We work with people uncovering history related to oppression and using the lessons of that history to create a more just world today.
“Every day, the haters and the aggressors of this world get the headlines. But that’s not the whole story. There are so many people full of love … who stand up every day against prejudice and hate.”
— Gabriele Hannah, Obermayer Award winner
Our Initiatives
Widen the Circle confronts long-standing injustice rooted in racism, antisemitism, and attacks on democratic values. We do this by empowering local activists in Germany and the United States who expose legacies of persecution, bring communities together, and promote healing.
Obermayer Awards
Honoring people and organizations that work creatively and selflessly to raise awareness of Jewish history and culture in their communities in Germany, and to fight modern antisemitism and bigotry.
Widen the Circle Network
Bringing together community activists in Germany engaged in powerful projects that use remembrance to fight modern prejudice.
Berlin Fellowship
A yearlong program that connects American activists and thought leaders dealing with important current issues involving remembrance and historic injustice with counterparts in our network in Germany.
Meet the 2024 Obermayer Award winners!
The Awards honor those who have worked to raise awareness of Jewish history and culture in their communities, and to fight the rise of hate, prejudice, and antisemitism.
A home for Holocaust survivors, a complex history
What happened to the survivors when they were liberated from Nazi concentration camps? Citizens for the Badehaus shines a light on a little-known history and has connected with a generation of children born to Holocaust survivors as they reclaimed their lives.
“I have to do something so that children’s first contact with Judaism is not the [Holocaust].”
Meet Shlomit Tripp, with her puppet Shlomo and his friends. Their fun-loving shows are adored by children and adults alike, all while demystifying Jewish culture and normalizing intercultural relationships.
“There are a lot of people who never thought about that history, and now they are here.”
In 1997, a group of punk rockers took over two abandoned barracks of a former concentration camp. That group became Exil e.V., an organization with two main goals: to protect youth, migrants, and others from neo-Nazi violence, and to ensure that the history of the Nazi crimes not be forgotten.
“The first thing I wanted to do…was to make people aware.”
As an Afro-German historian, author, and community leader, Katharina Oguntoye has turned her own experience of being othered into powerful lessons about identity, pride, and mutual respect. She broke down barriers of awareness and shined a light on Afro-German history, empowering Afro-Germans to share their own stories.
“Everyone who listens to a witness will become a witness.”
Zweitzeugen e.V. (Secondary Witnesses) turns young people into “witnesses” by teaching them the life stories of Holocaust survivors. Zweitzeugen has worked with 37 survivors to date, gathering their stories in great depth and sharing them through multifaceted workshops and various media. The workshops help students as young as 10 develop empathy and an emotional connection with the survivors, as well a stronger perspective on prejudice and hate in the world today.
“It is very important to deal with this darkest chapter honestly”
Stefan Schirmer has been the guiding force behind making football club FC Ente Bagdad into a beacon for diversity, acceptance, and equality, as well is in helping people recognize and understand Jewish history and culture.
Simple, powerful, unforgettable: These yellow bricks fight hate
Sixth-graders at the Löcknitz primary school in Berlin have been building a wall of yellow bricks since the 1990s. It delivers a lasting educational experience about the importance of standing up against hate and prejudice.
American civil rights leader Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, talks about how stumbling stones and a yellow brick wall in Germany inspired his work in the United States. This message was presented at the 20th annual Obermayer Awards Ceremony.