Prize for Understanding and Tolerance
Every year since 2002, the Jewish Museum Berlin (JMB) and the Society of Friends and Supporters of the Jewish Museum Berlin Foundation have jointly awarded the Prize for Understanding and Tolerance.
This prize honors individuals in politics, business and culture who have made an exceptional contribution to understanding and tolerance, the promotion of human dignity, the integration of minorities and the coexistence of different religions and cultures.
The JMB publishes the current year’s prizewinner in the press section of its website.
The award ceremony traditionally takes place within the framework of a gala dinner, to which the museum welcomes numerous friends and supporters from politics, business, culture and media. Proceeds from the evening’s donations support the educational work of the museum.
Prize for Understanding and Tolerance; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Svea Pietschmann / David Ausserhofer
Award Winners
The following people have received the Prize for Understanding and Tolerance to date:
|
Year awarded |
Award winner |
|---|---|
|
2025 |
Amy Gutmann, former US ambassador to Germany |
|
2024 |
Margot Friedländer, eyewitness to history |
|
2023 |
Corinne Michaela Flick, Founder and Chair of the CONVOCO! Foundation |
|
2022 |
Herta Müller, writer and Nobel Prize winner |
|
2021 |
Charlotte Knobloch, President of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria |
|
2020 |
Madeleine K. Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State |
|
2019 |
Heiko Maas, German Minister of Foreign Affairs |
|
2018 |
Susanne Klatten, entrepren€ |
|
2017 |
Joachim Gauck, former President of Germany |
|
2016 |
Renate Lasker-Harpprecht and Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, historical eyewitnesses |
|
2015 |
W. Michael Blumenthal, Founding Director of the Jewish Museum Berlin |
|
2014 |
Hubert Burda, publisher |
|
2013 |
Berthold Leibinger, associate of the TRUMPF Group |
|
2012 |
Klaus Mangold, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Rothschild GmbH (Frankfurt and Moscow) |
|
2011 |
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany |
|
2010 |
Jan Philipp Reemtsma, literature scholar |
|
2009 |
Franz Fehrenbach and Christof Bosch, both as representatives of the Bosch company |
|
2008 |
Roland Berger, corporate consultant |
|
2007 |
Helmut Kohl, former Chancellor of Germany |
|
2006 |
Daniel Barenboim, General Music Director of the Berlin State Oper |
|
2005 |
Heinz Berggruen, art collector and patron |
|
2004 |
Michael Otto, businessman |
|
2003 |
Otto Schily, former Interior Minister of Germany |
|
2002 |
Berthold Beitz, former Chairman of the Curatorium of the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach Foundation |
(Daniel Libeskind, award acceptance speech 2021)
Impressions of the 2025 Award Ceremony
Your Support
- Your Support: The many ways to support the JMB
- Making a Donation: Support important projects with your donation
- FRIENDS OF THE JMB: Promote the JMB in the long term and sustainably
- Partnerships with Businesses & Foundations: Design innovative programs together with the JMB
- Donating Part of One’s Estate: Design innovative programs together with the JMB
- Donating Objects: Help the museum tell another facet of German-Jewish history
- Current page: Prize for Understanding and Tolerance: Every year, the JMB and the FRIENDS honor exceptional individuals for their engagement
Contact
Johanna Brandt
Managing Director FRIENDS OF THE JMB
T +49 (0)30 259 93 553
j.brandt@jmberlin.de