day here in Brilon.

111 Hanseatic cities in 15 European countries, 1.558 delegates, 36 cultural groups, 82 YouthHansas have already signed in. 
We are so well prepared and could start tomorrow.

Thanks to the efforts of our team, the schools and kindergardens, the villages, the clubs and associations, the companies, the volunteers from many different workshops and in different functions. 

And now this!
Up to now bad weather was supposed to be our worst case. But things are totally different; the virus Covid 19 has changed everything. It really hurts to make this decision. People have put so much joy, so much energy, so much passion, heart and soul in preparing this European project, in our project „Hanse.Heimat.Handgemacht.“
We would have loved to welcome the Hanseatic family here in Brilon and I’m sure we would have been brillant hosts.

But as many others we have to surrender because of the spreading virus. It would be irresponsible to insist in realising such a huge event in these days. Our priorities must be people’s health. And lively and careless celebrations and parties are not appropriate right now, even if measures to reduce the infections were successful.
The probability to carry out such an event at the beginning of June is very low. Some Scandinavian and Baltic countries have already cancelled their partcipatian, because they are not allowed to leave their countries. At the moment Europe has little reason to celebrate.

Besides all the sadness it’s right to cancel the event, because all the people involved need reliability and should not be forced to wait for a decision that can’t be prevented. Of course we have reached an agreement with the presidium and the Vorman of the Hanseatic Union before. 

I say „Tank you!“ to all the people who were involved in the preparations for the Hanseatic Day here in Brilon. 
They were all motivated because of the big chances the Hanseatic Day would have been for Brilon.

The official magazine for the Hanseatic Day will be completed in some days and it is important for me to publish it nevertheless. It shows the schedule and the topics that have been organized and above all the people behind. We are going to send it to our partners, the Hanseatic cities and the vollunteers who have really worked hard to put this project into practise.

At this point I want to emphasize this:
Nothing can prevent us from realising of what we have achieved in recent years. During the last 5 years Brilon has been facing new horizons; we are conscious of new historical connections. We have become a solid part oft he biggest union of cities that are voluntarily united.
We have achieved this together and this will lead us in the future as well.

Many single projects which should have been presented from June 4th to June 7th will be realized later.:

    • We will sign the „Briloner Erklärung“ this year, when the Hanseatic Union of new ages has existed for 40 years.
    • We will celebrate a Hanseatic festival as soon as circumstances allow it.
    • We will attract attention in Riga in 2021.
    • We will continue living the Hanseatic spirit, the spirit of reliability, of open frontieres and of a united Europe.

All of us who have been working hard to realize this big event in our hometown, really regret that we have to cancel it. Nevertheless we already see the chances we together have achieved so far in recent years.
We are proud to be a part of the Hanseatic movement.

Thank you for understanding!
I hope to see you as soon as possible, at the latest in Riga 2021.