Workshop Germany

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A national German symbol as a club award: the Quadriga. (The illustration shows the copy of the award given to Wikipedia in 2008. )

Workshop Germany e. V. was an association founded on May 10, 1993 in Berlin, which awarded the “ The Quadriga ” prize. The intention to award this prize to Vladimir Putin in 2011 provoked massive protests. As a result, the award was suspended in 2011 and the award was never awarded again. On March 14, 2017, the association was deleted from the association register. Insolvency proceedings were opened against Netzwerk Quadriga gGmbH and the company was dissolved on April 18, 2018.

history

The founding chairmen were the two lawyers and former politicians Klaus Riebschläger († 2009, SPD) and Lothar de Maizière (CDU). In addition to politicians, the founding was mainly supported by company managers, including the former members of the Board of Trustees Klaus Rauscher (Chairman of the Board of Vattenfall Europe AG), Thomas Holtrop (Chairman of the Board of T-Online ), Jochen Zeitz (Chairman of the Board of Management Puma AG ), Jürgen Weber (Chairman of the Lufthansa Supervisory Board ), Jürgen Schau (Managing Director Global Entertainment), Tim Renner (Head of Universal ), Jens Odewald (Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Tchibo Holding AG, Chairman of the Board of Management of Kaufhof AG) and Horst Köhler (then Director of the International Monetary Fund ).

According to their own statement, the members of the association were “prominent representatives from all parties, editors-in-chief and intendants as well as well-known representatives of the economy.” The most important sponsor was the energy company Vattenfall, which provided 100,000 euros annually for the “Quadriga” prize.

activities

Quadriga Prize

The best known activity was the awarding of the prize, which was initially endowed with 25,000 euros per prize winner, at a gala. In addition to using the name Germany in the club name and replicating the Quadriga for the award, the club increased the use of national symbols by awarding the award on the day of German unity . The award was organized as a festive gala and social event with high public attention with around 1000 guests in the concert hall on Gendarmenmarkt by the executive chairwoman of the association, Marie-Luise Weinberger. The daily newspaper Die Welt wrote about the gala : “You cannot buy tickets for the event, which will now take place regularly on the Day of German Unity. You are invited to 'Die Quadriga' by 'Werkstatt Deutschland' - or not. ” Friedrich-Christian Flick and Peter Ustinov were among the laudators for the award winners .

Board of Democracy

After the election of Horst Köhler's former member of the Board of Trustees as Federal President , the Tor association held a festive dinner in front of the Brandenburger for 1,200 people on July 3, 2004, which he called the “ Tafel für Demokratie ” and repeated it with 1,500 guests after Horst Köhler's re-election in 2009. This was also repeated for Christian Wulff . Funding was provided by sponsors.

criticism

For the 2010 event a working group protested with a held close parallel panel of the have-nots against the amount of Hartz IV -sentences and a "Vertafelung society," which under reference to the title of the event to the dependence of ever larger circles of society to so-called panels pointed has been. The publicist Henryk M. Broder criticized the concept of the table of democracy itself: in view of extensive representative democratic structures, he recognizes in the idea that citizens should express their concerns and concerns in the context of a meal, nothing more than the "feudal behavior" of a country father.

Change of roles between media and politics

The association has greatly expanded its network of editors-in-chief. He provided this access to his festive events and used this connection for self-presentation and activities. The highlight was the change of roles between media and politics to link politics and media: The Hessian Prime Minister Roland Koch was editor-in-chief at Focus ; the Federal Minister of Economics Werner Müller was editor-in-chief of Max ; the chairman of the FDP Guido Westerwelle spoke news on Sat.1 ; the Federal Minister of Finance Hans Eichel was editor-in-chief of Bild ; the federal chairman of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen Fritz Kuhn was editor-in-chief of Bavarian television ; the chairman of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag Friedrich Merz was editor-in-chief of the Tagesspiegel .

criticism

Matthias Stoffregen, for example, criticized this action as follows: “The role reversal met with a great response in the media. However, the gain in knowledge that could be drawn from it for those involved and observers remained clear. The question of what one could have learned from the other that they did not already know could not really be answered. " Zeit author Gunter Hofmann summed up the further criticism:" The event is part of the problem, that they want to shed light on. ”In other words:“ Too much, not too little closeness and understanding is the problem in the relationship between politics and the media. ”

further activities

In addition, between 1994 and 1996 the association unsuccessfully advertised the merger of Berlin and Brandenburg and held panel discussions in Berlin. Discussion partners at such events were Julian Nida-Rümelin (2001), Harald Wolf , Berlin Senator for Economics, Labor (2002), and Thilo Sarrazin , Senator for Finance (2002).

The events also included so-called political galas, including the first October 3, 2000 in honor of Bill Clinton and a coffee table for guests of the 2006 World Cup .

During the term of office of Federal President Roman Herzog , a double-decker bus was allowed to drive through Germany "to show young people new career opportunities and future trends."

Own representation

In their founding declaration, the club's founders harshly criticized the West Germans:

“Solidarity no longer comes from the heart of the citizens, but has to be prescribed by decree from above. Humanity and sympathy have been removed from everyday speech as stimulating words. Ignorance and egoism seem to be new German cardinal virtues. The West Germans entrench themselves in their fortresses of consumption and treat the East Germans like forgotten relatives who are compulsorily quartered. After a few days of reunion, the visit is perceived as annoying and too expensive. "

and also in politics:

“The piece 'Farewell to Political Action and Design' has a permanent premiere on the Bonn stage, accompanied by a lot of verbal music. Parts of the parties are practicing blockades of perception and fleeing either into petty quarrels or into hectic actionism, instead of mastering the great historical task with courage. "

the media and intellectuals:

“The media enjoy spectacular revelations more than objective coverage of the unit. The 'intelligence', whose ideas are necessary today, has fallen into perplexed silence or defiant cynicism and remains in the trenches of old thinking. "

The association claimed the following goals for itself:

“To actively shape the process of unification is the declared aim of the Werkstatt Deutschland association. This is where people, realities of life and convictions come together who would otherwise hardly talk to each other, let alone act, in our friend-foe discussion culture characterized by the empty exchange of keywords. The members of the workshop do not appear as lobbyists for their respective roles or functions, but as responsible citizens. Citizens from East and West, academics, artists, representatives of the economy and the trade unions, administration, the media, the churches and also politicians look outside the box of current politics and develop models for the future and innovative and realistic approaches in the present . "

As a way of achieving the goal, the association stated:

“The activities of the association are diverse: symposia on contemporary history and philosophical questions, specialist conferences with specific subject matter, regional, action-oriented projects alternate on site. At the same time, the association wants to provide concrete networking assistance on site in the new federal states. Many activities there are uncoordinated at local and regional level; there is no place for the exchange of experience and information. "

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ District Court Berlin-Charlottenburg VR 14373, entry from March 14, 2017.
  2. ↑ Commercial register excerpt HRB 123138 B of April 18, 2018: "Netzwerk Quadriga gGmbH, Berlin, Unter den Linden 80 / 3c, 10117 Berlin. Legal relationship: The company is dissolved due to the opening of insolvency proceedings in accordance with Section 60 (1) No. 4 GmbHG. "
  3. ↑ a b Werkstatt Deutschland lends “Die Quadriga”. In: Die Welt , August 14, 2003, accessed December 11, 2012.
  4. ↑ Contact page ( Memento from March 17, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from August 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / tafelderdemokratie.de
  6. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from August 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / tafelderdemokratie.de
  7. ↑ "Sponsors make the Tafel der Demokratie possible through financial support and are mentioned in public as sponsors. The table of democracy is also realized through the provision of material and services and product presentations. ” - ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / tafelderdemokratie.de
  8. ^ Table of Democracy: Dinner for 1500 . Tagesspiegel from August 20, 2010, accessed on September 29, 2010
  9. ^ Discussion: Matters of concern - Germany East-West . Deutschlandfunk from September 29, 2010.
  10. ↑ cf. about media partners on the pages: - ( Memento of the original from August 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. and - ( Memento of the original from September 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / tafelderdemokratie.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / tafelderdemokratie.de
  11. ↑ Pictures make winners - winners make pictures: The function of press photos in the 2005 Bundestag election campaign - page 240
  12. ^ All quotations on self-understanding from the page founding declaration ( memento from November 20, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) as of July 19, 2011, 4:00 p.m.