“We generally think of Germans as a calm, phlegmatic people, but that is far from the truth. They are warm-hearted, hot-blooded and follow the inspiration of the moment.” This insight comes from Mark Twain and one might think that it came to him in Munich in 1878 on his trip to Germany. Because Munich is not only a social city in the sense of political legislation, it is above all “a city of solidarity,” said third mayor Verena Dietl (SPD) on Sunday morning at the Munich Kammerspiele.
The charitable organization celebrated there South German newspaper celebrated its 75th anniversary and gave itself a birthday present: the “Advent Calendar for Good Works of the Süddeutsche Zeitung”, as the aid organization was called until this weekend, is giving itself a new name. In future it will be called “SZ Good Works”. “We want to be visible all year round and also open up new target groups,” said managing director Sandra Geisler, explaining this step, which was carefully considered over many rounds.
However, nothing will change in the work to make the suffering in an apparently wealthy city like Munich visible and to help alleviate it. In return, this promise remains, every euro donated will go directly to those in need without any deductions. Süddeutsche Verlag bears all administrative costs, including the costs of celebrating the anniversary.
Third mayor Verena Dietl in conversation with presenter and social media department head Britta Schönhütl. Dietl brought the city of Munich’s congratulations.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
The birthday wish that Dietl conveyed on behalf of the city on behalf of the ill mayor Dieter Reiter also sounded full of confidence: “May you continue to have enough money available for what has been achieved for 75 years, without losing sight of the people lose and make the need clear with your journalistic skills.”
More than 300 people accepted the invitation to the “best birthday you can imagine,” as Karl Ulrich, one of two managing directors of Süddeutscher Verlag and chairman of the aid organization, said. These include numerous representatives of charitable organizations and social institutions in Munich and the surrounding districts with which SZ Gute Works works. But there are also many who ensure that the aid organization can do its work, the donors.
“In total, more than 200 million euros have been spent on good works over the past 75 years,” said René Hofmann, head of the Munich, Region and Bavaria department, who led through the event with Britta Schönhütl, head of the social media department. The matinée is an opportunity to “really say thank you.” To all regular donors and corporate donors, to all habitual donors and occasional donors and to those who would have left their inheritance to the relief organization.
Rufus Beck, one of many prominent supporters of the SZ relief organization, entertained the audience brilliantly as usual.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Prominent supporters were also on the guest list, including the heart surgeon Bruno Reichart, the President of the Bavarian Teachers’ Association Simone Fleischmann, and Nadja zu Sayn-Wittgenstein from the international charity organization Oxfam. And Rufus Beck, who, according to moderator Hofmann, is an example of the stable network of supporters that the aid organization has built up over the years. Beck, known as the narrator at the SZ family concert, entertained the matinée guests as impressively as usual with his reading of “The Great French Duel” from Mark Twain’s work “Stroll through Europe”.
The integrative school choir “Music for Students”, a project of the International Foundation for the Promotion of Culture and Civilization, delivered a birthday serenade.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Musicians from the BRSO congratulated with a cheerful classical performance.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Judith Wittwer, editor-in-chief of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, meets clinic clowns in the foyer who previously appeared on the Kammerspiele stage
(Photo: Robert Haas)
In the audience (from right) SV managing director Christian Wegner, Stefanie Halbinger (town hall) and mayor Verena Dietl applauded.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
The audience was also brilliantly entertained by Daniela Jung, Marije Grevink, Christiane Hörr-Kalmer and Jan Mischlich from the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, which has been organizing benefit concerts for the aid organization since 2009. “A good tradition,” said Hofmann, which was once founded by conductor Mariss Jansons and the then local manager Christian Krügel and is now being continued by the current chief conductor Simon Rattle. The school choir “Music for Students”, a project of the International Foundation for the Promotion of Culture and Civilization, also provided musical support for the event. And also the clinic clowns with their humorous interpretation of “Nobody can separate good friends”, once sung by Franz Beckenbauer in 1966 after the German team became runner-up in the world championships.
The history of SZ Gute Works, however, goes back even further. Right at the beginning of the matinée, Britta Schönhütl and René Hofmann took the audience on a journey through time to post-war Munich in 1948. The hardship was still visible in many places in the city at the time, while cakes were already being eaten with pleasure at the Stachus. Nevertheless, tens of thousands of refugees were looking for protection and a new home, and unemployment was high.
Werner Friedmann, local director of the Süddeutsche Zeitung at the time and one of the licensees and owners of the newspaper, brought an idea from the New York Times with him to Munich from the USA. It was called “Neediest Cases” and it ran like this: The newspaper reported on New Yorkers in need, who the readers then helped immediately. “Friedmann tried this out with his local editorial team in Munich in the run-up to Christmas – and lo and behold, the readers’ willingness to help was overwhelming,” reported Hofmann. Shortly before Christmas, prominent Munich residents set out and delivered the donated gifts. This “Christmas Child Trip to the Forgotten” was reported in the Christmas edition.
Friedmann wrote a comment at the time that said: “The need has never been as terrible as it is today. Never has the ignorance of those favored by fate about the misery of the disinherited been greater than in these days, because it is simply ignored for reasons of convenience doesn’t want to know what’s going on in the poor neighborhoods.” Friedmann’s goal was to make the needs visible and to put together a mosaic of good deeds from many small stones.
René Hofmann, Aicha A. and Dörthe Friess, Lichtblick Hasenbergl, spoke about the burden on families who live in poverty.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Dörthe Friess from Lichtblick Hasenbergl and Aicha A. also emphasized that this was a success, saying: “The Lichtblick was my second home.” The young woman talked about how burdened she was by her family’s poverty as a child, and how she suffered because her parents were constantly in crisis mode to keep the family afloat. She talked about the cramped conditions of the eight family members in the three-room apartment and the worry that classmates would discover their poverty. Thanks to donations from SZ readers for the rays of hope, Aicha A., now a trained insurance specialist and bank clerk, is part of this growing mosaic that Werner Friedmann would have wished for. Mark Twain would rightly say today about the people of Munich that they were warm-hearted and followed the inspiration of the moment. Mark Twain alone did not visit Munich on his trip. He missed big things.