The Herbert Quandt Media Prize was awarded on the 100th birthday of Johanna Quandt, who died in 2015. Her son Stefan Quandt recalled in a personal speech the turning points in his mother’s life that made her the most influential businesswoman in post-war German history.
The ceremony took place at the Hilton Hotel at Frankfurt Airport, after the traditional venue, the Hilton Gravenbruch, could no longer be used due to sanctions against its Iranian owner. The new date, June 21, fell on the day Johanna Quandt would have celebrated her 100th birthday.
Stefan Quandt described the decisive turning points in his mother’s life: returning to destroyed Berlin at age 19, moving to the USA in 1955, and above all the death of her husband Herbert Quandt in 1982. She took over his mandates, including the stake in BMW and the chemical group Altana, and preserved the fortune for the next generation.
The family announced the “Johanna Quandt Jubilee Fund” with a volume of ten million euros. The funds will go to support medicine, music, and interpersonal understanding, as well as projects that Johanna Quandt supported during her lifetime.
Source: www.faz.net
