Press Information
Paris/Berlin, May 13, 2004
The decoration of "Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz " of the Federal Republic of Germany
was awarded to M.me Germaine Tillion /France
by the German Commissioner of the European Commission Michaele Schreyer and H.E. Fritjof von Nordenskjöld, Embassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in France
May 12, 2004, 5.30 p.m.
Hôtel de Beauharnais
78, rue de Lille
75007 Paris
On initiative of European Women's Action Berlin, an organization spreading Women's cultural heritage in Europe, represented by Mrs. Gudrun Koch,
the President of the Federal Republic of Germany awarded to
Mrs. Germaine Tillion
the Grosse Bundesverdienstkreuz
Germaine Tillion has been among the first organizers of the French Resistance against Nazi-Germany. In 1942 she was arrested by Gestapo and in 1943 deported to the Concentration Camp Ravensbrück
After Liberation she has written the most important research about women concentration camp Ravensbrück, a book which was of particular help for Germans to elaborate their history and which has been of inestimable value for the education of future generations.
During her imprisonment in Ravensbrück she was informed by Margarete Buber-Neumann about Soviet Gulags, she branded that system immediately after her liberation.
Independending on actual political trends, she has been envolved during the following decades without any regard on personal interest in the realization of her humanistic ideals fighting against torture, massacre and capital punishment.
For Mrs Tillion the French/German reconciliation as well as continuous intense reciprocal cultural communication between the countries constitute the fundamental base of a United Europe. Her knowledge of Islamic culture and countries, her active engagement for the countries of North Africa, her hard striving for a dialogue between Islamic and Christian cultures are evidence of her being an absolutely preeminent European in our dialogue between different cultures.
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