The director of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp Memorial, Jens-Christian Wagner, and the Berlin bookseller Heinz J Ostermann are being recognized for their commitment against right-wing extremism by Germany’s 16 Luther Cities.
The pair will receive the award named “The Intrepid Word,” or “Das unerschrockene Wort” in German, from the association of historic cities, which is endowed with €10,000 ($10,300), after the jury unanimously made the decision during a meeting in November 2024 in the Bavarian city of Augsburg, as was announced on Thursday.
Both award winners “are committed from different perspectives against the shift to the right in Germany and its consequences,” according to the jury’s justification.
They defended their convictions even in the face of resistance.
“Both award winners actively stand up for democracy and the fight against right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism. In times when hatred, agitation and populism are making their way into our society, this commitment is all the more important,” said Augsburg Mayor Eva Weber.
According to the jury, Ostermann’s bookstore in the Berlin district of Neukölln has been under police protection for years due to its engagement, following arson attacks and vandalized shop windows.
Nevertheless, he initiated the founding of the Neukölln initiative “Rudow is outraged: Together for Respect and Diversity.”
Historian Wagner is committed against “fake history and revisionist historical myth-making,” against the trivialization of Nazism and the Holocaust, as well as the far-right Alternative for Germany’s (AfD) demand for a “political shift in memory,” the jury said.
He exposes the positions of the AfD or Reich Citizens movement and tirelessly stands against the “shift of discourse to the right.” And he does so despite “hostilities, taunts, lawsuits, hate mail and threatening phone calls, up to and including death threats,” the jury stated.
The presentation of the 15th Luther Prize is scheduled to take place on March 28 in Augsburg. The award is given to people who show civil courage despite opposition.
The term Luther Cities refers to cities where the German Protestant reformer Martin Luther lived or significantly worked. The Federation of Luther Cities is composed of 16 cities from Augsburg to Zeitz, including his birthplace and place of death, Eisleben and Wittenberg, where he famously nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the castle church, setting the Reformation in motion.
