Germany

On 19 November, German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier honoured this year’s first prizewinners of the German History Competition in his official residende Bellevue Palace in Berlin. The topic of the competition was “Enough Is Enough - Crisis, Change, a New Beginning” which encouraged over 5,600 young people to participate.

More than 5,600 children and young people from all parts of Germany took part in this 26th German history competition and submitted 1,992 entries. The participants focused on crises and upheavals in most diverse epochs of history, and covered a wide range of topics: Their entries ranged from feminist emancipation to revolutionary upheavals and commitment to environmental protection.

Experiences of Huguenots and Waldensians fleeing in the 17th century, student protests in the GDR or the integration of Vietnamese "boatpeople" in Germany were research topics with which pupils from Berlin, Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt qualified for the five first prizes. German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Thomas Paulsen, member of the Executive Board of Körber-Stiftung, honoured the award winners at a ceremony attended by 160 guests from the competition’s network.

One of the entries that was awarded a first prize on the national level had convinced the jury with an interdisciplinary approach that combines both historical sciences and arts: 18-year-old Lena Huynh worked on her father’s escape from Vietnam to Germany. He escaped the Vietnam war by boat when he was the same age as Lena is now. His daughter presented her research results and, in addition, turned her father’s experiences into expressive drawings that form an integral part of her competition entry. In the course of the award ceremony, first impressions of her entry have been presented in a short video (in German).

View a short video of the German award ceremony on youtube  (in German)

Overview of Five First Prizewinners 2018/2019

• Group work of eight students, 5th and 6th grade, CJD Christophorusschule Droyßig, Saxony-Anhalt: "Do the bears belong to Droyßig? The tradition of keeping bears in Droyßig. Crisis or awakening?"
• Floria Herget, 10th grade, Romain-Rolland Grammar School, Dresden, Saxony: "Réfugiés Bienvenue? Integration and Assimilation of Huguenots and Waldensians in Hesse-Cassel in the 17th and 18th Centuries".
• Anton Höffer, 12th grade, European Grammar School Bertha-von-Suttner, Berlin: "They loved the crisis. Left agitation in a new West Berlin quarter in the timeframe of the 68 movement".
• Lena Huynh, 13th grade, Friedensschule Münster Comprehensive School, North Rhine-Westphalia: Life in crisis. Vietnamese Boat People as a Result of the Vietnam War"
• Julius Klingemann, 9th grade, Einstein-Gymnasium Potsdam, Brandenburg: "Denied crisis. The group flight of the Einstein pupils from Potsdam in 1950"