The British Royal Family honours Rolf Ostermann’s contribution to German-British friendship
To mark the merger of the Barking & Dagenham-Witten Club with the Partnerschaftsverein Witten e. V., the club’s members thanked Mr Rolf Ostermann for his many years of outstanding service as chairman.
To mark his stepping down as chairman, the club’s members presented him with a letter of thanks from Buckingham Palace. In it, the British Royal Family pays tribute to the remarkable enthusiasm with which Rolf Ostermann, as chairman of the club, has championed reconciliation, cultural understanding and lasting personal ties between the two nations. Thanks to his leadership qualities, his warmth and his tireless dedication, the friendship between the people of Witten and Barking & Dagenham has not only endured but has continued to flourish across generations. King Charles III sent his best wishes to Rolf Ostermann for a long and happy retirement.
The Barking & Dagenham–Witten town twinning was officially established in 1994/95 and has its roots in a deeply moving act of reconciliation that took place in 1948 at Kingsley Hall in Dagenham, when German prisoners of war were invited to celebrate Christmas with the local community. This gesture of goodwill laid the foundations for one of the first town twinning arrangements between Germany and England after the war and led to the signing of the twinning agreement between Barking & Dagenham and Witten in 1979. It remains one of the oldest existing partnerships of its kind to this day.
