Germany’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Peter Wittig, and former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt (via video) will give speeches recognizing the distinguished historian as he receives the inaugural Volkmar and Margret Sander prize.
New York University’s Deutsches Haus will present its inaugural Volkmar and Margret Sander Prize to the distinguished German-born U.S. historian Fritz Stern at a ceremony at the German cultural center at 42 Washington Mews, just off University Place, New York, N.Y., on Friday, October 25, starting at 6:30 p.m. Germany’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Peter Wittig, and former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt (via video) will give speeches to honor Stern on this occasion.
The annual prize is endowed by the German scholar Margret Sander, and was established to honor outstanding academics based on their cultural and political contributions to the transatlantic relationship between the German-speaking world and the United States.
Stern, a professor emeritus at Columbia University, will receive a monetary award of $5,000 donated by Ms. Sander, the widow of Volkmar Sander, who founded Deutsches Haus in 1977. Stern will also receive an iconic Montblanc fountain pen upon which his signature has been engraved.
Stern was born in 1926 in Breslau, in what is now Poland. He managed to escape from Nazi Germany with his family in 1938 and settled in New York. He has specialized in modern European history, particularly German history, Jewish history, and historiography. He received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from Columbia University.
His publications include: The Politics of Cultural Despair (1963); The Varieties of History: From Voltaire to the Present (1956); Gold and Iron (1977); The Failure of Illiberalism (1973); Dreams and Delusions (1987); Einstein's German World (1999); and, most recently, Five Germanys I Have Known (2006).
“When Volkmar Sander started planning Deutsches Haus at NYU in the 1960s, he wanted to provide more information on the literary, social, political and intellectual conditions of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland,” said Margret Sander. “I hope the prize will contribute to the attraction and cross-cultural atmosphere of Deutsches Haus. Professor Stern is a very worthy winner.”
For further information, please contact Deutsches Haus at 212.998.8660.