Speech by the President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Dr Eva Umlauf, at the award ceremony for the Fritz Bauer Study Prize for Human Rights and Contemporary Legal History on 1 July 2025, at the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV):
Dear Secretary of State Madam Schmierer,
Dear Award-Winner Dr Kolkilic,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The perpetrators returned to their families, entered professions, only in exceptional cases did courts concern themselves with their whereabouts, and in West German post-war society of the 1950s, shouts arose that have accompanied us survivors of the German concentration and extermination camps more or less throughout all the years of our survival: Now it must finally come to an end!
Few people today remember the oppressive silence of those years, when we survivors received unspoken messages every day and every hour telling us to: keep quiet, don’t stand out, nothing has been decided yet. And let us not forget that these were the years when the former perpetrators, the willing followers, and the indifferent bystanders occupied many positions: in politics, in the judiciary, in newspaper editorial offices, and in the offices of the donated democracy.
In those years, ladies and gentlemen, there was a man from Frankfurt am Main who embodied the voice of justice and remembrance for us survivors. With bated breath, we followed his courageous fight to prosecute Nazi perpetrators and his collaboration with Auschwitz survivors, such as Hermann Langbein. We sensed how alone this man must have felt, because we knew how alone we were in this world. At that time, Fritz Bauer was a guarantee for us that justice has no expiry date. We knew we had to support his fight with all our strength and resources – and this included the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials, despite all our fears and pain.
And that is why, Madam Secretary of State, it is both an honour and a duty for me, and for all Auschwitz survivors, to be present wherever Fritz Bauer is commemorated, wherever he is honoured and remembered by the mention of his name. His commitment and his work were crucial to restoring the credibility of the Federal Republic of Germany and re-establishing a great deal of its dignity: we are all still benefitting from this today.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the first key point: the Fritz Bauer Study Prize is the living expression of a stable democracy and a judiciary that is committed to the memory of Fritz Bauer and the values he embodied as a lawyer and a survivor. But at this award ceremony, an Auschwitz survivor and the president of the International Auschwitz Committee also has to mention the other key point: our democracy and many other democracies in Europe are under pressure like never before. Right-wing extremists and Nazi ideologists are going completely unhindered in their efforts to undermine the legitimacy of this democracy. They are infiltrating the minds of increasingly young people with their hatred and cynicism, and they are strategically well connected. Just how well connected they are and just how successful they are in winning people over with familiar age-old slogans is being demonstrated by the electoral successes of a party that works against the constitution of our country in everything it plans, does, and propagates, and that repeatedly defames politics, the press, and the judiciary as unfree and manipulated.
Believe me, ladies and gentlemen, we are following these developments in Germany with fear. To us they resemble a bizarre déjà vu experience. Back in 2014, Auschwitz survivor Renate Lasker-Harpprecht made a powerful statement in an interview with Die Zeit: “I am utterly sicked by the fact that the right wing is on the rise everywhere in Europe. Has the world learned nothing from Auschwitz?” What would Renate Lasker-Harpprecht say today, eleven years later?
And, yes, ladies and gentlemen, it outrages us and cuts through to the bone, when students from Germany visit Auschwitz today and stand there on the ashes of our murdered Jewish families – giving the white supremacist or the Nazi salute. What has the world learned, what has Germany learned? How and when does democracy fight back?
Forgive me, distinguished guests, for confronting you with the deep concerns of an Auschwitz survivor on this festive occasion. Very few of us remain. But rest assured that the International Auschwitz Committee will carry on raising its voice – together with you. I congratulate the award winner: we need the truth of historical research; we need your commitment. We are counting on you! Thank you.
Link to the recording of the presentation ceremony on 1 July 2025
Link to the speech (in German) by State Secretary Eva Schmierer, representing the minister at the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV), during the presentation of the 2025 Fritz Bauer Study Prize for Human Rights and Contemporary Legal History on 1 July 2025.
