Rejection from board of trustees

adminonDecember 3, 2021January 27, 2022Leave a Comment

Following strong criticism of the planned awarding of the Quadriga Prize to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Board of Trustees has canceled this year’s award ceremony. Public prere had become "increasingly unbearable" and there was a danger of further escalation.

The trustees said in Berlin on Saturday that they had already apologized to the four nominated award winners in total for the cancellation and asked for their understanding, "not least to protect the award winners".

Most recently, former Czech President Vaclav Havel threatened to return the award given to him two years ago if it was given to Putin this year. Three members of the board of trustees had already resigned from the board in protest against Putin’s nomination. She was criticized above all for pointing out human rights deficits in Russia.

Kohl and Gorbachev among previous winners
According to the organizers, the Quadriga Prize has been awarded since 2003 to personalities and projects whose thinking and actions are based on values "that serve vision, courage and responsibility".

Among those honored so far are former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl (CDU), former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and GDR civil rights activist Barbel Bohley.

Silence has settled over Grefrath like a veil. In the already tranquil town on the Lower Rhine, there is hardly a person on the street on this Friday morning. In these minutes, police and prosecutors are informing the public about how ten-year-old Mirco was victimized almost five months ago by Olaf H. became.

People in Grefrath want to know how this tragedy came about. They stay at home – in front of the TV. Several broadcasters broadcast the statements of the head of the "Mirco" task force, Ingo Thiel.

Speechless Manfred Fernbach sits in front of the TV in his electrical store. Thiel is talking about the confessed perpetrator right now. The 45-year-old suspected murderer of Mirco is said to have been a devoted family man. "The man seems to be sick," is Fernbach’s first reaction. He himself is a multiple father and grandfather. It is completely incomprehensible that the man from the nearby Schwalmtal should have done such a deed. "It gets under your skin," says Fernbach in a weak voice.

Even if the horror about the crime of Olaf H. is not as great as it seems. In Grefrath, the thoughts of the people here also revolve around the family of the perpetrator. "How are the man’s children ever going to be happy again?" asks Fernbach. His daughter sits next to him. But she does not give him an answer. Their silence is an expression of grief and lack of composure.

"What goes on in such a head"
A small vegetable stall is set up just a few meters from the electrical store. The market woman talks to a couple about the new findings in the Mirco case. Asked about the confessed perpetrator, the saleswoman gets angry. "I just can’t imagine what goes on in someone’s head like that," she says. She does not even want to think about what Mirco’s family has gone through in the last few months.

A passerby directs the conversation to the family of Olaf H.: "You can’t really go on living around here anymore. That is simply not possible. Too much has happened for that." The fate of victim and perpetrator family touches people in Grefrath in equal measure.

School mourns Mir
Nevertheless, normal school business prevails at the Grefrather school center on this Friday, even if the case Mirco is naturally also a topic here. The then ten-year-old went to the community high school. A flag now flies at half-mast at the entrance to the school grounds. In the classes, the teachers talk to their students about the sad certainty that Mirco is dead.

Even though the perpetrator has been caught and is in custody, many parents are still picking up their children from school. That’s how they’ve been doing it for the past 145 days, ever since Mirco disappeared. "This feeling of uncertainty and fear will be remembered for a long time," says a mother as her nine-year-old daughter climbs into the car.

When Mirco disappeared at the beginning of September, many people from Grefrath came together in the Catholic parish church for a joint church service. Now that the boy’s death has become a certainty, there will probably be a memorial service next week. Then family, friends, relatives and all Grefrather can mourn together and say goodbye to the boy.

St. Peter’s Square empty of people © Vatican Media/Romano Siciliani (KNA)

Tourists are staying away at the Vatican because of Corona. Not only does this mean that immense revenues will be lost by the Vatican Museums. Also the weeds are sprouting around St. Peter’s Square. But churches remain open despite renewed restrictions in Italy.

Interviewer: How big then is the weed problem in St. Peter’s Square without tourists?

Alexander Pitz (Rome correspondent for Catholic News Agency): I walked through St. Peter’s Square this morning. So far, it’s not too much of a problem. But it is already noticeable. I have looked, between the paving stones actually already the green grows and presumably must there soon times a gardener or something to it.

Interviewer: Now in one week, on 11. December, the famous Christmas tree in the middle of St. Peter’s Square, along with the crib inaugurated. The tree this time comes from Slovenia, a spruce tree. A strange sight when the crowds do not come to visit?

Pitz: Yes, definitely. There will be some celebrations but with few people. It will be a different Christmas and a different Advent this time than we are usually used to.

Interviewer: How can visitors see it this year?? What measures will be taken?

Pitz: To be honest, I wouldn’t recommend anyone to travel to Rome at the moment, because especially around Christmas time, the whole country and also the city will be getting more and more isolated. Anyone flying to Rome from Germany must first go into quarantine for ten days. This will all continue until 6. January last. The decree is still relatively fresh and in 2021, I think, tourism will really take off again. However only in the second half of the year, so say the tourism associations.

Interviewer: The changed situation in the Corona year also affects St. Peter’s Basilica or the Vatican Museums. Missing the missing tourists?

Pitz: For the Vatican Museums this is quite serious, because the museums are the "cash-cow" of the Vatican. Since fixed revenues are generated, otherwise monthly in the amount of 12.5 million euros. They are now missing since the beginning of November again completely. How long the closure will last is an open question. And not everyone is happy about this state of affairs either. Barbara Jatta, the director, has signaled that she does not fully agree with the new closure. Because, we have been on the tours, there was really a sophisticated security concept from June onwards. And basically really not a great risk of contagion. Nevertheless, everything is now closed again. The 1.000 museum employees fear for their jobs. But there is a firm arance from Pope Francis that there will be no entanglements.

Interviewer: How can Catholics who, if the situation were different, would make a pilgrimage to Rome and visit the Vatican, live out their faith??

Pitz: The churches will remain open. The Italian Bishops’ Conference has attached importance to the fact that there will be no renewed bans on religious services. That caused some displeasure here in the spring. There will also be Christmas services. However under the appropriate security conditions. Thus, z.B. the Christmette this year probably brought forward, in order to be able to keep the nightly curfew. Additional measures are also planned. But, if you are in Rome and in Italy, you can visit churches, you can cultivate your faith. This is still possible.

The interview was conducted by Katharina Geiger.

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