Democracy Prize

The Democracy Prize , also known as the Blätter-Demokratiepreis , is awarded by the Blätter for German and International Politics and the Society for the Promotion of Political-Scientific Journalism and Democratic Initiatives. V. (Blätter-Gesellschaft) awarded. The Democracy Prize honors people who “with their practical commitment stand up for the end of violence and counter-violence as well as for the observance of human rights and basic democratic rights”.

The prize is endowed with 5000 euros and is usually awarded every three years. It was launched in 1987 on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the founding of Pahl-Rugenstein Verlag . The "Blätter" appeared there until 1989.

Award winners

Daniel Goldhagen was born in Massachusetts on June 30, 1959. He is an American sociologist and political scientist, his main research focus is National Socialism. Goldhagen teaches at Harvard University.

Daniel Jonah Goldhagen is the author of Hitler's Willing Executioners (dt. Hitler's Willing Executioners ).

In the justification of the "Blätter" it says:

“Because of the urgency and the moral power of his presentation, Daniel Goldhagen gave the public consciousness in the Federal Republic of Germany essential impulses - and this in a time that shaped the transition from the Bonn to the Berlin republic. He has made a significant contribution to sharpening the sensitivity for the background and limits of a German 'normalization'. "

The laudators were Jürgen Habermas and Jan Philipp Reemtsma .

There was a dispute among the editors of the papers about the award to Goldhagen. In the course of these disputes, Helmut Ridder resigned from the editorial team.

Democracy Prize 2000

Prize winner: Federal Association of Information and Advice for Victims of Nazism

The Federal Association of Information and Advice for Victims of Nazism V. was founded in Cologne in 1990 and campaigns for the recognition and fair compensation of those persecuted by the Nazis. The founders of the association include, among other things, interest groups of the victims.

Laudators at the award ceremony on June 7, 2000 at the Humboldt University in Berlin were Hildegard Hamm-Brücher and Micha Brumlik .

Democracy Prize 2003

Award winner: Amira Hass

Amira Hass was born in Jerusalem in 1956. The Israeli journalist living in Ramallah and is a correspondent of the Israeli daily newspapers g Ha'aretz . Amira Hass reports on Palestinian life under the Israeli occupation. Your stated goal is to get both sides to critically examine.

The laudator was Jens Reich .

Democracy Prize 2007

Award winner: Seymour Hersh

Seymour Myron Hersh was born on April 8, 1937 in Chicago and is an American journalist and author.

He became known for his major reports: from the exposure of the Vietnam War - My Lai massacre in 1969 to his investigations into the role of the CIA and Henry Kissinger in the 1970s and 1980s and the second Gulf War in the 1990s to the investigation of torture - Scandals at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2004.

Through his work and his commitment, Hersh has made a significant contribution - according to the official explanation - “that the apparatuses of government, administration, secret service and military continue to be subject to public control, despite all administrative resistance. In this way he has lastingly counteracted the independence and absolutization of the power apparatus of the most powerful country in the world for four decades and thus rendered a great service to democracy in the United States - and far beyond. "

The award ceremony for the Democracy Prize took place on September 26, 2007 at the Academy of Arts in Berlin.

Laudators were Hans Leyendecker and Erhard Eppler .

Similarity of names

The Bonn International Democracy Prize has been honoring people awarded by the city of Bonn and its related institutions since 2009 .

Individual evidence

↑ Georg Rathgen: Books for Peace in millions of copies. 30th anniversary for Pahl-Rugenstein Verlag in Cologne. Interview with the managing director and head of the publishing house Paul Neuhöffer . In: Börsenblatt for the German book trade (Leipzig) . tape 154 , February 3, 1987, pp. 77-80, 78 .
^ Klaus Naumann: Retrofitting and self-recognition. State issues in the political-intellectual milieu of the “Papers for German and International Politics” . In: Dominik Geppert, Jens Hacke (ed.): Dispute about the state. Intellectual debates in the Federal Republic 1960–1980 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-525-36758-2 , p. 269 ff., 278 fn. 28 .

[1] Georg Rathgen: Books for Peace in millions of copies. 30th anniversary for Pahl-Rugenstein Verlag in Cologne. Interview with the managing director and head of the publishing house Paul Neuhöffer . In: Börsenblatt for the German book trade (Leipzig) . tape 154 , February 3, 1987, pp. 77-80, 78 .

[2] Klaus Naumann: Retrofitting and self-recognition. State issues in the political-intellectual milieu of the “Papers for German and International Politics” . In: Dominik Geppert, Jens Hacke (ed.): Dispute about the state. Intellectual debates in the Federal Republic 1960–1980 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-525-36758-2 , p. 269 ff., 278 fn. 28 .