Die große Don-Armee im Ausland

The association sees itself as a link between the Cossacks living in Switzerland, their families and their departments in municipalities and associations in Switzerland; it promotes the customs and cultural diversity of the Cossacks in the field of handicrafts, traditional crafts, folklore and art in general; it organizes sporting, cultural, historical and contemporary events and meetings; it advocates for peaceful coexistence among peoples and the forward-looking preservation of their historical and cultural aspects; it supports reconciliation between former war opponents and accepts the preservation of the memory of war victims; it helps to preserve memorials and monuments and conducts historical research for this purpose; it promotes the establishment of economic contacts between Switzerland and the traditional Cossack regions around the world; it supports the maintenance of the Russian mother tongue and, in return, the learning of the German language by Cossacks living in Switzerland and their relatives, as well as support for integration into European society; it aims to spread the Russian martial art Systema in Switzerland. This is intended to enable members of the individual departments to get to know each other better, develop understanding for one another, reduce historically conditioned resentments and broaden their own military-historical and defense-historical understanding, which has been narrowed down by nationalist perspectives, in order to promote the idea of peace, community and commonalities in this way. Particular attention is paid to work with young people, adherence to humanist and Christian values. The association represents the interests of its members vis-à-vis the state and society, and the neutrality of its members at national and international level.