Denver Sister Cities International

Brest is only 4.5 hours by train and little over 1 hour by plane from Paris. Located in Brittany, one of France’s most rugged regions, it is a fascinating mix of spectacular coastline, ancient towns, magical islands and inland woods. A Celtic duchy for more than one thousand years before its annexation to France in 1532, it is a land rich in culture, tradition and history. This Western peninsula remains intact with a people whose language, customs and dress remain a vivid homage to their past.

Brest, France is Denver’s first Sister City and was the second Sister City established in the United States. The relationship was born in the true spirit of people-to-people connections. It was formalized in 1948 after Denver school children, led by a local teacher, raised thousands of dollars to help rebuild the war-ravaged city.

In 1947, an East High School teacher by the name of Ms. Amanda Knecht was visiting the city of Brest. The city had been bombed extensively over a period of six weeks during WWII by the U.S. Air Force, flying more than 5,000 sorties over the city before occupying Germans finally surrendered.

Upon Ms. Knecht’s return to Denver, she shared the stories of the devastation done by the war with her students. Over the next year, Denver students raised in excess of $32,000.00 in nickels, pennies and dimes. This sum was presented to the City of Brest and to be used to re-build the Children’s Wing of the Brest City Hospital.

In 1948, the Sister City concept became a reality in Europe. The City of Denver and the City of Brest immediately proceeded with the concept of jumelageor twinning, as the affiliation is known in other countries. Brest, France was Denver’s first Sister City and was the second Sister City established in the U.S.

Since that time, the people of Brest and Denver have enjoyed many exchanges of city officials, educators, and business people. In addition, there have been high school student exchanges email pen-pals between the two cities. In October, 2004, Denver hosted a French delegation from the City of Brest. Many of our visitors were affiliated with hospitals, engineering, technology and education.

We are building membership and focusing creating an alliance between the French Communities of Denver and the Brest, France counterparts. We are working on getting the e-mail pen-pal program started again in the coming year.

The City of Brest is looking forward to working with our organization to form a Denver to Brest delegation of business, educators and medical field people to visit France.

Chairperson: Ari Lourie

Phone: 303.478.8684
Email: arilourie@aol.com