How do you celebrate the birthday of an unscrupulous entrepreneur, under whose responsibility hundreds of forced laborers died and who personally planned a new concentration camp subcamp for his company? Quite simple: Every year on June 22nd, a journalism prize is awarded in recognition of a person's "life's work" and €50.000 is donated to journalists from the largest possible media companies, who are then proud to receive the "renowned“ Award in the name of the Nazi industrialist report: Welcome to the Herbert Quandt Media Prize.
The fact that this absurd spectacle has still not come to an end more than a decade after the release of the documentary film “The Silence of the Quandts” and numerous critical reports says a lot about the heirs of the later “BMW savior”:
When you look at his life's work, I still think you get an overall picture that justifies awarding a Herbert Quandt Media Prize.
Stefan Quandt in 2011
On the award’s website, along with a short paragraph about its history, it reads like this:
According to his wish, the entrepreneur should be perceived as a human being whose actions and behavior are oriented towards responsibility for the community beyond economic benefit.
Website of the Johanna Quandt Foundation
Above all, the continued awarding of a journalism prize in the name of and on the birthday of one of the major Nazi war criminals (according to US prosecutor Ferencz) is a disgrace for journalism in Germany. With a total of €50.000 in prize money, there are grateful applicants every year who could just as easily accept a Goebbels Journalism Prize.
What about the shared responsibility of publishers and broadcasters? several years of exclusive research In 2021, ereporter again obtained statements from those media companies whose authors are on the shortlist for the awards ceremony on June 22nd:
In principle, prizes and awards recognize the high-quality work of individual colleagues. The evaluation itself, as with all author awards, is therefore at the discretion of the individual. With its reporting, ARD, in particular, contributed significantly to a public debate on the Quandts' story years ago. It is relevant for BR that the family dealt with the topic of National Socialism openly and transparently after the allegations emerged. The story has been extensively researched historically over the years. Furthermore, the awarding of the prize demonstrates that the jury has recognized excellent and critical work over the years. Many renowned journalists from various major media companies have received the prize to date.
Bayerischer Rundfunk
We are responding to your inquiry on behalf of our two partners, Saarländischer Rundfunk and Correctiv, who are jointly nominated for the Herbert Quandt Media Prize with the project "Who Owns Saarland?" We are aware that Herbert Quandt's personality is controversial. We are familiar with the circumstances you mentioned and Herbert Quandt's biography. Naturally, we considered whether an application is justifiable under these circumstances. The following reasons prompted us:
The Herbert Quandt Media Prize is one of the most prestigious business awards. It is awarded "in memory of the personality and life's work" of Herbert Quandt. The prize helps keep his memory alive. This includes not only the successes of Herbert Quandt, but also the dark sides and failings. Dark sides and failings that are no longer hidden. On the contrary: They have been thoroughly researched and presented. ARD also contributed to this with its reporting. The Quandt family subsequently examined its history, which was painstakingly reworked. This has not yet happened with many other companies.
The name, of course, remains controversial, and it's also good to maintain a constant dialogue about it. To actively shape and further promote this dialogue, we are considering donating the prize money—should we win—or using it for research that addresses, for example, anti-democratic efforts. We will share the exact details in due course.
CORRECTIV
The history of the Quandt family and Herbert Quandt's role during the Nazi era have been extensively researched in recent years. Our programs also regularly report in detail and critically on the entanglements between companies and the Nazi regime – for example, Here and Here.
The Quandt family also supports the reappraisal of their own history. Their companies belong to the founding generation of Foundation for Forced Laborers.
His commitment to a democratic community and to a free press, supported by the Johanna Quandt Foundation, among others, is unmistakable. Stefan Quandt acknowledged his responsibility for the family's history in speeches at the award ceremony, but a more comprehensive presentation of the current state of research and the background information on the award's website would certainly be appropriate.
The media award has been honoring ambitious and insightful contributions on economic policy topics for many years. Deutschlandradio does not impose any guidelines on how the authors, some of whom applied independently, should handle a potential award.
Germany Radio
We at FUNKE are, of course, aware of the problems associated with the award in general, and with Herbert Quandt in particular. This also applies, of course, to the colleagues who submitted applications.
However, we see that those responsible for the foundation are open about their own problematic history – and that it is precisely this historical awareness that motivates them to promote quality journalism and a free press.
FUNKE Media Group
Thank you for your inquiry. We discussed it with our editor Dr. Ingo Nathusius, a contemporary historian who won the award for our "hessenschau" program in 2005 and who has studied the Quandt family since then and continues to do so.
Herbert Quandt was undoubtedly a beneficiary of the Nazi regime and a participant in it. He never seriously engaged with the Nazi era during his lifetime, and his current biography on his website is also extremely meager.
The foundation, the prize, and the family reflect German history, the way we deal with the Nazi era, and how we deal with ancestors who were perpetrators.
Herbert Quandt's third wife and her children, who support the foundation, have over the years and decades championed first the democratic state, then the free press, and finally come to terms with the family's past. Their companies belong to the founding generation of the Foundation for Forced Laborers.
Looking at the Johanna Quandt Foundation's award winners and scholarship data, as well as their works, one doesn't get the impression that a political/economic agenda is at play here. Our hr reporter Carla Reitter, for example, received a scholarship from the foundation as a student. After becoming aware of the background, she critically examined the Quandts' past and present in a report.
The family history was first made known through a book by Rüdiger Jungbluth. It first became popular through a 2007 ARD film, "The Silence of the Quandts." Subsequently, Stefan Quandt acknowledged his responsibility for the family history in his speeches at the media awards ceremony, but also repeatedly emphasized his personal connection to the family. The Quandts commissioned and financed Joachim Scholtyseck, a highly respected expert who was granted extensive access to archival materials and wrote a monograph on the family history.
It is clearly difficult for children of Nazi perpetrators to engage in direct confrontation with their fathers, if it is not to lead to a harsh break with their parents. Children presumably knew them as loving and responsible parents. In this respect, the Quandts' approach to their legacy seems, on the one hand, typical in terms of Herbert Quandt's name and deeds. On the other hand, however, their approach is also exceptional in their commitment to democracy. Our then director Reitze was an active and critical member of the board of trustees and thus of the jury of the Johanna Quandt Foundation for many years.
We therefore see no reason to impose any requirements on our employees regarding participation in the Herbert Quandt Media Prize.
Hessian Broadcasting
NDR did not submit the film itself, but members of the “Herbert Quandt Media Prize” jury became aware of the report due to the strong media response and made the suggestion themselves.
For the editorial team, it is crucial whether the descendants of Herbert and Günther Quandt have come to terms with the past. This intention is evident – as a result of the NDR documentary "The Silence of the Quandts." The Quandt family commissioned the Bonn historian Joachim Scholtyseck to conduct a comprehensive analysis based on primary sources. The heirs have opened the previously sealed archives and have also acknowledged their past.
The historian himself When asked whether Günther and Herbert Quandt are still suitable as namesakes for journalism awards, he replied: "I don't believe in erasing the memory of our ancestors in the sense of a damnatio memoriae. The 20th century was a century of extremes, for better or for worse. The rise of the Quandts demonstrates precisely that."
In a 2011 ZEIT interview with his grandchildren Stefan and Gabriele Quandt ("You feel horrible and ashamed," ZEIT, September 22, 2011), Stefan Quandt commented on the purpose of the journalism prize named after his father as follows: "(...) what we honor are contributions that promote entrepreneurship and an understanding of the market economy and aim to bring them to the attention of a broader public."
The Quandt Prize is now a prestigious award honoring critical and insightful journalism. The editors and the author are well aware of the problematic background of Herbert Quandt's name.
The respective authors decide for themselves whether to accept a prize.
Author Anne Gänsicke: "In all my journalistic work, I deal with people, with what moves them, drives them, and made them what they are today. I was deeply moved by how painful trauma is still often passed on unspoken to descendants, both by perpetrators and victims. These stories, too, deserve to be told. With this intention, I worked with a colleague on the documentary "When the Russians Came and Left" for the NDR series "Our History," and for years I have been media-accompanying a woman from Stralsund on her emotionally highly engaged search for Jewish descendants of Holocaust victims from her hometown. In this spirit, I can accept the honor of a respected, broad-based jury that selected me. For me, it does not conflict with a constant exploration of the depths of human nature."
Northern German Radio
The ZDF editorial staff whose documentaries are shortlisted are informed about the discussions surrounding the reappraisal of the Quandt company's history during the Nazi era. The media award is considered an accolade for outstanding journalistic work—and it is from this perspective that it is perceived.
ZDF
Capital, whose editor-in-chief Horst von Buttlar also sits on the award jury, the Hamburger Abendblatt, the Nordkurier, and netzpolitik.org issued no comments. Gabriele Fischer, editor-in-chief of the business magazine brand eins, whose article was also shortlisted for this year's Herbert Quandt Media Prize, pointed out that she herself withdrew from the award jury shortly after the publication of the documentary "The Silence of the Quandts" in 2008: "That's all we have to say on the subject from our side."
Did you like this article? Become a member!