Rita Süssmuth,

You once described how you travelled to Poland as a scientist in the early 1980s.

And how impressed you were by the Polish democracy movement. The flower carpets. The singing young people in Krakow and Warsaw.

But you also saw: the soldiers on the streets, the Soviet tanks.

The regime displaying its power.

In that moment, you realised: the protesters’ beliefs, their desire for freedom – they are stronger than water cannons and tanks.

Later, you said: “This was the great achievement of Solidarność – to keep on trying, in a situation where all analysts would have said: ‘Don’t bother, you won’t succeed.’”

To keep on trying.

To stand by those who are defending their basic rights.

And to firmly believe in what inspires our European project: the idea that every single person yearns to live in freedom and security.

This conviction, Rita Süssmuth, has shaped your political life.

And it is a stroke of luck for both our countries that you have dedicated your tireless political and personal energy to the German-Polish friendship.

When you were President of the German Bundestag in 1995, you invited Polish Foreign Minister and Holocaust survivor Wladyslaw Bartoschewski, to speak in the Bundestag. To mark the 50^th anniversary of the end of World War II.

In your speech, you said: “Our commemoration must not end simply because we are seeing the end of the post-war era”.

You knew that reconciliation does not end.

It is something that must be lived out by millions of people on both sides of the border. Every day. Every minute.

Those who have walked this path together with you, Rita Süssmuth, can tell hundreds of stories about how you embodied this principle in your personal encounters.

Because that is also what defines you: your warmth and kindness. Especially when things get harsh.

Sometimes shown through seemingly small gestures, coming out of the blue.

I had the great joy to experience this myself. Meeting Rita Süssmuth. Out of the blue.

It was in October 2021 after a very tough election campaign for me. And very exhausted,

I ran into you in the hallways of the Bundestag.

And suddenly you, a delicate yet momentous figure, just hugged me and said: “Ms Baerbock, fantastic! The strength and energy you showed. Amazing!” It was just a moment, but a moment with a woman who had been the “first of her kind” so many times, and on whose shoulders the women of my generation, like myself, are standing today.

Helmut Kohl is said to have once said about you:

“That woman gets on my nerves. She and her high heels should stay grounded in reality.”

Rita Süssmuth,

I am very thankful that you did not let anyone tell you where you should stand - and definitely not what kind of shoes to wear.

But that you kept believing in what many deemed impossible.

Standing up for this, even in the hardest times.

Like the strong German-Polish friendship that we are celebrating today.

Shaping the reality of what can be possible.

We thank you, Rita Süssmuth, for your commitment to this friendship, for your empathy, and for your belief in what it is that makes our Europe so great and strong: That everyone has the right to live in freedom and peace.

It is a great honour for me to present to you this special prize, together with my colleague, the Polish Foreign Minister.