Building on 15 years of successful cooperation, DW and Polish public broadcaster TVP have laid the groundwork for future projects with a new cooperation agreement signed earlier this month.

The agreement was signed after a public preview of DW and TVP’s latest collaborative project, Learn Polish, at the Checkpoint Charlie museum in Berlin. Learn Polish tells the story of solidarity between the Polish trade unionist movement, Solidarność, and East German oppositionists during the 1980s. DW started broadcasting the documentary in English, German and Spanish on November 5. TVP will begin broadcasting the Polish version on December 15.

Another recent collaborative project from DW and TVP is the Polish-language documentary format Eurokultura. The program features DW reports adapted into Polish which are then sent to Warsaw and put together by TVP into a 15-minute show. Eurokultura premiered October 5. Each show is also available on DW’s Polish website.

Both broadcasters are looking forward to working together in the future.  DW Director General, Peter Limbourg, said that DW could potentially expand its cooperation with TVP by providing news content. TVP Director General, Juliusz Braun expressed interest in continuing with the German-Polish multimedia project, Nachbar– Wie geht’s? (How are you neighbor?), which aired earlier this year.  The format was produced in cooperation with the Leipzig-based German public broadcaster, MDR. It compares the lifestyles of a German family from Erfurt with a Polish family from Łomża, north of Warsaw. The portrayal of everyday life in Germany and Poland brings to light the common values shared by the two families and both nations.

DW’s ongoing cooperation with TVP reflects the role of cooperative broadcasting in enhancing European integration. Limbourg commented that these projects were important for, “the German-Polish neighborhood, for Europe and for the values of freedom and democracy.”

As the representative for Germany in the international media landscape, DW has a unique role in creating and promoting content that can help bring Europe closer together by highlighting shared values and common goals which know no borders.