Volunteer Service and Summer Camps
You want to work for peace, understanding, solidarity, gain experience living abroad and becoming part of an international volunteer group?
With ASF you can volunteer
- for one year in Germany by supporting organizations that help marginalized groups, people with mental disabilities, and the Elderly. You can also make a difference in memorial and historical sites
- in Europe in an ASF summer camp for two weeks as part of a diverse, international group working and learning together on a specific project
- as German resident in the United States and get involved in a supporting role with in different areas
Why decide for a volunteer service with ASF?
During your year of volunteer service, your role is to support a partner organization. This can be done, for example, by visiting victims of Nazi persecution, serving people with disabilities or becoming involved in remembrance projects at a memorial site.
Volunteer service is more. Together with a diverse group of fellow volunteers, you will learn in several seminars about the country, its people, culture, and history. Plus, you make an important contribution to peace, diversity and human rights. Every day.
The ASF volunteer service starts each year on September 1 and lasts 12 months. Throughout the year, you exchange your experiences with your fellow volunteers in seminars, workshops, and excursions. Furthermore, you learn to think critically about historical and social issues. In each country, a permanent ASF contact person supports the volunteers.
The application deadline for German applicants is November 1.
The application deadline for International applicants is January 31.
You can find out more about the volunteer experience and you can also apply directly online
Have questions about volunteering or interested in getting involved with ASF?
Your contact person is:
Dr. Monika Moyrer
ARSP
1501 Cherry Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
E-Mail: usa[at]asf-ev.de
Phone: +1 215 2417249
Homepage
International volunteer program in Germany
ASF offers different volunteer positions for volunteers from other countries in several cities in Germany. Become part of the international volunteer group!
Every year, approximately 20 volunteers from different countries get involved with ASF in Germany. Our partner organizations are memorials and archives, organizations that serve people with disabilities, the elderly, or refugees. The volunteer sites are located in various cities throughout the country. As a volunteer, you will support your site full-time for five working days per week.
You can find out more about volunteering and the volunteering sites, and you can also apply directly online:
The memorial provides information about the former concentration camp Sachsenhausen in Oranienburg, which is close to Berlin. Many visitors come to learn more about the history of this place. Survivors and their relatives visit this place of persecution to commemorate their experiences. You will support office staff, do research at the memorial, supervise visitor groups, or give guided tours.
You can find out more about volunteering and the different volunteer positions at several locations throughout Germany, and you can also apply directly online:
The Grandhotel in Regensburg, Bavaria is a multifaceted meeting place for “travelers of all kinds”: accommodation for refugees, hotel and café, learning workshop and artist studio. As a volunteer, you will accompany the refugees, receive guests in the café and get involved in cultural projects.
You can learn more about volunteering and the different volunteer positions at several locations throughout Germany and also apply directly online:
As a volunteer, you will live in Berlin and work at two volunteer sites. At the Memorial to the Victims of Euthanasia in Brandenburg, you will receive guests and support the efforts to commemorate the crimes against people with disabilities who were persecuted by the Nazi regime. At Cooperative Mensch, you will support people with special needs, accompany them in their daily lives, and work together to create recreational activities.
You can find out more about volunteering and the volunteering sites, and you can also apply directly online:
You support refugees in a counseling center. You accompany refugees and impart language skills and information. This volunteer position is combined with work at the Marzahn Forced Camp Memorial, where Sinti*zze and Rom*nja were persecuted under National Socialism.
You can find out more about volunteering and the volunteering sites, and you can also apply directly online:
The approximately 20 volunteers come from different cultures and they speak different languages. During your volunteer experience you will become part of a close-knit international volunteer group. Some live together in shared apartments in cities throughout Germany, for example in Berlin, Hamburg, Dachau. Several seminars will prepare you better for your service, but they also offer the opportunity to exchange ideas about historical and political issues and help you get an in-depth understanding of the country.
You can find out more about volunteering and the volunteering sites, and you can also apply directly online:
The memorial is situated on the grounds of the former concentration camp Buchenwald, one of the largest existing memorials. You will support office staff, do research at the memorial, supervise visitor groups, and give guided tours.
You can find out more about volunteering and the different volunteer positions at several locations throughout Germany, and you can also apply directly online:
Summer Camps – Short-term work & learning opportunities
The summer experience with ASF means dedicating yourself for two weeks to a specific project. You will work closely with a culturally diverse group. The goal is to learn more about the place, its people, history and to experience community.
Every summer, ASF offers international possibilities for encounter and exchange. If you become involved, you will spend two weeks with a group of ten to twenty people from different countries in a joint project. In Lithuania, for example, you can help with the maintenance of a Jewish cemetery. At the Buchenwald memorial site, you can get involved in the design of a memorial path whereas in Berlin, you can become a participant in a staged reading. Excursions and joint activities will complement the program.
Do you enjoy painting, gardening, building, archiving or being creative? Whether you have previous experience or not, everyone is welcome. We value your willingness to work together with others on a project. During excursions, research and workshops, participants will learn more in-depth about the history. At the Buchenwald Memorial, for example, the focus is on the biographies of people who were persecuted in this place during National Socialism. In Budapest, you can learn about Jewish life, whereas in Israel you can get an understanding of queer life.
Summer camps are short but valuable examples of peace service. In addition to the tangible project in which you will be fully immersed, you will find that encountering people of different backgrounds and perspectives is an asset.
Volunteers from Germany in the United States
Every year, 20 to 23 volunteers from Germany come to the United States to serve with different partner organizations. They support memorials and archives, organizations that serve people with disabilities, the elderly, and refugees. The volunteer sites are located in various cities throughout the country. As a volunteer, you will support your site full-time for five working days per week.
You can find out more about volunteering and the volunteering sites, and you can also apply directly online:
More information and online application
“I am very happy that I am working with people with disabilities in my volunteer service, because I would also like to do social work in the future. (…) People with disabilities were persecuted and killed by the Nazi regime. The people I work with today may not have experienced this time themselves, but many were and still are exposed to discrimination.”
ASF-Volunteer at the Diakoniewerk Simeon in Berlin
