This year the Dresden Peace Prize goes posthumously to Alexei Navalny. This was announced by the initiative of the same name, the Dresden State Theater and the Ecumenical Information Center. His widow, Julija Navalnaja, will receive the award on May 12th at the Schauspielhaus Dresden. The prize is endowed with 10,000 euros.
Statement for human rights
Gerhart Baum (FDP), former Federal Minister of the Interior and member of the Peace Prize Dresden initiative, said on Monday that this year’s award ceremony should further encourage human rights defenders. “This is very important – sending a signal of peace from Dresden again,” said Baum. That was the original idea for the prize. The official justification for the award states that the opposition politician’s “resistance was and is an encouraging example for all human rights defenders who continue his activities.” According to the organizers, the laudator has not yet been chosen.
Death in a Siberian prison camp
Prize for Peace and International Understanding
The Dresden Peace Prize has been awarded since 2010 to personalities who have made a special contribution to peace and international understanding. This year the award has a new name. The reason for the name change is that the Friends of Dresden association, as the original initiator, was unable to organize the prize this year, as Clivia Bahrke from the Peace Prize Dresden Initiative explained. This year, in addition to the Klaus Tschira Foundation, the Ecumenical Information Center also became the sponsor.
Previous winners include former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, war photographer James Nachtwey and whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg.