Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, has been awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the People’s Republic of Poland. The award was presented by the Polish Ambassador at a ceremony in the Polish Embassy in Berlin.
Auschwitz survivors had proposed the award to the Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski. With this distinction the Polish Republic recognised the many decades of work that Christoph Heubner has dedicated to German-Polish understanding, history education and the work with young people from Germany and Poland. The poet and writer Christoph Heubner, together with the prematurely deceased lyricist Volker von Törne, Franz von Hammerstein and Hans-Richard Nevermann of Action Reconciliation Service for Peace, he was one of the initiators of the International Youth Meeting Center in Oswiecim/Auschwitz. In the IYMC and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Christoph Heubner conveys knowledge surrounding the background, the effects and consequences of the Holocaust, especially to young Volkswagen trainees from factories in Germany and Poland. His guided tours and his accompanying historical narratives, combined with his teaching talents, leave the young German and Polish people with deep and lasting impressions.
In his speech on behalf of the Auschwitz survivors, MarianTurski praised Christoph Heubner’s achievements. The Polish-German survivor, who is a member of the International Auschwitz Committee’s Presidium, stressed the significance of Christoph Heubner’s achievements for the survivors’ organisations and his tireless dedication to the emotional and political interests of the women and men who experienced the Nazi terror and the murders in the extermination camps. In his speech Mr Turski, who is a journalist and chairman of the Council of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, quoted some of the poems by Christoph Heubner. He said: “I am often asked what will happen when the survivors fall silent. But here and now, I can only emphasise: when Christoph Heubner speaks, then I can remain silent.” Roman Kent, President of the International Auschwitz Committee, sent a message of greeting from New York saying: “His commitment and his empathy for us, the survivors, and for his fellow human beings are what distinguish Christoph Heubner. His educational involvement is exemplary.”
On behalf of Volkswagen AG, Ines Doberanzke conveyed greetings from Gunnar Kilian, Secretary-General of the Volkswagen Group Works Council. Leszek Szuster, Director of the International Youth Meeting Center in Oswiecim, praised Christoph Heubner’s outstanding work, especially his personal efforts for the development and the future of the International Youth Meeting Center in Oswiecim/Auschwitz.
