Möser Medal of the City of Osnabrück

"Education - the stuff dreams are made of".

Gisela Bohnenkamp awarded the Möser Medal for her commitment to children and young people

Osnabrück, January 3, 2014

Gisela Bohnenkamp has now been honored with the Möser Medal, the highest award of the city of Osnabrück. As the founder of the Friedel & Gisela Bohnenkamp Foundation, she said she helps children and young people learn how they can take control of their own lives. "Namely, when they educate themselves," said Lord Mayor Wolfgang Griesert in his laudation in the Peace Hall of City Hall.

The medal has been awarded since 1944 to personalities who have rendered outstanding services to Osnabrück or the region. Like the jurist and man of letters Justus Möser (1720-1794) in his time, Gisela Bohnenkamp today contributes to opening up new perspectives and promoting independent thinking. In doing so, she thinks and acts just as pragmatically: "Like Möser, you also keep an eye on people in their concrete living environment: how they live and work, with their interests, goals and opportunities for self-realization and education." Since its founding in 2008, he said, the Bohnenkamp Foundation has been nudging young people to trust their own strengths and abilities. "Education, that's the stuff dreams are made of," Griesert opined - even if it involves effort. The Lord Mayor particularly highlighted the summer language camps for children from immigrant families, as well as qualification courses for expectant parents, addiction prevention projects and the construction of the Bohnenkamp House in the Botanical Garden.

As an entrepreneur, she not only has an obligation to her staff, but also to the general public, said Gisela Bohnenkamp in her acceptance speech. The foundation is an expression of her loyalty to the company's location, she said. She established the Bohnenkamp Foundation with about 50 percent of the company capital of Bohnenkamp AG. Since then, the foundation has supported more than 40 projects with a direct connection to Osnabrück. "In addition, there is the Bohnenkamp House and the Hecker Villa," added the founder. In the former residence of the painter Franz Hecker, the foundation will move its headquarters in the future. "Not only did the foundation save this villa from decay, but you also saved it for Osnabrück," thanked Wolfgang Griesert. In conclusion, Gisela Bohnenkamp made it clear what she is aiming for in the long term with the foundation's work: "I would like to see authorities and companies show respect, reliability and tolerance in their dealings with each other. That's unfashionable. But I quite like being terribly unfashionable."

Background: Justus Möser Today's legal system in Germany is based on the ideas of the Osnabrück jurist Justus Möser (1720-1794); he transposed Germanic law into Roman law. Among his political ideals was a free peasantry and bourgeoisie, secure in its property and participating in political life through self-government. Möser, who headed the administration of the prince-bishopric of Osnabrück, was a statesman, man of letters and historian. He expressed his views on politics, history, theater and literature in numerous writings during the Age of Enlightenment. Goethe called him the "patriarch of Osnabrück" and Lessing and Herder also praised his work. The Möser Medal was first awarded in January 1944 on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Möser's death. It is presented to honorees during the annual Hand Poison Day, the first meeting of the city council. Among the first people honored with the Möser Medal 70 years ago in January was painter Franz Hecker (1870-1944). The Bohnenkamp Foundation is currently having his residence on Schölerberg renovated. In the near future, it will move into the listed villa with garden and maintain its foundation headquarters there.