Lotte Kreissler
Hello everyone! How long can I write here? :-) I read Neill's book at the age of 15. Since then I have been and stayed inspired and my life, and I myself, has/have been influenced and also changed not only by the ideas, but also since I came to Summerhill in 1986 for the very first time. Started then working in a democratic school in Vienna. Since 1987 I have attended some of the international conferences in Summerhill in the summer, I observed, saw, felt, inhaled...the athmosphere, the spirit, I had wonderful conversations, met wonderful people.. Got to know David Gribble in 1989, became friends with him and his wife Lynette, heard from him about the conference in Jerusalem in 1993 where we met Yakov for the first time, and in Hadera, the IDEC was born. In 1995 we organized the third IDEC in Vienna. I can impossibly tell everything, takes too long, but briefly, since those years I have been spreading ideas, have offered workshops, have worked with young people for more than 30 years, have initiated meetings and parliaments with them and engaged in democratic discourse, also with educational institutions and state institutions where these ideas were strange and also rejected... In all these years I have been meeting people on the way and have always wholeheartedly agreed with David and Lynette that this was the most important thing, to learn from them, exchange, laugh with them, and spread insights and encourage others to trust children and to love children - not more and not less. and am now doing the same things with 4-6 year olds.. I am very happy to attend and participate in the Festival of Childhood in Summerhill this summer, after a very long time, it feels like coming home to a community I have not found anywhere outside, Thank you for everything!