The "Light of Remembrance" for Professor Jürgen Rüttgers
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Professor Jürgen Rüttgers, a member of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation Council, was honored with the "Light of Remembrance" award – the highest distinction of the Auschwitz Museum. The award was presented to him on April 29 in Düsseldorf by Auschwitz Museum Director Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński. A particularly significant aspect of the laureate's public service is his commitment to preserving the authenticity of the Auschwitz Memorial.
As Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, and also after retiring from politics, Jürgen Rüttgers was among those politicians who supported the commitment of both the German federal government and the German federal states to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, whose goal is to finance long-term preservation work and protect all authentic remains of the Auschwitz camp.
"The establishment of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, and thus the entire process of preserving authenticity, would have been impossible without the personal involvement of Professor Jürgen Rüttgers from the very beginning of this project." "He understood perfectly how important it is to engage with authenticity in the education of future generations, especially those who did not experience the atrocities of World War II and the Holocaust, nor could witness the enormous post-war effort of building a common Europe," said Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywinski, director of the Auschwitz Museum.
Jürgen Rüttgers's crucial role was primarily in reinforcing the belief that the authenticity of all remnants of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz must be secured by a stable, international support system.
Jürgen Rüttgers was born in Cologne in 1951. He studied law and history. From 1987, he was a member of the Bundestag, where he focused primarily on science, technology, and education policy.
From 1994 to 1998, he headed the Federal Ministry of Education, Science, Research, and Technology, and from 2005 to 2010, he served as Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia. After retiring from active political life, he remained active in public life as a lawyer, academic, and member and collaborator of institutions dealing with historical memory, international dialogue, and German-Polish and German-Israeli relations.
The "Light of Remembrance" is an award established and awarded by the director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum for outstanding contributions to education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust. It honors individuals dedicated to preserving and transmitting the memory of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz.
To date, this award has been presented to Professor Władysław Bartoszewski, Krystyna Oleksy, Avner Shalev, Serge Klarsfeld, Luis Ferreiro, Romani Rose, Piotr Setkiewicz, and Michael Berenbaum.
