Bettina Ismair

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Bettina Ismair (* 1962 ) is the founder of the nationally known and award-winning initiative " Open House - Open Heart " in Markt Schwaben , which has been committed to the promotion and integration of children of foreign refugee families since 2001 .

Live and act

Bettina Theresa Ismair comes from a long-established family that has lived in the municipality of Markt Schwaben in the district of Ebersberg for five generations . After her son started school in 2001, the mother of two was confronted for the first time with the difficult school and life situation of the children from Afghan refugee families, who - often already traumatized - were completely isolated and overwhelmed due to their lack of language skills in the Upper Bavarian primary school. Bettina Ismair's great goal was to help these children.

In the same year, together with a small group of other families, she began to take in two of these children once a week for a few hours in the afternoon. The children were looked after with their homework together with their own children and were able to experience everyday life in a German family. Soon the asylum seekers were supported in dealing with the authorities, mutual friendship visits and the organization of group excursions followed. Over the years, a well-functioning civic aid network has emerged , which as the children get older has also been expanded to include the local Franz-Marc-Gymnasium , where the subject of "integration" is now a regular subject of lessons.

Ismair's exemplary and successful initiative, which is called "Open House - Open Heart" in accordance with its activities, is now known nationwide and throughout Germany thanks to numerous press, radio and television reports. Since its inception, it has received numerous prizes and awards, such as the Panter Prize (jury prize) from the daily newspaper (taz) in 2009, the “Integration Prize” from the government of Upper Bavaria in 2012 and most recently in December 2014 with the largest nationwide honorary award for outstanding civic engagement, the German Citizen Award .

Bettina Ismair, the founder of the initiative, was awarded the first-ever Ellen Ammann Prize of the Catholic German Women's Association (Landesverband Bayern) for her consistent, ongoing voluntary commitment in 2013 .

Honors and prizes (selection)

  • 2005 Vinzenz von Paul Prize of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Vincent de Paul
  • 2006 1st prize in the competition with each other! of Bavarian Broadcasting
  • 2009 taz Panter Prize , Jury Prize
  • 2011 Award in the competition Bildungsidee Deutschland 2011
  • 2012 Integration Prize from the Government of Upper Bavaria
  • 2013 Ellen Ammann Prize of the Catholic German Women's Association, Bavarian State Association
  • 2014 German Citizen Award , category "Everyday Heroes"

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Homepage of the "Open House - Open Heart" initiative
  2. ↑ Pupils take tutoring as an elective , article by Joseph Römel , Mittelbayerische Zeitung , June 3, 2013
  3. ↑ Integration happens in the living room , interview with Gina Bucher , taz , 2009
  4. ↑ The woman who brings strangers in , article by Annika Kühn , taz , 2009
  5. ^ Government of Upper Bavaria, press release No. 583, Integration Prize 2012 , November 9, 2011 ( Memento of June 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ^ Homepage of the German Citizens' Prize, competition archive, 2014 award winners
  7. ↑ Women who cross borders , report by ksc in the Munich church radio about the award of the Ellen Ammann Prize to Bettina Ismair, July 2, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Ismair, Bettina
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ismair, Bettina Theresa
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German founder of the "Open House - Open Heart" initiative
DATE OF BIRTH 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH Upper Bavaria