Ernst Seidel

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Ernst Seidel (born July 14, 1920 in Freiburg im Breisgau ; † August 5, 2015 there ) was the founder and honorary president of the European Cultural Forum Basel, founding president of the Pro Europa Foundation , which he headed for decades, as well as German syndicates and entrepreneurs.

Life

Ernst-Georg Seidel was born as the son of Major Gottfried Ludwig Ernst Seidel and the Johanniter nurse Ilse Sidonie von Römer in Freiburg, where his father spent the last years of his life. The paternal family had provided mayors, merchants, councilors and Protestant clergy in Greiz for many generations. The maternal family owned the Janisroda and Nausitz estates near Roßleben . An uncle and guardian of Ernst Seidel was Leopold von Münchhausen ; another uncle, Ernst von Münchhausen, was married to Ernst von Siemens' sister . Ernst Seidel lived in Freiburg until his death. He was married to Anna-Luise Seidel, who supported him with her advice and cooperation until his death.

Military service in World War II

In 1939, at the age of 19, Ernst Seidel joined the Artillery Regiment 31 (Halberstadt) as a volunteer after graduating from high school, where his father had already started his military career. During the attack on Poland , Ernst Seidel was promoted to a forward observer and because of his bravery in front of the enemy he was promoted to private. He then took part as an artilleryman in the western campaign and in the German-Soviet war ; He received the Iron Cross first and second class at the same time and was promoted to first lieutenant . Afterwards he was injured by a shrapnel and fortunately he was one of the last wounded to be flown out of the Stalingrad pocket. After his recovery, he and his battery were deployed again on the collapsing Eastern Front in the winter of 1943/44, were injured for the second time and only narrowly escaped death. He was awarded the German Cross in Gold . Towards the end of the war, Seidel was still employed as an adjutant to the commander of the armored trains and fell into French captivity, from which he fled. With the help of a letter of recommendation from Ida Friederike Görres , the sister of Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi and as a courier for the Catholic Church, he was able to return to Freiburg. His war experiences and, above all, his rescuing from mortal danger, which was perceived as wonderful, motivated the young Seidel to work for international understanding .

Post-war period and studies

In Freiburg, the 25-year-old Seidel initially took over the management and investigation service of the German Red Cross and began studying law and economics . Seidel financed his studies as a student trainee and through license fees for a low-nicotine filter cigar he developed. During this time he became involved, along with fellow students as Franz-Lorenz von Thadden-Trieglaff, a son of Reinold von Thadden and Erhard von Brentano, a nephew of the late Foreign Minister Heinrich von Brentano , for the Franco-German Youth Exchange , what in South Baden u . a. Joseph Rovan entered, through whom Seidel was invited to André François-Poncet in Paris as a student . Due to his achievements at the university, Adolf Schönke was one of the first to get him a scholarship to study in Basel , combined with "free meals" in local families, which established close ties to Switzerland . His studies ended Seidel 1952 with the doctorate in law to the doctor. utriusque.

Employment

For more than 30 years, Seidel was an independent syndic of trade associations with an office in the Freiburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry . At the same time, he continued a second degree in psychology , which he was unable to complete despite completing his thesis. In 1953, Seidel also founded the Seidel-Valtiery company, which existed until 1990, for the production of arts and crafts gift items . Ambassador Clemens von Brentano's suggestions to enter the diplomatic service or to continue his military career in the Bundeswehr, however, he did not follow. But he kept in close contact with diplomats and the military services in southern Baden. At the same time, in the interests of the economy, he organized balls, for example a large ball for the German and French armed forces in 1984 under the patronage of Defense Ministers Charles Hernu and Manfred Wörner . He was also the initiator of the annual Balls of Business, a Ball of Art and Fashion in 1981, a German-British Ball in 1987, a German-Japanese Ball in 1988 and a European Gala Ball in 1989, organized by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry South Upper Rhine.

Volunteering and traveling

Seidel initially engaged in professional honorary positions. He was u. a. Commercial judge and founded its federal association, was vice-president of the European Union of the "Juges Consulaires aux Tribunaux" in Strasbourg and was a member of the economic advisory board of the city of Freiburg. In this context, he visited numerous countries in European and non-European countries. Already through this he got to know numerous internationally prominent personalities.

Establishment of the Pro Europa Foundation

Seidel used his more than 30 years of “retirement” for his actual life's work: promoting European unification and cross-border cooperation on the Upper Rhine, Upper Rhine and Lake Constance in a cultural context. As the founder of the European Cultural Forum Basel from 1980 onwards, he brought together (state and non-state) institutions for the promotion of culture, cultural workers and leading representatives from politics, business and society across borders with the aim of promoting art and culture. On his initiative, he founded the Freiburg cultural support group for business and its partner organizations in Basel and Colmar in 1985, from which the non-profit foundation Pro Europa , founded in Basel, emerged in 1993, of which he was president and honorary president for many years. "Our goal was and is that we contribute to a policy-accompanying and communication-promoting cultural exchange throughout Europe", affirmed Seidel in 2012 on the occasion of the handover of the presidency to Tilo Braune . His life's work is the European cultural prizes awarded by the foundation . Supported by his wife, he organized prestigious awards ceremonies across Europe for the foundation until he was the last year of his life. In doing so, he kept himself in the background, but ensured a tight military time management: no speech should last longer than five minutes. By observing the international media and through his international network of jurors and consultants, he found worthy award winners and appropriate laudators for high- profile events .

Europe-wide cultural awards

From 1986 the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe , then Louis Jung , and the President of the European Parliament , then Pierre Pflimlin , took over the patronage of the awards, which was continued by successors such as Leni Fischer . Seidel was able to hold numerous events on the premises of the European institutions in Strasbourg . Otherwise he organized them in many European capitals or cultural cities as well as in Istanbul . Most of the time, Seidel was provided with government buildings or historical buildings. Through his work he established and maintained lifelong, often friendly contacts with numerous, internationally famous, very different personalities. B. in art Salvador Dali , Eduardo Chillida and Frieder Burda , in music Yehudi Menuhin , Daniel Barenboim , Pierre Boulez , Paul Sacher , Claudio Abbado , Wolfgang Wagner , Mikhail Pletnev , Thomas Quasthoff , Elina Garanca and Jan Vogler , in politics Claude Pompidou , Jacques Chirac , Edward Heath , Mary Robinson , Pascal Couchepin , Walter Scheel , Johannes Rau , Martti Ahtisaari , Árpád Göncz , Bülent Arinc , Heinz Fischer , Jack Lang , Joachim Gauck , Lothar Späth , Günther Oettinger , Viviane Reding and Wolfgang Schäuble , in science Edward Teller , Ihsan Dogramaci , Gesine Schwan and Władysław Bartoszewski , in business Hermann Josef Abs , George Soros and Jean-Claude Trichet , in the media Lord George Weidenfeld , Hubert Burda , Sabine Christiansen , in theater and film Peter Ustinov , August Everding and Klaus-Maria Brandauer , in the high nobility Queen Margrethe II of Denmark , Prince Karel Schwarzenberg , Prince Hans-Adam II and Diane Duchess von Wü r Württemberg , in the churches of Franz König , Metropolitan Kyrill I of Smolensk , Walter Kasper and Bishop Wolfgang Huber . A cultural award ceremony in 2006 in the Frauenkirche (Dresden) was particularly difficult to organize (due to the last-minute cancellations by Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel ) . a. Michail Gorbatschow , Richard von Weizsäcker , Lothar de Maizière , Hans-Dietrich Genscher , and Edward, 2nd Duke of Kent took part. As president of the foundation, Seidel also honored entire institutions, such as B. the Oslo Peace Nobel Prize Committee, the German Caritas Association , the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra , the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden , the Robert Bosch Foundation , the "Espace de l 'Art Concret", the Bread for the World campaign , the Internet -Portal Europeana of the EU Commission and the Minster construction works of Strasbourg, Freiburg and Basel. Seidel was involved in the "discovery" of numerous young, future famous artist personalities, such as B. by Anne-Sophie Mutter , Tabea Zimmermann and the then 15-year-old violinist Julia Fischer , for whom he made scholarships possible.

German-Jewish reconciliation

Seidel had met Simon Macé , a confidante of David Ben-Gurion , who had studied in Freiburg, and Josef Burg on a trip to Israel ; both visited Seidel in Freiburg. So German-Jewish cooperation became his special concern. He honored Simon Wiesenthal , the Leo Baeck Institute in New York City , the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris , the Jewish Museum and the Jeckes Cultural Center in Tefen , Israel .

Regional awards and foundation of the European Cultural Forum Mainau

Starting from his hometown Freiburg, Seidel initiated a number of European regional sponsorship awards, with which cross-border personalities from the Upper Rhine region were honored, including from politics Erwin Teufel and Daniel Hoeffel, André-Paul Weber , as well as Jean-Paul Heider and other award winners to whom he was personally connected, such as B. Roland Mack and Hortense von Gelmini , who was honored by Archbishop Robert Zollitsch . In Bavaria he honored Mariss Jansons and the Von Parish costume library in the presence of Günther Beckstein . In 1999, Seidel founded to promote cultural dialogue between Sweden and the countries bordering Lake Constance in the presence of King Carl XVI. Gustaf , Queen Silvia of Sweden , Federal President Roman Herzog and Lennart Graf Bernadotte the European Cultural Forum Mainau . As part of this series of events u. a. Plácido Domingo a culture award.

Awards

Ernst Seidel was u. a. Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres , holder of the Federal Cross of Merit and legal knight of the Order of St. John .

literature

  • Georg Meyer: Dr. iur. utr. Ernst Seidel and the European Cultural Foundation Pro Europa - a biographical sketch , Ed .: European Cultural Foundation Pro Europa, Freiburg 2012.
  • Pro Europa - European Cultural Foundation - European Foundation of Culture. Fondation Européenne de la Culture , brochure of the Pro Europa Foundation, publisher: European Cultural Foundation Pro Europa, Freiburg 2012.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Georg Meyer: Dr. iur. utr. Ernst Seidel and the European Cultural Foundation Pro Europa - a biographical sketch .
  2. ^ Georg Meyer: Dr. iur. utr. Ernst Seidel and the European Cultural Foundation Pro Europa - a biographical sketch , pp. 5–8.
  3. ^ Georg Meyer: Dr. iur. utr. Ernst Seidel and the European Cultural Foundation Pro Europa - a biographical sketch , pp. 12, 13.
  4. ^ Georg Meyer: Dr. iur. utr. Ernst Seidel and the European Cultural Foundation Pro Europa - a biographical sketch , p. 13.
  5. ↑ a b brochure of the Pro Europa Foundation
  6. ^ Georg Meyer: Dr. iur. utr. Ernst Seidel and the European Cultural Foundation Pro Europa - a biographical sketch .
  7. ^ Georg Meyer: Dr. iur. utr. Ernst Seidel and the European Cultural Foundation Pro Europa - a biographical sketch , p. 13 u. 14th
  8. ^ Georg Meyer: Dr. iur. utr. Ernst Seidel and the European Cultural Foundation Pro Europa - a biographical sketch , p. 20.
personal data
SURNAME Seidel, Ernst
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Seidel, Ernst-Georg (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German association syndic and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH July 14, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Freiburg in Breisgau
DATE OF DEATH 5th August 2015
Place of death Freiburg in Breisgau