Order of the Smile
The Order of the Smile ( Polish Order Uśmiechu ), sometimes also referred to as the Medal of the Smile , is an award given by children for adults who are particularly committed to the well-being of children and young people around the world.
history
The Order of the Smile has been awarded since 1968. The idea came to children from a rehabilitation hospital near Warsaw. It was picked up by the editors of the Kurier Polski , who launched a nationwide campaign in which the children were to shape the order. Over 44,000 designs were received. The jury chose the picture of nine-year-old Ewa Chrobak (* 1958) from Głuchołazy , which depicts a smiling sun. This is how the order was founded. In 1979 (which was announced by the International Year of the Child ) the Secretary General of the United Nations Kurt Waldheim officially recognized the order. From then on, the Order of the Smile became an international order.
In 1996 the Museum of the Order of Smiles was founded in Rabka on the site of the family park known as "Rabkoland". After the region had received the official status of “City of Children from All Over the World”, the initiative was taken to open a permanent Polish Santa Claus Village, which would receive letters addressed to Santa Claus from children from all over Poland.
In 2003, a meeting of the International Charter of the Order of Smiles was held for the first time outside the Warsaw headquarters, in Świdnica , where the Child Friendship Center was established. Świdnica was officially dubbed the “Capital of Children's Dreams” and on September 21, 2003, September 21 was declared Children's Day of the Order of Smiles.
Chapter of the Order of Smiles
The International Chapter of the Order of the Smile has 59 members. They come from Poland, England, Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Belgium, France, Israel, Canada, Germany, Russia, Tunisia, Ukraine, USA, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Armenia, Japan and Serbia.
The chairman of the International Chapter of the Order of the Smile is the Chancellor, since January 19, 2007 Marek Michalak .
The International Chapter of the Order of the Smile decides on the award. The representative of Germany is currently Irene Fahle , teacher and, in turn, knight of the Order of Smiles.
Knight
Up to the end of 2018, 964 people from over 51 countries had received the award, including the film director Steven Spielberg , the 14th Dalai Lama , Pope John Paul II , Henryk Cardinal Gulbinowicz , Ignacy Jeż , King Abdullah ibn Abd al-Aziz of Saudi Arabia, the artist Peter Ustinov , the South African anti-apartheid fighter and President Nelson Mandela , the Polish civil rights activist Jacek Kuroń , Queen Silvia of Sweden , Sarah Ferguson , the talk show host Oprah Winfrey , the swimmer Otylia Jędrzejczak , the Polish poet Jan Twardowski , the Children's book author Astrid Lindgren and the nun Mother Teresa . The honored include the Harry Potter author Joanne K. Rowling , the Polish cartoonist and children's book illustrator Zbigniew Lengren and Tove Jansson , the creator of the Moomins , the cosmonaut Mirosław Hermaszewski and the art historian Marek Kwiatkowski .
The German knights of the Order of the Smile include the sandman father Gerhard Behrendt , the musicians and singers Peter Maffay and Rolf Zuckowski , the organizer of the children's festivals in Munich Elżbieta Zawadzka and the teachers and educators Günter Barthel , Gisela Siebe and Irene Fahle , Austrian knights was Federal President Kurt Waldheim .
The eldest knight was Irena Sendlerowa in 2007 at the age of 97, and the youngest knight Marek Michalak received the International Order of Smiles in 1994 at the age of 23.
