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09/18/2020 | Campus-Meldung

Call for proposals for "Kassel Democracy Impulse

In 2020, the city of Kassel will announce an award entitled "Kasseler Demokratie-Impuls" for the second time. The award is intended to honor outstanding academic work as well as in-depth, analytical journalistic work that addresses racism, exclusion, xenophobia and violence in society and deals in particular with right-wing extremism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. The competition is linked to the commemoration of the victims of the National Socialist Underground (NSU) and is to be awarded annually.

"The victims of right-wing extremist violence, among them Kassel citizen Halit Yozgat and District President Dr. Walter Lübcke, remind us to act consistently against any form of misanthropy and to be vigilant," emphasized Mayor Christian Geselle. On his initiative, the city council had decided to establish this award also as a further expression of remembrance for Halit Yozgat.

The award is decided by an independent jury of five members, including: Hans Eichel, former Federal Minister of Finance, Prime Minister of Hesse and Lord Mayor of Kassel; Prof. Barbara John, Federal Government Ombudswoman for the victims of the right-wing extremist NSU terror group; her colleague Taha Kahya; and political scientists Privatdozent Dr. Steffen Kailitz, political scientist and extremism researcher at the Hannah Arendt Institute for Research on Totalitarianism; and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schroeder, Head of the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Kassel.

This year, the prize goes to the team of authors from the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Annette Ramelsberger, Rainer Stadler, Wiebke Ramm and Tanjev Schultz, for the series of articles "The Trial." The journalists had followed and documented the trial of the century, which also involved the murder of Kassel citizen Halit Yozgat in 2006 by the National Socialist Underground (NSU), for five years. One of the prizes for young academics was awarded to Kassel graduate Ann-Kathrin Mogge for her master's thesis "Nach der Wende die Wende? Discussions about the Nation in Two New-Right Periodicals after Reunification."

The award, endowed with 3,000 euros, is intended to recognize work that deals with topics such as xenophobia, racism and right-wing extremism, to highlight, analyze and classify developments and facts, to open up avenues of prevention and to provide impetus. For the award "Kasseler Demokratie-Impuls" published and unpublished scientific and journalistic works, studies and analyses that were completed or published after January 1, 2019 are sought. More information on the call for applications can be found at www.kassel.de/kasselerimpulse. Applications may be submitted by January 15, 2021 to:

City of Kassel
Office of the Lord Mayor
City Hall
34112 Kassel
Email: kasselerimpulse[at]kassel[dot]de