Celebration dedicated to the memory of Professor Fritz Stern

On October the 3rd, 2018, in the Wroclaw University Library (F. Joliot-Curie 12 St.) the Fritz Stern Wroclaw Professorship ceremony took place. The Professorship was awarded to this year's winner - Professor Anne Applebaum. The ceremony was combined with the unveiling of the bust of Professor Fritz Stern in the University Library and the ceremonial presentation and making available to the users private collection of Professor Stern that was donated to the Library.

At the ceremony, in addition to the guests of honor, ie. Winner of the Award - Professor Anne Applebaum, son of Professor - Mr. Fred Stern with his wife, also arrived members of the Award Committee: German Ambassador Janusz Reiter, Dr. Anna Hofman, representing the Zeit Foundation, in cooperation with which the City of Wroclaw is realizing the Fritz Stern Wroclaw Professorship project, Prof. Hana Cervinkowa - member of the Committee, as well as: representatives of the diplomatic corps - Consul General of Germany in Wroclaw - Mr. Hans Joerg Neuman, General Consul of Germany in Wroclaw Deputy- Mrs. Jana Orlowski, honorary consuls, rectors and employees of Wroclaw's high schools and universities, numerous representatives of culture’s science’s and art’s institutions, students, as well as foreign guests from Oxford, with whom the City of Wroclaw signed that day a partnership agreement.

After the official greeting of the guests by the Director of the University Library - Grażyna Piotrowicz, the floor was taken by the Rector of the University of Wrocław - Prof. dr hab. Adam Jezierski and then the President of Wroclaw - Rafał Dutkiewicz. Both of them referred to the Professor's visits in Wroclaw, sharing personal memories of meetings with Him. Next, the ceremonial unveiling of the bust of Professor F. Stern was made jointly by the President of Wroclaw together with the son of the Professor - Mr. Fred Stern, who was present at the ceremony.

After the end of this part of the event - the guests went to the University Library Informatory room, where the ceremonies related to the awarding of the statuette to the Laureate were held . Here, first the President of Wroclaw - Rafał Dutkiewicz, reminded of the history of the idea of founding the prize. Then, on behalf of the Zeit Foundation, the floor was taken by Dr. Anna Hofmann, who presented the reasons for the decision of the Award Committee and the choice of this year's Laureate. Next was the laudation given by Professor Hana Cervinkowa. After its completion, President Dutkiewicz gave Professor Applebaum the Prize statuette. The Laureate's lecture, in which she analyzed the current political and social situation, referring to important events drawn from the history of Europe and the world and pointing to analogies - turned out to be extremely interesting and was rewarded with thunderous applause from the audience.

Mr. Fred Stern was then asked to speak. He shared with the listeners the memories of his family home, his father and the collection collected by Professor Stern. At the end of the ceremony, the Director of the Library - Grażyna Piotrowicz, characterized the collection of books, received by the University Library as a gift from the Professor, paying attention to the high value of the collected works, the uniqueness of many objects, the subject scope of the book collection and its outstanding substantive value for the academic environment and the city of Wroclaw. At the end she invited guests to view a fragment of the collection, presented and made available to the participants of the ceremony.