On 1 October, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany to 15 citizens in celebration of the Day of German Unity.

The ceremony’s motto – United we stand, looking out for one another – highlighted these seven women and eight men’s exceptional efforts and contributions: They are helping to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and to promote the reconciliation of East and West, as well as working to overcome prejudices in our society.

The following citizens were honoured:

Birgit Brandtscheit, Saxony-Anhalt

Looking out for one another – this is something Birgit Brandtscheit has been doing every day in her native region of Anhalt. With great personal commitment, she has helped build up the Zerbster Tafel food bank. To also support children from socially disadvantaged families, she established the children’s food bank in 2007. She not only makes sure that these children get a healthy diet, but also helps them keep up in school, organises extra-curricular activities for them and has a ready ear for any large or small worries they may have. How important it is to support the most vulnerable members of our society has become especially clear to many of us during the pandemic. Birgit Brandtscheit is known as the good soul of Zerbst. On the 10th anniversary of the founding of the children’s food bank, she remarked that we won’t have a reason to celebrate until we are no longer needed. Yet Birgit Brandtscheit already deserves recognition today for fostering cohesion in our country.

Albrecht Broemme, Berlin

When it comes to looking out for others, you can always count on Albrecht Broemme: Early this year, in response to the pandemic and in the space of only six weeks, he set up a treatment centre in Berlin that has room for 500 COVID-19 patients. Albrecht Broemme did this despite having earned his retirement, because he has been working in disaster response since the age of 17. He was the youngest person to head the Berlin Fire Brigade, Germany’s largest, and from 2006 to 2019 served as President of the Federal Agency for Technical Relief. He has always quite naturally pursued a team-based approach, integrating all staff members, regardless of their faith, origin or disability. Whether it be floods, forest fires, storms or a pandemic – Albrecht Broemme has unfailingly helped provide assistance, both at home and abroad. In Germany, in Europe and throughout the world, he remains a passionate and committed first responder to this day.

Prof. Christian Drosten, Berlin

The Director of the Institute of Virology at the Charité in Berlin is both nationally and internationally recognised as a leading scientist in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Once the first cases were reported in Wuhan, Christian Drosten managed to very quickly identify the pathogen as a SARS virus and to develop a test that was already available in January. He provided important and internationally acknowledged findings on the course of infections and has communicated these to the general public through innovative formats. His weekly Coronavirus Update podcast has been streamed or downloaded 60 million times – which demonstrates how great the need was, especially during the early days of the pandemic, for well-founded and clearly-worded information and explanations.

Dr Lisa Federle, Baden-Württemberg

Responding to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, this emergency physician rapidly set up a fever outpatient clinic. She had already drawn up her own pandemic protocol many years prior to this. Time and again, Lisa Federle takes proactive measures to help others. In 2015, she was the first person in Germany to launch a doctor’s clinic on wheels that enabled refugees to receive medical care directly at their accommodations. When the situation normalised, this mobile clinic was used to provide care to others in need, such as the residents of a homeless shelter. The doctor’s clinic on wheels is a shining example to this day. When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, it could on very short notice be equipped with a mobile testing facility and was used immediately at nursing homes, where the situation was particularly difficult. People like Lisa Federle are the glue that holds our society together – not only in times of crisis.

Prof. Kai Frobel, Bavaria

The transformation of the death strip that ran along the former inner-German border into a lifeline for rare and endangered plant and animal species is due in large part to Kai Frobel. In addition, what once divided us has become a symbol of German Unity. Kai Frobel is known as the father of this Green Belt. For more than 40 years, the geoecologist has been fighting both as a professional and a volunteer for nature conservation and bird protection. Immediately after the fall of the Wall, he organised a first meeting of nature conservationists from the East and the West. Many meetings would follow, and together they came up with the idea of a Green Belt that has meanwhile become Germany’s largest nature conservation project. Today, the dream of 1989 is a reality. What is more, the Green Belt has grown into a European initiative.

Toralf Herzog, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly shown how important and essential the work of volunteers is – because we can always rely on people like Toralf Herzog. The automobile technician has been an active member of the German Red Cross at local and regional level for 18 years. He is the leader of his local German Red Cross chapter for north-west Mecklenburg and head of on-call services for Land Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. When the call went out to rapidly set up a COVID-19 test centre, he did not hesitate to take on the position of team leader. He creatively and independently developed a well-structured system for taking samples. With his important work at local level, Toralf Herzog has significantly contributed to containing the spread of the pandemic.

Thomas Hitzlsperger, Bavaria

Already during his active career, former professional football player and member of the national team Thomas Hitzlsperger actively supported various social and education policy projects. With his coming out in 2014, he not only became the first openly gay former national football player in Germany, but also eliminated many taboos associated with homosexuality in football and sports and contributed to a broad and objective discussion about discrimination in sports. Since 2017, Thomas Hitzlsperger has been the DFB Ambassador for Diversity. Moreover, he does a great deal of volunteer work, for the organisation Gesicht Zeigen! (Show your face – for a liberal-minded Germany), for the Football promotes diversity – football against homophobia project and for improving the lives of children in townships in South Africa. His efforts show how important it is to overcome prejudices if we want to live together well in an open society.

Sandra Hüller, Saxony

Culture can overcome barriers – also in people’s minds. Already during her school days in Suhl, Sandra Hüller realised that theatre was her true passion. With the determination that came from this, she enrolled in the renowned Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin, where she was one of the youngest students. After graduating, she took to the stage in Jena, Munich and Bochum. And as naturally as Sandra Hüller plays in both the East and the West, she plays both female and male roles. She was awarded the Gertrud Eysoldt Ring for her performance of Hamlet, in what was Schauspielhaus Bochum’s contribution to this year’s Theatertreffen Berlin. On the silver screen, too, Sandra Hüller would become a star, and she has graced the red carpet at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival. Despite her fame, she has also always looked out for others. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, she has consistently drawn attention to social grievances, including in the world of theatre, the cultural industry and regarding the many livelihoods that are currently threatened.

Hannah Kiesbye, Hamburg

Language, too, can break down barriers. Hannah Kiesbye already knew this at the age of 14, when she created a holder for her disabled ID card that read Schwer-in-Ordnung-Ausweis (roughly translated, the not-at-all-disabled ID). Her initiative raised a stir and prompted a Germany-wide discussion about not only renaming the ID card, but also changing the way we view people with disabilities. In these debates, Hannah Kiesbye assumes an active role and represents her interests – echoing the guiding theme of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, not over our heads, not without us. Taking up her proposal, many Länder have introduced not-at-all-disabled ID card holders – a move that has been a great success for everyone involved.

Prof. Igor Levit, Berlin

Citizen, European, pianist – this is how Igor Levit describes himself, and that order also shapes this unusual artists’ performances. For him, artistic activity, social and political action, and solidarity are inextricably linked. He delights audiences around the world with brilliant, virtuoso performances and profound interpretations. His listeners learn that music can provide answers to questions that are just as relevant today as they were for Beethoven 250 years ago. Early during the COVID-19 pandemic, Igor Levit streamed daily coronavirus house concerts directly from his living room, thereby creating a sense of community that transcends borders and breaks through the isolation. He performed his house concert on 29 April in memory of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Dachau concentration camp, dedicating it to the survivors of the concentration and extermination camps. Undeterred by death threats and hate speech against him on the internet, he remains fully committed to fighting antisemitism and exclusion of minorities as well as advocating for democracy.

Dr Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim, Hesse

Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim has become a specialist in communicating science in a comprehensible way – something that is more important than ever today. With innovative approaches, fully abreast of current developments, and using media ranging from podcasts to television and books, the chemist and scientific journalist gives us unique insight into the workings of the world. In this way, she reaches an audience of millions. Her topics are as diverse as is the field of chemistry, which she goes on to say can explain nearly everything, be it the effects of consuming alcohol to the spread of the coronavirus. Her primary duty is to stick to the facts. Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim already teaches the very young that science can be exciting – and that acting rationally, as a group, advances society as a whole.

Stephan Pusch, North Rhine-Westphalia

When in February cases of COVID-19 spread rapidly through Heinsberg, making it the first municipality in Germany to be affected, the media referred to it as the German Wuhan. Stephan Pusch is Heinsberg’s District Commissioner, and by taking decisions that were as difficult as they were level-headed, he paved the way for those working to contain the pandemic. Many of the actions he took would in the coming months be adopted by other municipalities throughout Germany. From the very beginning, he took great care to immediately communicate what needed to be done and to explain why this was necessary. Almost daily, Stephan Pusch spoke to his fellow citizens of Heinsberg in video messages. His insistence that the best medicine is solidarity gave people far beyond the borders of his municipality courage and was heard around the world.

Elke Schlegel, Rhineland-Palatinate

As a young person in the GDR, Elke Schlegel endured political persecution because she openly criticised the system, was active in the church, and was a member of the Weißer Kreis in Jena, a protest group that publicly displayed their wish to leave the GDR. She was arrested for attempted defection and was placed in Hoheneck women’s penitentiary. Today, Elke Schlegel visits schools to tell young people about what she experienced and what it means to live in a dictatorship. She also works to help victims in Rhineland-Palatinate in her function as the regional representative of the union of associations representing the victims of communist tyranny. To make sure that people from all over the world who live in the Rhein and Mosel regions understand what the division of Germany meant at the time, Elke Schlegel has had boards set up at Deutsches Eck in Koblenz that provide information in four languages about the former border defences, their victims and resistance in the GDR.

Ingo Schulze, Berlin

Even 30 years after reunification, some remain unacquainted with the East, and others with the West. The author Ingo Schulze writes about this state of affairs in his books. His protagonists are as diverse as are their fates in reunified Germany. His books’ heroes are either incredibly successful or they come to nothing; some feel like failures, others like winners. Ingo Schulze presents different life stories, and he uses these to illustrate how individuals have navigated life’s ups and downs, all the way to the present day. He is one of Germany’s most read contemporary authors. His books have been translated into 30 languages, and the themes he writes about capture the zeitgeist. He is a political author who knows how to listen, who gets involved in the debates of the day and who works to promote social cohesion. He therefore deserves recognition not only as a political artist, but also as a committed democrat.

Leila Younes El-Amaire, Berlin

Leila Younes El-Amaire is involved in numerous projects that seek to increase the participation of young people in society and to fight racism. She loves poetry slams and, based on her own experiences, she founded the association i,Slam that encourages young people to speak their mind on stage about all of the issues that affect them. What began as an informal gathering in Berlin has today reached a large audience throughout Germany. Another project that Leila Younes El-Amaire is involved in is JUMA – young, Muslim, active, which gives young Muslims a voice. Through her activities, she is pursuing an intrinsically democratic goal, namely that young people should feel they are a part of society. They should neither shut themselves out nor let anyone shut them out. She advocates for a tolerant sense of community in which each generation supports the one that comes after – values that are indispensable in a democracy.