With the European Youth Camp 2025 ‘Europastadt Bocholt: Music for 80 Years of Peace and Freedom in the Year of the EU's 75th Anniversary!’, we wanted to organise a European youth encounter that would bring peace and freedom to life through music, exchange and joint creative activities on the occasion of the ‘80th anniversary of the end of the war’. The camp took place from 20 to 27 July 2025 at the Europa-Haus Bocholt and was organised by the city of Bocholt in cooperation with EUROPE DIRECT Bocholt and the Bocholt-Isselburg Music School, as well as its twin towns and partner cities. The date was deliberately chosen because 2025 not only commemorates the end of the Second World War 80 years ago, but also marks the 75th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration (9 May 1950) as the starting point of European unification. We wanted to help young people understand how closely the historical experience of war and oppression is linked to the establishment of a European community of peace and values, and why values such as peace, freedom, democracy, human dignity, equality, the rule of law and human rights cannot be taken for granted, but must be actively protected and lived out. A key objective was to bring together young people from Bocholt and its twin towns and partner municipalities and to make participation deliberately low-threshold. Participants aged between 14 and 17 came from Akmene (Lithuania), Vlora (Albania), Verkhniodniprovsk (Ukraine) and the Netherlands, among other places. At the same time, the aim was to specifically reach young people in Bocholt who, due to social, economic, geographical or biographical factors, would otherwise be less likely to participate in international encounters. Other young people came from the partner cities of Rossendale (Great Britain) and Wuxi (China) without receiving ERASMUS+ funding. In terms of content, we wanted to use music as a universal medium to overcome language barriers and give young people the opportunity to make their perspectives on peace and freedom audible and visible. The participants were to try out and develop their musical and creative forms of expression in various workshops, building self-confidence and learning how important teamwork, communication and taking responsibility are in international groups. In particular, the exchange of experiences with Ukrainian young people was intended to illustrate what the loss of peace and freedom means in everyday life, while at the same time promoting empathy, solidarity and a respectful approach to different realities of life. Methodologically, a participatory approach was taken: the young people were encouraged to actively help shape the programme, contribute their own questions in workshops and discussion formats, and continuously reflect on their learning experiences. This was achieved through interactive workshops on European identity and the significance of peace today, as well as creative workshops in which the participants created their own symbols of peace and incorporated them into a public presentation with a musical performance at the LernWerk Bocholt. To deepen their understanding of the topic, we combined on-site learning with European historical and cultural references. A visit to the Rock'n'Pop Museum in Gronau was intended to provide access to the history and diversity of popular music, while Münster, as the site of the Peace of Westphalia, was intended to provide historical perspectives on peace policy. In addition, team-building elements, a mobile phone rally through Bocholt and European quiz formats were planned to strengthen group dynamics, participation and basic knowledge of European politics. The camp thus also contributed to the priorities of the EU Youth Dialogue by combining political education with concrete participation formats and encouraging young people to make their voices heard in schools, clubs and communities and to communicate European issues to those around them. From the outset, sustainable impact was also a key objective: we wanted to document results and learning processes, make them publicly visible and disseminate them as transferable best practice examples within and outside the participating organisations. Through inclusive access, participatory design, the integration of digital elements (e.g. mobile phone rally and digital documentation) and the consideration of environmentally friendly processes, the project was also intended to support the horizontal programme priorities of inclusion and diversity as well as the participatory, digital and green dimensions. At the same time, the musical network between the partners, which had been partially interrupted by the pandemic, was to be revived and the organisational network for future European youth camps strengthened.