Gütersloh, 06/26/2025

‘Zeitenwende on Tour’: School Classes Discuss Global Politics

Liz Mohn Foundation and Munich Security Conference organize dialog event for 150 students.

How can young people be inspired to engage with international politics? The powerful answer from this year’s “Zeitenwende on Tour” dialog event in Gütersloh: If students are taken seriously, given space to ask questions and share their experiences, and invited into open discussion, they will debate global conflicts and their real-world impact with interest and insight – even when their views differ.

On Monday afternoon, four schools from Gütersloh, Rietberg, and Paderborn joined around 150 students at the third town hall conference hosted by the Liz Mohn Foundation and the Munich Security Conference. The event took place at the headquarters of the Bertelsmann Stiftung in Gütersloh.

In her opening remarks, Liz Mohn, Chairwoman of the Board of the foundation that bears her name, explained the importance of international understanding and cross-cultural exchange: “In our divided world, we need to reconnect and build bridges across cultures and religions. Now more than ever, we must build bridges – not walls.”

Focus on Ukraine and Syria

This year’s event centered on two countries in crisis: Ukraine and Syria. But the recent developments in Iran also prompted questions. As in the previous year, TV presenter Nina Moghaddam moderated the dialog event – and opened the session by making a direct connection between the attacks in Iran and her own private life: “Every evening I write to my family there to see if everyone is okay. In the morning, the first thing I do is check my phone for their replies.”

The ongoing Russian war of aggression in Ukraine was clearly top of mind for the students on stage and in the audience. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk joined live from Kyiv to share a first-hand account of the bombing of the Ukrainian capital the night before. Security expert Nico Lange then joined four students from Gütersloh, Rietberg, and Paderborn on stage to discuss Germany’s role in the war in Ukraine and the ongoing complexity of the situation in Syria following years of civil war. The arena-style setup of the event – with the audience seated all around the central stage – added to the energy and openness of the discussion.

Personal perspectives on world politics

For three young people on stage, current global events were deeply personal. Arash Azimi shared an emotional account of fleeing Afghanistan as a small child with his family. Vladyslava Matiss left Ukraine in 2022 and, after arriving in Germany, founded an association to help connect young people who, like her, are from Ukraine. Moaiad Habboub came to Germany from Syria nine years ago, hoping to avoid conscription into the army under dictator Assad. After escaping via Turkey and the Balkan route, he has lived in Germany since 2015, now holds a German passport, and is enrolled in a dual study program at the Bertelsmann Berufskolleg. Liz Mohn paid special tribute to these students: “I have great admiration for what these young people have accomplished in just a few years here in Germany.”

The discussion became especially dynamic when students openly debated controversial questions with the wider audience – including whether Germany should continue supporting Ukraine, or whether they themselves would take up arms in a time of national defense. Moments of emotional depth also emerged, as when Moaiad Habboub told his peers: “The Russian invasion of Ukraine was deeply emotional for me. I had fled the war in Syria to find safety in Germany – and suddenly there was war here in Europe. I couldn’t sleep properly for days.”

Students from Bertelsmann Berufskolleg also involved

After the 90-minute panel concluded, conversations continued at themed tables in the foyer, where students spoke with experts from the Bertelsmann Stiftung and took the opportunity to ask follow-up questions that hadn’t been addressed on stage.

This was the third time the Liz Mohn Foundation organized the “Zeitenwende on Tour” event in partnership with the Munich Security Conference. This year’s participants included students from Friedrich-Spee-Gesamtschule Paderborn, Richard-von-Weizsäcker-Gesamtschule Rietberg, Evangelisch Stiftisches Gymnasium, and the Bertelsmann Berufskolleg in Gütersloh.

The “Zeitenwende on Tour” series has been traveling across Germany since 2022, offering citizens nationwide the chance to engage in open discussion about current German security policy. What makes the Gütersloh edition unique is the age of its audience: this town hall format is aimed explicitly and exclusively at pre-university level students, giving young people a platform to express their views.