60th Theodor Heuss Prize- ReSartus is on site

Winning over for democracy! Europe's responsibility for human dignity and peace

Stuttgart, May 27, 2025 – Last weekend, the 60th award ceremony of the renowned Theodor Heuss Prize took place in a festive setting at the Haus der Wirtschaft in Stuttgart. The ReSartus interpreting agency was responsible for the professional interpretation of the entire program and contributed significantly to the international exchange and the smooth running of the event.

This year, the traditional award ceremony, which is organized by the Theodor Heuss Foundation, was dedicated to European dialogue and the promotion of democratic values. The President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, was honored with the Theodor Heuss Prize for her outstanding commitment to democracy and the rule of law. Her advisor for European affairs, Igor Zaharov, received the award on her behalf. Ms. Sandu, who was also celebrating her 53rd birthday that day, expressed her gratitude via video message – subtitled by ReSartus.

„Democracy is not something we inherited,
it is something we fought for.“

Maia Sandu

President of the Republic of Moldova

The eventful program began with a musical performance by Maximilian Schairer, followed by a retrospective film about the foundation’s 60-year history. After the welcoming address by Mr. Ludwig Theodor Heuss and a greeting from the Mayor of Stuttgart, Isabel Fezer, the former Luxembourg Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jean Asselborn, gave an inspiring speech on the past and future of the European Union and the geopolitical challenges it faces. Mr. Heuss once again delivered the laudatory speech for the award winner.

One of the highlights was the ceremonial presentation of the award to Mr. Zaharov, followed by a moving video message from Ms. Sandu. In a subsequent panel discussion, musically framed by board member and frontman of the “Prinzen”, Sebastian Krumbiegel, Anna-Lena von Hodenberg (Managing Director of HateAid, Theodor Heuss Medal 2023) discussed current challenges for democracy and civil society in Moldova, Ukraine and Europe with guests Irina Scherbakowa (founding member of the Russian human rights organization Memorial, Nobel Peace Prize 2022, Theodor Heuss Prize 2022) and Attila Mong (member of the supervisory board of the Hungarian NGO Atlatszo, Theodor Heuss Medal 2015).

The program was complemented by the awarding of the Theodor Heuss Medals and acceptance speeches by the medal recipients. This years recipients are also characterized by international understanding. One of the recipients was the Campo della Pace initiative, which organizes youth exchanges for young people from Italy and Germany. The peace camp takes place in Sant’Anna di Stazzema, where a massacre was carried out by the Waffen SS on August 12, 1944.

Furthermore, the Gemeinschaft für studentischen Austausch in Mittel- und Osteuropa e.V. (Community for Student Exchange in Central and Eastern Europe) from Freiburg im Breisgau was awarded a medal, which particularly promotes international exchange between Germany and its eastern neighbors Poland and the Czech Republic as well as Belarus and Ukraine.

The third award winner was Treibhaus e.V.. Founded in the “baseball bat years”, Treibhaus in Döbeln, Saxony, is committed to promoting art and culture, education and sports as well as open and international youth work.

At the end, Mr. Wolfgang Schuster honored the sponsors and Ms. Gesine Schwan closed the event.

We would like to thank the award winners for their commitment to democracy and international understanding and are delighted to have been able to attend this prestigious event.