Overview
- The Jewish Museum Berlin honored former U.S. ambassador Amy Gutmann and Israeli physicist Daniel Zajfman with the 2025 Prize for Understanding and Tolerance at a ceremony in Berlin.
- Chancellor Friedrich Merz pledged to safeguard Jewish life in Germany, combat antisemitism in all its forms, and stand by Israel as its right to exist faces public challenges.
- In her acceptance speech, Gutmann urged people to reject silence in the face of rising hatred, saying democracies depend on citizens raising their voices together against cruelty.
- Zajfman called for Israeli–Palestinian dialogue after the Gaza war, stressing that durable peace takes root in hearts and minds rather than through declarations alone.
- The museum has awarded the prize annually since 2002 to leaders in culture, politics, and science; Gutmann’s family history includes her father’s 1934 flight from Nazi Germany, and Zajfman is a Holocaust descendant who led the Weizmann Institute and collaborates closely with the Max Planck Society.