These Awards recognize and encourage those who have been devoted to such activities and bring international attention to their work.
They are also co-sponsored by the Leo Baeck Institute (New York) and GerSIG (the German Jewish Special Interest Group of JewishGen.org).
Many Germans have raised awareness of a once-vibrant Jewish history and culture in their communities through public programs, exhibitions, widespread exposure, restoration of synagogues and cemeteries, installation of Holocaust memorials, genealogical research, development of websites, publications, and other activities.
They have forged meaningful relationships with former residents and descendants of those who once lived in their towns.
They are teachers and engineers, publishers and judges, artists and bankers, lawyers and business executives, and they come from every corner of the country.