Brandenburg’s Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) presented Günther Jauch with the award at the Potsdam State Chancellery. The 69-year-old host, who has lived in Potsdam for around 30 years, has supported the restoration of the state capital’s famous palace and garden complexes with large donations for years.
Jauch was delighted after the ceremony, as he told the German Press Agency. The order has an “invaluable advantage” over television awards, which are often “particularly heavy, particularly unwieldy, and sometimes also relatively controversial in terms of aesthetics.” Those usually end up in his garage or basement. The Order of Merit, on the other hand, is “very, how shall I say, Prussian reserved” and need not fear the “darkness of the basement.”
Other honorees included Holocaust survivor Richard Fagot, former Deutsche Bahn board member Daniela Gerd tom Markotten, and numerous socially engaged individuals.
Source: www.tagesspiegel.de
