Libeskind: “It needs an open society”
With his architecture, the 76-year-old Libeskind created an appropriate framework for remembering the victims of the Holocaust, war and terror, according to the Friends of Dresden association. In his acceptance speech, Libeskind said that architecture is about creating places of understanding. “If we want to achieve peace, then we need an open society in which war, fatalism and violence no longer have a place.” Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer emphatically campaigned for maintaining dialogue with Russia – for the time after the war, no matter how difficult it was in view of the almost year-long Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Libeskind was born in 1946 to a Jewish family in Lodz, Poland. In 1957 the parents emigrated to Israel, in 1960 the family went to the USA. His iconic buildings include the Jewish Museum in Berlin, the Imperial War Museum in Manchester and the Holocaust Memorial in Amsterdam. The Military History Museum of the German Armed Forces was built in Dresden according to his designs.
Climate advocate Roger Cox honored
The award winner of 2022 was also honored with the climate lawyer Roger Cox. The award ceremony was postponed last year due to corona. The Dutchman Cox uses legal means to fight the causes of climate change.
As a lawyer, Cox won a historic case in a Dutch court in The Hague in 2021, which obliges the oil company Shell to reduce its CO2 emissions by 45 percent by 2030 compared to 2019. Cox represented the Dutch environmental organization Milieudefensie in the proceedings. “Working for peace in times of climate crisis means acting responsibly and fighting for a humane and therefore peaceful life for future generations,” said Cox in justifying the award.
Premiere: Etna and Jan Vogler play together
In addition, “Friends of Dresden” awarded an honorary prize this year. It went to the FDP politician Gerhart Baum. The association justified the award to the 90-year-old with his tireless commitment to human rights and peace. At the age of twelve, Baum survived the bombing of his native city of Dresden.
The International Peace Prize is sponsored by the Klaus Tschira Foundation. Previous winners include war photographer James Nachtwey, conductor Daniel Barenboim and Nobel Prize winner Michael Gorbachev.
The program on Sunday morning was musically framed by the Dresdner Electro pop duo Etna and the cellist Jan Vogler. Both played together for the first time.
MDR (dkö, Andreas Berger)/epd,dpa