Austausch e.V. is an international, non-governmental and non-profit organization founded in 1992 as the German-Russian exchange. Since the late 1990s, the DRA has been working with partners throughout Eastern and Central Europe and supporting open and peaceful cooperation, in particular between Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other Eastern Partnership countries - in a democratic Europe without borders.

Austausch e.V. is involved in the fields of social affairs and education, media and democracy, history and ecology, civic engagement and integration, human and civil rights.

Austausch e.V. connects people and organizations and connects social sectors. It promotes exchange, cooperation and debate - open, unprejudiced and in solidarity.

Austausch e.V. implements cooperation and encounter projects with volunteers, scientists, youth, civil servants, journalists and other groups.

Austausch e.V. has the experience and expertise that it shares with the others at public events, seminars and so on.

As a member organization, Austausch e.V. unites voluntary commitment and professional cooperation. It is the active action of all those who help realize its charitable goals: its staff and members, its volunteers, sponsors and donors.

On May 26, 2021, we were declared an "undesirable organization" in Russia by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office on absurd charges. All our project work in Russia and any cooperation with partner organizations or individuals there had to be stopped immediately.

In a statement on the ban (read here), we declared our determination to continue our work "in Germany and Central and Eastern European countries [...] and to continue to give a voice to many people - also from and about Russia," and underlined: "We are convinced that these forces will be stronger than the restrictions and barriers that a few can impose, disregarding the interests of their own people and international, good-neighborly relations."