Kiel - Coventry: the twin-city partnershipWhen, on 10 September 1967, Coventry and Kiel formalised their twin city partnership, this had already been preceded by two decades of close friendly links at the highest local government level, at church, social and cultural, academic and business levels.
It was only very shortly after the end of the Second World War that initial contacts between the two cities were established through the British Military Government Commissioner for Construction in Kiel who came from Coventry. Both cities had been severely devastated in air raids.
In 1947, the Friends of Coventry Society was founded, which later became the Deutsch-Britische Gesellschaft Kiel (German-British Society). In the same year, a delegation from the English city which included the Lord Mayor and the Provost of Coventry accepted an invitation to Kiel. The delegation presented to Kiel a Cross, made out of nails from the destroyed Coventry Cathedral, which found a place in the Nicolaikirche in Kiel.
The development of ever-closer links between Coventry and Kiel was, from the early years, prompted by a desire for reconciliation and international understanding. This was the foundation for a process of encounter and collaboration between the twin cities which has been expressed in many different ways, and which has already been going on for more than half a century.