Let's imagine Europe as an old but still amazingly intact building. A fieldstone barn, for example, whose walls have survived the decades and still offer protection, whose roof keeps out the fiercest wind and heaviest rain - and yet water is already seeping through the windows here and there, a hard storm is shaking the tiles. The roof urgently needs to be repaired, the beams supported, the floor reinforced - otherwise the whole structure will start to totter. Otherwise, what was once painstakingly built will eventually collapse.

Europe is not a given, not an immovable asset. Europe must be worked on constantly. Especially now and today there is a lot to do. The "European Archive of Voices" presents the passionate work of over fifty young Europeans from around forty countries.

In more than thirty European languages, they interviewed representatives of their grandparents' or even great-grandparents' generation. As witnesses of Europe, these people report on a life rich in experience and on their activities in politics, culture and science that are interwoven with Europe. The history and future of the European idea were thus captured in a polyphonic panorama and photographs. I am still traveling for this project all across Europe and meet these time witnesses.