The Foundation

In light of the immeasurable suffering that Germany inflicted on the people of Eastern Europe during the Second World War, Eberhard Schöck saw an opportunity to contribute to peace and reconciliation after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

This motivated him to found the Eberhard Schöck Foundation in 1992 in order to promote training in the skilled trades and the growth of small business in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which were undergoing a political transition at the time. In addition, he sought to create opportunities for intercultural encounters and exchange.

Die Stiftung

Unter dem Eindruck des unermesslichen Leids, das Deutschland im Zweiten Weltkrieg über die Menschen in Osteuropa gebracht hat, sah Eberhard Schöck nach dem Fall des Eisernen Vorhangs die Chance, einen Beitrag zu Frieden und Versöhnung zu leisten.

So gründete er 1992 die Eberhard-Schöck-Stiftung, um in den damaligen Transformationsstaaten Mittel- und Osteuropas die Handwerkerausbildung und den Mittelstand zu fördern und Begegnungs- und Austauschmöglichkeiten zu schaffen.

Currently, our work is focused on four partner countries: Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia. Our focus is on the modernization of vocational training in various construction industry trades in order to strengthen the trade sector as a whole and enhance education programs. Young people who have received a quality education in a modern trade have excellent career opportunities in our partner countries.

The exchange of vocational students complements the technical training they receive by adding an international experience, broadening the horizons of the students and contributing to friendship and reconciliation in Europe.

We are open to new developments and are always adding new projects. Currently, we are working on introducing a restructured master’s degree program for urban and spatial planning in Ukraine and supporting the training of solar system installers in Russia.

Learning a trade is also a promising career path with excellent opportunities in Germany. We are particularly active in the areas of vocational orientation and integration. Our activities predominantly serve to promote and support institutions and initiatives so that as many young people as possible in Germany are able to achieve a good professional education. In addition, we award prizes and scholarships for outstanding achievements by university students and students in the trades.

Our commitment to promoting the German language at home and abroad is a subject of personal importance to Eberhard Schöck and therefore an additional focus of our work. One of the building blocks of our efforts is presenting the German Language Culture Award. Our German Language Promotion activities support teachers of German in our partner countries through a variety of projects. We also actively advocate for literacy and basic education in a vocational context.

The Foundation’s partners are non-governmental organizations, educational institutions, trade associations, towns and cities, businesses in the trade sector as well as governmental institutions. Experts in all aspects of the construction trade, the building sector and vocational training are available to the Foundation for the implementation of its activities and projects. As the largest shareholder of Schöck AG, the company founded by Eberhard Schöck, we finance our work through revenue derived from dividends and capital gains.