Iruma also collects for the Ukrainian Brody

Created: 05/15/2022, 17:00

By: Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss

We are here: Iruma sends greetings to Brody.

The Japanese have had contact with the city in Ukraine since 2019.

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It is an act of solidarity among the Wolfratshausen twin towns: now the Japanese Iruma is also collecting for Brody, which has been battered by the war.

Wolfratshausen/Iruma/Brody

– Wolfratshausen has been in partnership with the city of Iruma in Japan since 1987.

Since 2009, she has also been friends with the city of Brody in Ukraine.

Now the Japanese surprised the people in the Ukrainian city, more than 8,000 kilometers away, with a collection campaign.

The representatives of the two cities are not strangers to each other.

In 2019, Wolfratshausen invited to the "International Day of Twin Cities".

Together with the guests from near and far, they celebrated under the motto "Wolfratshausen - connected worldwide".

All information about the Ukraine war on our topic page

When Russia launched its aggressive war against Ukraine in February, Wolfratshausen responded immediately by collecting relief supplies.

Mayor Klaus Heilinglechner, Weidach's first fire brigade commander Robert Buxbaum, the head of the DLRG Schäftlarn-Wolfratshausen, Robert Klingel, and city council and asylum helper group member Peter Lobenstein, among others, set off with three trucks to help the friends in Brody with urgently needed goods stand.

"The situation is heartbreaking," Heiliglechner described his impressions on the city's website after his return.

"Women with children, a bag or suitcase in hand, have to leave their homes and face an uncertain future."

You can read all the news from Wolfratshausen here.

Citizens of Iruma read these moving words - and were very impressed by the helpfulness of the people of Wolfratshausen.

"They also felt connected to the people from Brody through the town friendship," says Heilinglechner.

Shortly thereafter, the Japanese Takashima Kenichi contacted the town hall in Loisachstadt.

"Wolfratshausen and its sister cities Iruma and Brody are one family," he wrote and also organized a fundraiser in his hometown, which raised 1,500 euros.

The money was transferred to the Eastern Europe Aid account.

They in turn forwarded it to the mayor of Brody, Andriy Belej.

Also read: This is how the partnership between Wolfratshausen and Iruma came about

This action should not remain a flash in the pan.

Iruma has since contacted another sister city, Sado.

"In this way, one sister city supports the other, and the circle expands," emphasizes Kenichi.

"We pray that the war will end soon and that the day will come when we can once again enjoy singing, music and drumming at a feast with the people of Brody."

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