Hamburg Culture Prize Renamed After Namesake’s Nazi Ties Emerge
Hamburg has renamed its long-running Senator Biermann Ratjen Medal after evidence emerged that its namesake, Hans Harder Biermann-Ratjen, confirmed Nazi Party membership in a 1943 application to a Third Reich literary authority. Following reporting in Die Welt am Sonntag and research by historian Helmut Stubbe da Luz, the award will now be called the Medal for Art and Culture in Hamburg. The prize was conceived in 1973, first granted in 1977, inaugurated by the Hamburg Senate in 1978, and has been awarded more than 100 times, including to Anke Feuchtenberger (2023) and Renate Kammer (2013). The first newly named medal will be awarded this summer to Peter Hess, founder of Gedanktafeln Hamburg and the person who brought Gunter Demnig’s Stolpersteine memorial project to the city in 2002.
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