Mayor of Lunenburg

"All knowledge and any increase of knowledge end with a question mark, not with a point."

Hermann Hesse reminded us of this at the beginning of the 20th century: The process of learning does not have an ending. What has changed since then is that knowledge has become far less permanent. Never before in history has information become outdated so quickly; never before has it increased with such speed. Only those curious and ready both to confront and to question new trends and changes will continue to understand what is happening around them and in the world.

New media – and the most important of these is the Internet -- help us to stay informed. And Wikipedia is playing a key role in here. As a free encyclopedia it has gathered a wealth of information it supplies for free  to anyone who needs it. More than 12 million articles – most of them of a high quality – written in more than 260 languages are waiting for internet users looking for information.

I am happy to see the Hanseatic city of Lüneburg as host and patron of a project designed to improve German Wikipedia articles, since Wikipedia in turn will only be fit for the future if it stays curious and focused on good research and on the constant improvement of the information it provides.