Europe|German Group That Cited Putin as 'Role Model' Cancels Prize After Outcry
German Group That Cited Putin as 'Role Model' Cancels Prize After Outcry
By NICHOLAS KULISH JULY 16, 2011
BERLIN — A German nonprofit group canceled its annual prize ceremony on Saturday after its decision to honor Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia sparked a public outcry.
In a statement, the group, Quadriga, said that the ceremony scheduled for October had been called off and the award canceled "in light of the growing and unbearable pressure and the danger of further escalation." After a week of harsh criticism, the news that Vaclav Havel intended to return the prize he received in 2009 to protest the award for Mr. Putin appeared to have been the final straw for the panel.
In the statement, the board said it regretted "most deeply" the news that Mr. Havel, the first president of the Czech Republic after the fall of communism, might give back his award. The Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson had already returned his 2010 award, a spokesman confirmed.
After the choice of Mr. Putin became known last Saturday, a public outcry ensued among the ranks of those who believe that he helped roll back democracy and human rights in Russia and that, far from being a role model, he is unworthy of an honor previously bestowed upon Mikhail S. Gorbachev and the civil rights advocate Bärbel Bohley, who worked to end Communist rule in East Germany. Judging by the volume of the public discourse, those ranks are quite large.
One of the national leaders of the Green Party, Cem Ozdemir, and a prominent history professor from Heidelberg University, Edgar Wolfrum, stepped down from the award's board of trustees. The rock star Marius Müller-Westernhagen, who has sold over 11 million albums in Germany, found it necessary to announce through his record label that he was not a member of the board, though he was a recipient of the prize in 2009, along with Mr. Gorbachev.
Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, visiting Magnitogorsk, Russia, on Friday. Credit RIA Novosti, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The prize honoring "role models for Germany" and commemorating the reunification of East and West Germany not only prompted objections across the political spectrum here, but a fair amount of confusion over the relatively little-known accolade as well.
The confusion stems from the fact that many here do not seem to know quite what the Quadriga prize is meant to represent. Its Web site states rather vaguely that it is for those "whose thoughts and acts are built on values," without quite specifying what those values are.
The prize has gone to statesmen like President Shimon Peres of Israel and Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg. But it has also been awarded to the magazine Der Spiegel, the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia and the 2006 film "The Lives of Others," which also won the Academy Award for best foreign language film.
Mr. Müller-Westernhagen, 62, received the prize for what Quadriga called the "sound of freedom," but may be best known for hit songs like "Sexy," "With Peppermint I Am Your Prince" and "Johnny W.," about a best friend who "never lets him down" and who, in the lyrics, sounds suspiciously like Johnnie Walker, the Scotch.
The controversy began when the leading German newspaper, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, reported the choice of Mr. Putin for the award, which is presented each year on Oct. 3, the holiday to commemorate reunification. According to the paper, Mr. Putin received the award for creating "stability through the interplay of prosperity, economy and identity," and is, "in the tradition of Peter the Great, a switchman in the direction of the future."
Among the first to speak out publicly against the award was Ruprecht Polenz, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee in Parliament and a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union. Mr. Ozdemir announced that he had argued strenuously against choosing Mr. Putin.
The award by Quadriga each year commemorates Germany's reunification. Credit Pool photo by Peer Grimm
The board said in its statement that it regretted that the media had focused exclusively on Mr. Putin when the award has four recipients annually. Lost in the shuffle this year were the Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad; Mexico's secretary of foreign affairs, Patricia Espinosa; and Betul Durmaz, a German teacher and author from a Turkish migrant background.
All week long, politicians from across the spectrum have condemned Mr. Putin, while editorials in the nation's leading newspapers detailed his record as president and prime minister of Russia. The deaths of activists and the ongoing imprisonment of a rival, Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, on flimsy charges have provided plenty of fodder for the opponents of Mr. Putin, who as a K.G.B. agent was stationed in East Germany from 1985 to 1990.
Germany is particularly sensitive about its relationship with Russia. The two countries have significant trade and economic ties, and Germany is dependent on Russian natural gas for its energy needs — all the more as it phases out nuclear energy after the disaster in Japan. The war of words over the Quadriga prize comes at an awkward moment, with the Russian president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, arriving in Germany next week to meet with Mrs. Merkel in Hanover.
Alexander Rahr, a Russia expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations, said he had been consulted informally about the Quadriga and argued in favor of "a sign toward Russia," suggesting that the prize be given to Mr. Medvedev to "boost his more liberal stance, his liberal policy, and he would be rewarded as the main representative of Russia." Instead, the board went with Mr. Putin, whom Mr. Rahr called "a polarizing figure."
The news that Mr. Putin would receive the prize, named after the statue of a woman in a chariot pulled by four horses that sits atop the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, received relatively little attention in Russia. But Hans-Henning Schröder, a Russia expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, had said he worried that it would be interpreted among elites in Russia as a German endorsement of Mr. Putin in next year's presidential race.
"My first thought was, 'Do they realize what they're doing, backing one of the candidates?'" Mr. Schröder said. Asked what he thought of the award that had sparked so much discord, he replied, "Honestly, I had never even heard of it before."
Victor Homola contributed reporting.
A version of this article appears in print on July 17, 2011, on Page A9 of the New York edition with the headline: German Group That Cited Putin as 'Role Model' Cancels Prize After Outcry. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe