Bernd Böttcher studied Cultural Studies at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) after doing a voluntary service in Krzyżowa for one year. After working in Ukraine, he managed an exchange of professionals between Germany, Eastern Europe and Central Asia at APOLLO e. V. from 2012-15. He was chairman of the association until 2019. In 2016, he took over the coordination of the initiative "Austausch macht Schule", an interest group of nationwide specialist and funding organisations for international youth work, which advocates for the improvement of the political framework conditions for school exchanges. He lives in Dresden and Regensburg.
Bernd Böttcher has been a member of the board of the Kreisau-Initiative from 2003-09 and has been a member again since September 2019. In August 2023, he became the chair of the association. He was a member of committees of the Krzyżowa Foundation for Mutual Understanding in Europe and the Freya von Moltke-Stiftung für das Neue Kreisau.
Kateryna Khyzhniak studied Linguistics and Communication Sciences in Kharkiv (Ukraine), Konstanz and Berlin. In 2014–15, she completed her European Voluntary Service at the Kreisau-Initiative. She supported both the Berlin office and the work on projects in Krzyżowa. She then completed her Master's degree in Berlin in 2018. Since then, she has worked in HR management for Berlin-based companies. She currently supports the team of over 800 employees at the global music company Universal Music as Senior Business Partner People & Culture.
Kateryna Khyzhniak has been a member of the board of the Kreisau Initiative since April 2021.
Ulrike Kind studied Political Science, Modern History and Public Law in Heidelberg, Aix-en-Provence (France) and Bonn (M.A. 1996). Polonicum in Mainz (1997). Research assistant at the Polish Robert Schuman Foundation in Warsaw, and personal advisor to the former Polish Foreign Minister Prof. Władysław Bartoszewski (1998–2000). 2002–08 Consultant for International Relations at the umbrella organisation of the Protestant Student Community (ESG). 2008–11 Director of Studies for European Dialogues at the Protestant Academy in Berlin. 2011-13 Deputy Head of Department and Head of the Department for International Partnerships at the University of Bonn. Since 2013 responsible for cooperation with East Central Europe, Israel and international organisations at the Senate Chancellery of the Governing Mayor of Berlin.
Member of "Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienst, MitOst e.V. and Austausch e.V. - Für eine europäische Zivilgesellschaft".
Ulrike Kind has been a member of the Kreisau-Initiative for many years and has been a member of the board of the Kreisau-Initiative since September 2019. From 2011–17 she was a member of the board of trustees of the Krzyżowa Foundation for Mutual Understanding in Europe.
Marta Kurek studied Business Administration in Poznan/Pl and Osnabrück.
She has over 20 years of experience as an educational advisor and project manager in nonformal civic education in the international context. Her expertise and focus in terms of content and methodology is on contemporary history education and developing innovative educational approaches involving hard-to-reach target groups. Some of the most successful long-term programmes that she co-designed and managed are "Du hast 2009 die Wahl!" of the Thüringer Landeszentrale für politische Bildung and "Education on Europe" of the Robert Bosch Stiftung. For several years she used to teach in the International Social Work programme at the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt. She has also been active for many years in consultancy and project quality monitoring in the field of international education in the EU programmes Erasmus+ and ESC in Germany, the Eastern Partnership countries and Russia. Marta Kurek took over as director of the Kreisau International Youth Meeting Centre from November 2015 to December 2016 to cover parental leave. Most recently, she moved to the field of health management and is currently leading a pilot project funded by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs to support return to work of people with oncological and neurological diseases.
Markus Pieper studied Eastern European Contemporary History, Political Science and Journalism in Oldenburg, Berlin and Warsaw (Poland) and has since been involved both professionally and privately with German-Polish relations, issues of reconditioning and reconciliation as well as the history of Eastern and Central Eastern Europe. He has worked at the Ettersberg Foundation for the Comparative Study of European Dictatorships and their Overcoming in Weimar (2003-08), the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records in Berlin (2008-12) and the Federal Foundation for the Reconditioning of the SED Dictatorship (2012-21), where he compiled the "International Dissident Dictionary" and managed the Memorials and Culture of Remembrance department. 2019 Doctorate (Dr. phil.) at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) with the thesis "Party mission: City partnership. Municipal partnerships between Poland and the GDR and their transformation after 1989". Since 2021, he has been Managing Director of the Saxon Memorials Foundation for the Remembrance of the Victims of Political Tyranny in Dresden.
Markus Pieper is connected to Kreisau by the "classic" topics of German-Polish reconciliation, reconditioning of dictatorships and the culture of remembrance. For many years, he helped organise the Kreisau East-West European memorial meetings for the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the Past. He has been a member of the Kreisau-Initiative since February 2020.
Susanne Schade studied Political Science, Slavic studies (specialising in Polish) and Eastern European history in Heidelberg and subsequently worked in various places in the field of political education. From 2012 to 2015, she was an education officer for the Kreisau-Initiative and worked within the Krzyżowa Foundation for Mutual Understanding in Europe, specialising in political and historical education. From 2017 to 2022, she worked as a public relations coordinator at the Kreisau-Initiative and at the same time, as a freelance consultant at the German Resistance Memorial Centre. Since 2022, she has been a research assistant in the project "Democratic Mass Organisations of the Weimar Republic" at the German Resistance Memorial Centre.
Susanne Schade has been a member of the board since April 2025.
Carolin Wenzel studied Integrated European Studies (B.A.) and Culture and History of Central and Eastern Europe (M.A.) at the Universities of Bremen, Frankfurt (Oder) and Krakow. In 2011, she completed a three-month internship at the International Youth Meeting Centre of the Krzyżowa Foundation for Mutual Understanding in Europe as a scholarship holder of the EU programme Leonardo da Vinci. From 2012 to 2023, she worked at the Kreisau-Initiative in Berlin – first as a project coordinator, later as an education officer and finally as the head of department Contemporary History & Human Rights. Temporarily, she also took over the position as deputy executive director of the organisation. Since July 2023, she has continued her involvement in political education work as an education officer at the Akademie am Tönsberg e. V. in Oerlinghausen. Among other things, she is responsible for international youth work there.
Since January 2025, Carolin Wenzel has also been involved in the umbrella organisation AKSB (Arbeitskreis katholisch-sozialer Bildungsstätten). She holds a key position there in the field of identity discourses and historical-political education.
Carolin Wenzel has been a member of the board since April 2025.