Red buck
The Rote Bock is a non-endowed honor of the German social democracy. It has been awarded annually in Gotha since 2008 to personalities in Central and Eastern Europe who have made an outstanding contribution to social, democratic and European issues and who help to achieve social democratic goals in their countries in accordance with the Gotha Program of 1875. The prize is a plaque with a portrait of the social democrat Wilhelm Bock (1846–1931), who shaped German social democracy from Gotha.
Origin of the award and previous sponsors
The idea and founder of this award was the Lord Mayor of Gotha Knut Kreuch (SPD). Discussions with the SPD party executive led in 2007 to the plan to profile Gotha Tivoli , which is important for the history of the SPD, as the house of European social democracy. At the suggestion of the SPD chairman at the time, the "Red Bock" prize was awarded for the first time in 2008. The first prize winner was the former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and Chairman of the Czech Social Democrats (CSSD), Jiří Paroubek . Andres Tarand , the former Prime Minister of Estonia, received the award in 2009. The 2010 award winner was the former Federal Minister Egon Bahr .