The prize, worth up to 2000 euros, Potsdam Integration Prize was awarded to five projects on Sunday. At the ceremony in the theater hall of the Treffpunkt Freizeit, representatives of the Babelsberg anti-right-wing association Opferperspektive were called onto the stage – for its anti-discrimination office. Since 2016, the initiative has successfully campaigned against racism and for the strengthening of diversity in Potsdam, it was said in justification.
The Integration Prize was awarded for the 20th time this year. The project “Multi-Cultural Kitchen” of the District store in Bornstedter Feld“Once a month, around 30 people from different countries such as Syria, Ukraine, Germany, Russia, Iraq and Sudan come together to cook together and experience cultural diversity,” the town hall praised in a statement.
The “Teen Spirit” project of the Babelsberg Inwole Association was honored. There, Ukrainian young people are offered a safe place to meet in the association’s project house on Rudolf-Breitscheid-Straße, “where they can share their experiences and express themselves artistically,” explained the city administration, speaking of a “valuable contribution to integration and community building.”
© Britta Pedersen/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
The “Talent Point” project by Potsdam resident Valentina Meuren was also awarded. According to the town hall, this offers “people of different origins, languages and professions a unique platform on which they can share and develop their hidden talents” and overcomes language barriers.
This year, ProPotsdam’s special neighborhood award went to the “PlattenFix self-help bicycle workshop” of the Potsdam-West district network. Refugees and migrants are provided with bicycles free of charge and assistance with repairs is provided, it was said.
All prize winners were selected by a jury chaired by Katrin Böhme, the former head of the Diakonie advisory service for migrants. There were 16 applicants in total. Speakers such as the former integration commissioner for the state of Brandenburg, Doris Lemmermeier, warned against a further shift in discourse to the far right.
