FAQ

The Inge Deutschkron Award will be given for the first time in 2025. It honors the life’s work of Inge Deutschkron and promotes young people’s commitment to an active culture of remembrance and against anti-Semitism, racism and exclusion.

Inge Deutschkron was born in Finsterwalde in 1922 and grew up in Berlin. Her father was dismissed in 1933 due to his Jewish background. He managed to flee to Great Britain in 1939. From 1941 to 1943, Inge Deutschkron and her mother worked in Otto Weidt’s workshop for the blind, which saved them and other persecuted Jews from deportation. They were then kept in hiding by friends and were almost constantly on the run and living illegally until liberation on May 8, 1945.

From 1946, Inge Deutschkron lived in Great Britain, where she worked in the office of the Socialist International. She later became Germany correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Maariv and reported on the first Auschwitz trial in Frankfurt. In response to the way the Holocaust and Israel were dealt with in the 1960s, she emigrated to Tel Aviv in 1972.

In 1989, Inge Deutschkron returned to Berlin for the first time to attend the performance of a theater play based on her book ‘I Wore the Yellow Star’. From 1992, she traveled between Berlin and Tel Aviv for talks, lectures and other events. At the age of almost 80, in 2001, she moved back to Berlin and continued her work there until the end of her life on March 9, 2022.

Inge Deutschkron received numerous awards for her life’s work and became an honorary citizen of Berlin in 2018.

The culture of remembrance describes the way in which a society thinks, talks and reflects together about its country’s past. It is therefore about dealing with the country’s history and the lessons that can be learned from it for the future. A central component of the culture of remembrance in Germany is dealing with the period of National Socialism. During this period, over six million Jews and other persecuted groups such as queer people, people with disabilities, Roma and Sinti, political opponents and other victims were systematically persecuted and murdered by the Nazis. A culture of remembrance should keep awareness of these atrocities alive and ensure that such crimes never happen again. This is particularly important in view of the growing strength of right-wing extremist structures and current forms of anti-Semitism and racism.

To participate in the Inge Deutschkron Award 20254, the following requirements must be met:

Participants

• Age: Persons aged 14 to 25 years.
• Group size: Groups of three to 30 people.
• Place of residence: Participants must live in Berlin.

Project requirements

• Topic: The projects should deal with at least one of the following topics:
  • Rescue of persecuted people during the National Socialist era (silent heroes and heroines)
  • Dealing with the fight against right-wing extremism and National Socialism in Berlin after 1945
  • Dealing with National Socialist perpetrators after 1945 in East and West Berlin (What happened to those who were involved in the deportations or benefited from them?)
• Form: The projects can be realized in various forms, such as exhibitions, videos, comics, graffiti, collages, podcasts, city tours or photographs.
• Relevance: The project must have a clear connection to Inge Deutschkron’s commitment and honor the memory of her work. This should be presented in a maximum one-page text or video message with reference to at least one of the above-mentioned topics.

Application documents

• Application questionnaire: Fully completed application questionnaire including a project outline and a plan for implementation.
• Project description: A project description explaining the relevance of the project in relation to Inge Deutschkron’s commitment (max. 2-3 pages or 1-minute video message).
• Participation in educational programs: Proof of participation in a historical-political educational event of the accompanying program of the Inge Deutschkron Award. This can be done either before or after submitting the application.
• Costs: The realization costs of the project must not exceed 3,500 euros.

Submission

• Period: Applications must be submitted between September 15th, 2024 and January 15th, 2025.
• Form: The application documents, consisting of the completed application form, the project outline and the relevance of the project in relation to Inge Deutschkron, must be submitted via the application form. Attachments and other documents should be submitted as PDF files.

The project outline provides us with an overview of your project. It explains the project’s goal and how you intend to achieve it. Additionally, it includes a timeline and budget plan that provides information on which project phases will take place when and how much they will cost. We mainly want to see that your ideas are well thought out, from the concept to implementation.

The program accompanying the Inge Deutschkron Award consists of around eight events each year. These are various event formats such as discussion events, city tours and workshops. These are explicitly marked as part of the accompanying program on the events page of our website and deal with the themes of the prize. The events are intended to serve as an aid and inspiration for planning and realizing your own projects as part of the Inge Deutschkron Award. The accompanying program will be held in Berlin and can also be attended after the application deadline in order to meet the requirements for a complete application. Participation in an event can be confirmed on site by an employee of the Schwarzkopf Foundation.

The projects will be assessed according to the following criteria:

• Realisation of the topic: how well does the project deal with the rescue of persecuted people under National Socialism, the fight against right-wing extremism and National Socialism in Berlin after 1945, and the treatment of Nazi perpetrators in East and West Berlin after 1945?
• Originality of the design: The uniqueness and creativity of the project.
• Research effort and historical accuracy: The scope and precision of the research carried out.
• Regional or lifeworld reference: How the project addresses the regional or personal lifeworlds of the participants.
• Dignified commemoration of Inge Deutschkron and other victims of National Socialism: The extent to which the project honors the continuation of Inge Deutschkron’s commitment and the memory of other victims of National Socialism in a respectful and appropriate manner.
• Realisation costs: The costs of the project must not exceed 3,500 euros.

The jury consists of an interdisciplinary group of representatives from the Inge Deutschkron Foundation, the Schwarzkopf Foundation Young Europe and the German Resistance Memorial Center. In their assessment, they attach particular importance to innovative and well-thought-out approaches that make a significant contribution to the culture of remembrance and honor Inge Deutschkron’s commitment.

If you have any questions, please use the FAQ or send an email to inge.deutschkron-preis@schwarzkopf-stiftung.de.