Hans-Joachim Watzke receives the Neuberger Medal for fighting anti-Semitism

Managing Director Hans-Joachim Watzke from Borussia Dortmund has been honored with the Jewish Josef Neuberger Medal for the club’s commitment to combating anti-Semitism. The laudatory speech at the annual reception of the Jewish community in Düsseldorf in the synagogue on Paul-Spiegel-Platz was given by NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) on Thursday evening.

“Aki Watzke is an absolutely worthy winner. Football reaches an incredible number of people, through heart and emotion. That’s why it’s incredibly valuable that he and BVB are at the service of this cause,” said Wüst: “I’m for that very, very grateful.”

The Josef Neuberger Medal has been awarded since 1991 to persons or institutions in the non-Jewish public who have rendered services to the Jewish community. The renowned award is named after the former Minister of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia. Prize winners included Johannes Rau, Roman Herzog and Angela Merkel.

BVB has been working intensively against anti-Semitism for years, including supporting the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and initiating projects on the subject. For the club, the fight “for democracy and the fight against racism and anti-Semitism is an essential core task,” emphasized Watzke. “This is a special day for me.”