(JTA) – The daughter of a Nazi who was given a 20-year sentence in Nuremberg is one of several recipients of the 19th annual Obermayer German Jewish History Awards.
Hilde Schramm, 82, the youngest daughter of Hitler’s war production minister, the architect Albert Speer, received the honor for her humanitarian work, including founding an organization – Stiftung Zurueckgeben (Giving Back) – to help Jewish women artists.
The ceremony, one of many events marking international Holocaust Remembrance Day, was held Monday in the Berlin Senate.
Schramm, a Green Party politician, used money she received from selling art inherited from her father to finance the creation of her nonprofit. In an interview before the ceremony, she said she had searched in vain for the original owners of the paintings before selling them and creating the foundation. She has supported some 150 Jewish artists over the years.
Schramm also has raised awareness about the huge amount of property — from art to furniture to jewelry — that was stolen from Jewish families from 1933 to 1945. Much of it remains in the possession of Germans today, she said.
The Obermayer Award was established by the late U.S. philanthropist Arthur Obermayer and his wife, Judith, to honor non-Jewish Germans who have helped preserve local Jewish history and reconnect Jews with roots in Germany. Most are nominated by Jews with family connections to Germany whose lives they have touched.
Five other honorees also received awards at the ceremony.
