The Hanns Martin Schleyer Foundation (German: Hanns Martin Schleyer-Stiftung) is a German foundation that promotes research in economics, law and cultural sciences.
Schleyer was kidnapped and murdered by the Red Army Faction (RAF) in 1977 after being targeted by radical elements of the German student movement due to his role in those business organizations and his past activities as a former officer of the Nazi SS.
[4][5][6] According to its administrator, the Prize is given annually for "outstanding contributions to consolidating and strengthening the foundations of a community based on the principle of individual freedom.
"[7] The first of the annual prizes was awarded to economist and Nobel laureate Friedrich Hayek in 1984.
[8] In 2013, the Prize was presented to Helmut Maucher, former CEO of Nestlé and an outspoken critic of the German social welfare system.