Dachau - The Dachau Prize for Civil Courage 2021 will be awarded to Eva Gruberová and the young witnesses from the Kirchseeon grammar school in the trial against Nikolai Nerling.
As announced by the city of Dachau, the city council of Dachau confirmed the proposal of the Dr.
Martin Schmidl, Prof. Dr.
Sybille Steinbacher and Dr.
Achim Wendler existing jury.
In February 2019 Eva Gruberová intervened on the grounds of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site against the so-called “people's teacher” Nikolai Nerling (who said he was a “right-wing radical”), who had planned to shoot a propaganda video for his YouTube channel there. For her courageous advocacy, the memorial site officer obtained a complaint from Nerling for insulting - "with all the personal and psychological stress associated with it," said Mayor Florian Hartmann in a press release. In addition, Gruberová was the target of personal attacks in several videos of the "Volkslehrer".
As a result, there were two court hearings against Nikolai Nerling in November 2019 and November 2020, in which Eva Gruberová and a group of students from the Kirchseeon grammar school, whom the memorial officer had just shown through the concentration camp memorial on the day of the incident, were witnesses have been summoned. Eva Gruberová and the young people faced these highly stressful processes, confronted with one of the best-known German right-wing extremists and his team of lawyers. You had the courage to testify against Nikolai Nerling in a public trial.
With the award of the Dachau Prize for Civil Courage 2021, the city of Dachau and the jury would like to honor the courageous attitude of the award winners and at the same time send a sign of solidarity with them. The prize will be awarded on Friday, December 10th. It is endowed with 5000 euros and is awarded in connection with a medal during a ceremony.
The city awards the Dachau Prize for moral courage every two years.
Individuals or groups are honored who stand up for the rights of the persecuted and discriminated minorities with courage, imagination and commitment.
The Dachau Prize is intended to honor moral courage and humanity in everyday life.
Knowing the horror story associated with the name of the city of Dachau, this award is intended to set an example against looking the other way, silence and indifference.
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