Ten people from Germany are enjoying a Red Cross friendship exchange in Ireland this week - 50 years after the Irish Red Cross helped over 45,000 child victims of the second World War in Germany.
Mr Tom Horwell, area youth officer of the Co Louth Red Cross, said yesterday they were celebrating the 10th anniversary of an exchange programme that had raised awareness among young people about "the values that bind us, rather than the differences which tear us apart".
Since 1987, the exchange of people from Schleswig-Holstein, on northern Germany, and the Red Cross in Dundalk has continued, alternating between Germany and Ireland.
The eight young people and two leaders from Germany have been staying with host families in Dundalk.
In 1946 and 1947, Irish people donated 410 tonnes of sugar to the people of Schleswig-Holstein. The sugar donation was one of a number of relief operations mounted by the Red Cross in the post-war period.
Mr Horwell said yesterday: "The links between the people of Ireland and Schleswig-Holstein have not faded over the 50 years since the Irish assisted the child victims of World War 11 in Germany."