Laureates

In February 2016 Edward Snowden delivered the laudatory speech for Daniel Ellsberg via Skype.

Laureates

Foto von Roger Cox, dem Preisträger von 2022
Roger Cox

Laureate 2022 Roger Cox

When Cox won the climate trial against the Dutch government in 2015, he was the first to achieve such a feat. The judgment he obtained against Shell was also the first of its kind. Since then, his successes have served as a model for many people around the world who are taking legal action against inadequate climate policies. His advocacy can be seen as a milestone in the fight to save the climate.

“Roger Cox has also outgrown his time, as it were. While many recognise the danger of climate change, too little is still being done. Roger Cox convincingly used the means at his disposal – laws and court cases”, Beate Spiegel, Executive Director of the Klaus Tschira Foundation, praises the achievement of the 2022 laureate.

Dr. Cristina Marín Campos

Laureate 2021 Dr. Cristina Marín Campos

Excerpt from the laudatory speech by Gerhart Baum:

Will we change our lives, will we become more thoughtful and decelerate, think and act more sustainably? After Corona, “business as usual” will not be possible. But I am firmly convinced that we can cope with the problems.

Christina Marin Campos has given us an example – an example of how human dignity must be defended and, together with her, I mention the many helpers who did not spend a long time discussing the “pros and cons” but acted courageously. And the fight is not over!

Muzoon Almellehan

Laureate 2020 Muzoon Almellehan

11th Dresden Prize honours young Syrian educational activist

Dresden, 5 December 2019 Syrian educational activist and UNICEF Special Envoy Muzoon Almellehan will receive the 11th International Peace Prize “Dresden Prize” at the Dresden Semper Opera on 9 February 2020. The prize, endowed with € 10,000, is sponsored by the Klaus Tschira Foundation

The 21-year-old Muzoon Almellehan, who now lives in Great Britain, is regarded as one of the strongest and most influential voices in the struggle for education for children in crisis areas. She began her commitment at the age of 14 in a Jordanian refugee camp, where she had fled with her family from Syria. For many of the refugees, participation in educational opportunities was not the most important thing in view of the hopelessness in the camp. But Muzoon went from tent to tent and convinced parents and children of the importance of school.   And she kept saying this sentence: “If you have education, no one can take it away from you”.  The young Syrian saved the future of many children, especially girls.

Kim Phuc Phan Thi

Laureate 2019 Kim Phuc Phan Thi – the „Napalm-Girl“

An excerpt from the laudatory speech (James Nachtwey)

If there had not been a photograph, Kim Phuc’s personal agony would have joined that of the millions of other individual Vietnamese whose suffering was unknown to the rest of the world. The fact that the moment was photographed (by the young Vietnamese photographer, Nick Ut) made all the difference. The pain and suffering of one nine-year-old girl was more powerful and perceived as more truthful than all the political spin invented by America’s “best and brightest” to justify an unjust war. The photograph did nothing to lessen her own ordeal, and in the years ahead actually caused her personal distress. But it had a significant impact on the course of events. Perhaps more than any other single image, out of the thousands of images that were made during the war, it had a disproportionate weight in creating the critical mass in public consciousness that was instrumental in bringing the war to an end. And it stands today as an indictment, not only of the Vietnam War, but of all wars.

It’s hard to imagine how difficult it must have been for Kim Phuc, in addition to enduring physical torment, to navigate the irony and injustice of all that happened, and to find a perspective that would give her equanimity. If her life had become a living symbol of war, she made the decision to transform it into a living symbol of peace. She would not allow her experience to embitter her and to perpetuate animosity. Instead, she chose to let go of hatred – to understand that even though there can never be justice, she would find forgiveness in her heart and redeem tragedy with love.

She then went further and decided to pass along to others what she has learned by becoming a goodwill ambassador for peace and reconciliation for the United Nations. In addition, she established a foundation to care for war-ravaged children.

To have such a great soul as Kim Phuc among us is such a gift, and I know I speak for everyone here when I express our gratitude and admiration.

Dr. Tommie Smith

Laureate 2018 Dr. Thommie Smith

An excerpt from the speech of laureate Tommie Smith

It is with noble humility and distinguished social respect that I stand before you this day, upon receiving such a Global translative award. Truly, I am not unaware of the special and broad expressiveness of this award.

It’s a world .of refractory perceptions racial and religious bigotries, prejudices and inequalities.  We must grant close attention to its persistence.

We struggle for Justice, not because we always “Win”. We struggle in the moment, because we believe the truth, the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”. I believe that we will win. I hope by planning to build relationships with Love and Conversation, will continue and strength our hope for peace.

I was born in the state of Texas, USA, the son of a share-cropper who believed in, doing your job to the best of one’s ability, with malice to no one; and staying on the battlefield for righteousness. Time is an infinite space and working together toward unity must continue indefinitely.

Conversation entails the right to find the truth through “Social Investigation”.  I wasn’t allowed to speak because of racial subjection. I had to find a way to communicate with a Silent Voice. The action then silence was heard in the “Silent gesture” during the 19th Olympiad; Mexico City 1968. It was a revealing disclosure felt with the intensity of a defined social progression. No harm intended, but social autonomy individually perceived.

Here I am one half century later still moving in the same direction.

My belief is that overcoming is not a dead issue…

Laureate Domenico Lucano

Laureate 2017
Domenico Lucano, mayor of the small Italian refugee town

Excerpt from the laudatory speech, held by Prof. Martin Roth

„That this prize of humanity is awarded in Dresden of all places is fantastic. The right signal at the right time.

Humanity and courage are required everywhere. Domenico Lucano is an example to all of us, a role model regardless of political conviction, skin color, religious belief, and national borders. Indeed, Christ did not stop at Eboli, referring to the famous autobiographical book by Carlo Levi.

And that the prize is awarded in Dresden, a living memorial for expulsion, flight and destruction, and here in the Semperoper, is not only a symbolic act, but a testimony of outstanding commitment to the principles of humanity. I wish to extend my special thanks to all who helped to organize this and who contributed their ideas.

Domenico Lucano is an outstanding and in all respects worthy peace prize laureate. To him and to me as his laudatory speaker, it is essential to accentuate that all of the town of Riace, all citizens wherever they may have come from, deserve this prize. This community gives evidence of what the commitment of the individual and the solidarity of many can achieve. Maybe this visualizes that to cooperate is effective, contrary to isolating people. Without the citizens of Riace, the brilliant ideas of the mayor would have been in vain. The community of people actively lived the gestures of welcome, not only as a fine philosophical idea. But right in everyday life, everyday, every hour and also during each moment of conflict.”

Laureate Daniel Ellsberg

Laureate 2016
Daniel Ellsberg, forefather of whistle-blowers

An excerpt from the laudatory speech (Claus Kleber): (Edward Snowden):

I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that without Daniel Ellsberg there could not be an Edward Snowden.

When I look at the lessons from Daniel Ellsberg, it’s particularly the single moment of courage that transformed his life and transformed in many ways a message for society that people throughout different generation and across borders learned from and will continue to learn if they are allowed to.

He has stood for decades. Risking his own freedom again and again. Facing arrest, facing criticism, facing the loss of reputation that he worked so hard to gain, to accuse government of use of unnecessary militarism.

Daniel Ellsbergs life is an argument that says: War is not natural, war is not the inherent state of man. And if we have the truth available to us, we can all live in peace.

Daniel Ellsberg has been in the public for decades, he has given up himself again and again on behalf of the public, on behalf of the common man, of society, on behalf of everyone but himself. And this, to me I find it very persuasive. So, while today I must still say: I don’t believe in heroes, but I do believe in Daniel Ellsberg. And I always will.

Laureate HRH The Duke of Kent

Laureate 2015
HRH The Duke of Kent

From the Duke’s speech:

Ladies and Gentlemen, anniversaries of World War II offer opportunities to think together: to pause and to think about the horrors of this war, to mourn all those who lost or sacrificed their lives, and to express our mutual solidarity with all those who have survived.

Both Dresden and Coventry suffered terrible and tragic losses. The bombings on British and German cities caused tremendous destruction. The war inflicted deep wounds on our nations. Yesterday, we came together to remember one of the many tragic events, the destruction of Dresden from the fire storm on 13 February 1945. 

The destruction of the beautiful city of Dresden was a terrible result of the endeavour to free Germany from Nazi dictatorship.

The relationship between Dresden and Coventry, since 1959 part of a town twinning, is a prime example of reconciliation.

The rebuilt Frauenkirche represents a lasting symbol, born from the ashes, of the British-German friendship.

Laureate Emmanuel Jal

Laureate 2014
Emmanuel Jal, former child soldier and present-time musician for peace

An excerpt from the laudatory speech (Fatou Bensouda):

Emmanuel Jal is an inspiration, to our court. One only needs to take a glance at his life story to be moved by the strength of the human spirit and the will to survive, struggle and emerge triumphant in the face of unmanageable anguish; by the ability to shine through adversity to be a force of good in the world.”

As a former child soldier, Emmanuel chose hope over despair; empathy over indifference, and helping others over succumbing to the evils and traumas of war. In tragedy, he saw opportunity. In music he found solace and a universal language through which to spread a message of peace, tolerance, justice and human rights; the message that there’s no place for children in war and hostilities.”

Laureate Stanislav Petrov

Laureate 2013
Stanislav Petrov, the man who saved the world

An excerpt from the laudatory speech (Claus Kleber):

Thank God, on this memorable day in September 1983 a human with a candid heart and mind, with courage and a healthy shot of Russian folk wisdom, sat on the chair of the officer in charge in the control centre somewhere outside of Moscow. Proverbs saying, for example, what a wise man should do when all roosters start to crow. Namely, he should think again.

Petrov acted considerately and responsibly. Stanislav Petrov trusted his own judgement as a human being. He decided to order false alarm and thus prevented the nuclear killing machine from starting in the first place.

If Stanislav Petrov had passed his impression on to the boardroom, this impression would have had arrived to an aged suspicious old man. The secretary general who had been shaped by Russias experiences with surprise attacks, lastly the German surprise attack on Russia in June 1941. Then, Juri Andropov would have had to decide. The world was in safer hands with Stanislav Petrov.

Laureate James Nachtwey

Laureate 2012
James Nachtwey, war photographer

An excerpt from the laudatory speech (Wim Wenders):

Nachtwey succeeds in seeing for both sides of humanity, for the victim as well as the spectator, because not only does he work AGAINST war, against arbitrariness, injustice and inequality, but above all FOR the people he meets in war and suffering, and FOR us.

I know it somehow is an old-fashioned word, and most certainly difficult to translate. This man is a “Menschenfreund”, a friend of humans, and therefore he is a “Kriegs-Feind”, a foe of war.

James Nachtwey wants to enforce a closer look upon us, thus offering victims to become their eyewitness who testifies in favour of them, in order to call on war and its propaganda.

James Nachtwey has never stopped believing in the purpose of his work and he has never stopped trusting that, ultimately, his photographs will reveal their most power when the attitude behind them is an unbroken trust in humanity and its ability to compassionate with one another.

In him, you discover a man of peace, one who goes to war out of his longing for peace, and who exposes himself to bring about peace, out of his infinite hatred for war and out of boundless love towards humankind.

There is nobody more deserving in this city, in Dresden, to receive this prize than James Nachtwey.

Laureate Daniel Barenboim

Laureate 2011
Daniel Barenboim, conductor and pianist

An excerpt from the laudatory speech (Richard von Weizsäcker):

His most impressive and biggest step was the founding of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. It was the decisive invitation for young Israelis and Palestinians to experience music together and to learn to play with each other, and to get involved more deeply with each other, exchanging experiences, trying to recognize the other person’s fate, not sparing themselves while gradually experiencing vicariously how painful it is what both sides have done to one another and cost each other.

“We simply cannot wait”, says Daniel Barenboim. It is just not an option. The way of both peoples is intertwined. Progress towards peace is entirely up to them, taking steps forward through the young people!

The memories of the deep, profound mourning of the 13th February will always remain alive in Dresden, and for each of us. All the more, it will challenge young people’s power, to lead by example and to go forward towards peace, by following the path set by Daniel Barenboim.

Laureate Michail Gorbachev with Hans-Dietrich Genscher

Laureate 2010
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Michail Gorbachev

An excerpt from the laudatory speech (Gerhart Baum):

The world, Mr Gorbachev, has a lot to thank you for. And for that you have received many accolades and awards. The Nobel Peace Prize is just one of many examples. We Germans also thank you for your bravery to overcome the East-West divide of the world. For many people you represented a beacon of hope in the final phase of the GDR – also, here in Dresden when my friends in the peace movement made an appeal to you. They encouraged the people to overcome their fears and to fight for freedom in a peaceful revolution. It was the only revolution for freedom in our entire history, which has been a success.

You, Mr Gorbachev, in all these years, have stayed true to your convictions. We are gathered here today to honour you for that.

We, the citizens of Dresden, owe an immense debt of gratitude to you.