The Leo Baeck Medal has been awarded since 1978 by the

Leo Baeck Institute The Leo Baeck Institute, established in 1955, is an international research institute with centres in New York City, London, Jerusalem and Berlin, that are devoted to the study of the history and culture of German-speaking Jewry. The institute was ...

of New York City, an international research institute devoted to the study of the history and culture of German-speaking Jewry. It is the highest recognition the Institute bestows upon those who have helped preserve the spirit of German-speaking Jewry in culture, academia, politics, and philanthropy. On the front of the medal is an image of Rabbi Leo Baeck, and the words, "Leader of German Jewry." On the back are the words "so that the memory of a great past may not perish."

Recipients

* 1978 –

Axel Springer Axel Cäsar Springer (2 May 1912 – 22 September 1985) was a German publisher and founder of what is now Axel Springer SE, the largest media publishing firm in Europe. By the early 1960s his print titles dominated the West German daily press m ...

, publisher, founder of

* 1980 – Fred Lessing, chairman and treasurer of Leo Baeck Institut New York * 1995 – Fred Grubel, vice president of Leo Baeck Institut New York * 1996 – Ernst Cramer, German-born American publisher, chairman of Axel Springer * 1997 – Helmut Sonnenfeldt, German-born American political advisor, member of US National Security Council * 1998 – George Mosse, German-born American history professor * 1999 – W. Michael Blumenthal, German-born American director of Jewish Museum Berlin * 2000 – Edgar Bronfman, Sr., businessman, president of the World Jewish Congress * 2001 – Johannes Rau, President of Germany * 2002 –

Ruth Westheimer Karola Ruth Westheimer (née Siegel; June 4, 1928 – July 12, 2024), better known as Dr. Ruth, was a German and American sex therapist and talk show host. Westheimer was born in Germany to a Jewish family. As the Nazis came to power, her paren ...

(Dr. Ruth),

German-American German Americans (, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. According to the United States Census Bureau's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the pop ...

sex therapist, talk show host, author, professor,

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, its collaborators before and during World War II ...

, and former

Haganah Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...

sniper A sniper is a military or paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with telescopic si ...

. * 2003 –

Daniel Libeskind Daniel Libeskind (born May 12, 1946) is a Polish–American architect, artist, professor and set designer. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect. He is known for the design a ...

, architect * 2004 – Fritz Stern, German-born American historian * 2005 – Otto Schily, German Minister of the Interior * 2006 –

James Wolfensohn Sir James David Wolfensohn (1 December 193325 November 2020) was an Australian-American lawyer, investment banker, and economist who served as the ninth president of the World Bank Group (1995–2005). During his tenure at the World Bank, he is ...

, lawyer, banker, economist, and President of the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

* 2007 – Mathias Döpfner, journalist, CEO of Axel Springer * 2008 –

Wolfgang Ischinger Wolfgang Friedrich Ischinger (born April 6, 1946) is a German diplomat who served as chairman of the Munich Security Conference from 2008 to 2022. From 2001 to 2006, Ischinger was the German ambassador to the United States, and from 1998 to 200 ...

, German ambassador to the UK and USA * 2009 – Joschka Fischer, Foreign Minister of Germany * 2010 –

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

, Chancellor of Germany * 2010 – Kurt Masur, conductor * 2011 –

Anselm Kiefer Anselm Kiefer (born 8 March 1945) is a German painter and sculptor. He studied with Peter Dreher and Horst Antes at the end of the 1960s. His works incorporate materials such as straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac. The poems of Paul Celan h ...

, painter and sculptor * 2012 –

Margarethe von Trotta Margarethe von Trotta (; born 21 February 1942)Hans Helmut Prinzler, ''Chronik des deutschen Films, 1895–1994'' (Stuttgart and Weimar: Verlag J. B. Metzler, 1995), p. 149. is a German film director, screenwriter, and actress. She has been ref ...

, film director * 2013 – Stuart Eizenstat, ambassador, U.S. Special Advisor for Holocaust Issues * 2014 –

Joachim Gauck Joachim Wilhelm Gauck (; born 24 January 1940) is a German politician who served as President of Germany from 2012 to 2017. A former Lutheran pastor, he came to prominence as an anti-communist civil rights activist in East Germany. During the P ...

, President of Germany * 2015 – Ismar Schorsch, German-born American President Emeritus of the Leo Baeck Institut * 2016 –

Robert Morgenthau Robert Morris Morgenthau ( ; July 31, 1919July 21, 2019) was an American lawyer. From 1975 until his retirement in 2009, he was the District Attorney for New York County (the borough of Manhattan), having previously served as United States Attorn ...

, lawyer, District Attorney for New York County * 2017 – Max M. Warburg Jr., German-born American banker * 2018 – Peter Wittig, German ambassador to the UK and USA, and wife Huberta von Voss-Wittig * 2019 –

Martha Minow Martha Louise Minow (born December 6, 1954) is an American legal scholar and the 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard University. She served as the 12th Dean of Harvard Law School between 2009 and 2017 and has taught at the Law Schoo ...

, Dean of

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

* 2021 –

Frank-Walter Steinmeier Frank-Walter Steinmeier (; born 5 January 1956) is a German politician who has served as President of Germany since 2017. He was previously Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany), federal minister for foreign affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again f ...

, President of Germany * 2022 –

Amy Gutmann Amy Gutmann (; born November 19, 1949) is an American academic and diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Germany from 2022 to 2024. She was previously the 8th president of the University of Pennsylvania from 2004 to 2022, th ...

, United States ambassador to Germany

Distinction

The similarly named Leo Baeck Prize of the Central Council of Jews in Germany is to be distinguished from this medal.

References

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External links

Leo Baeck Institute
Alms in Judaism Awards established in 1978 Ashkenazi Jewish culture in Germany Jewish German culture German-Jewish diaspora Jewish culture Jewish education in Germany Jewish German history Jews and Judaism in Germany Language-related awards Leo Baeck Institute Politics awards Religion-related awards