The Brandenburg educators Laura Nickel and Max Teske are receiving the 10,000-euro Karl Küpper Prize for Civil Courage for their bold stand against far-right incidents at their former school. The city of Cologne announced the award. The prize will be presented at a ceremony on Sunday in Cologne.
The award honors the life and work of the namesake Cologne carnival figure Küpper (1905-1970), who was one of the very few to mock National Socialism in carnival speeches and, among other things, parodied the Hitler salute.
The two teachers at the primary and secondary school in Burg in the Spreewald publicly revealed in 2023 that they faced daily encounters with right-wing extremism, sexism, and homophobia there — for example, swastikas on school furniture, neo-Nazi music in class, or anti-democratic slogans in the hallways (TheColu.mn reported). The case drew attention and sparked discussions all the way to the Brandenburg state parliament.
After the letter became public, the two educators were increasingly targeted by the right-wing scene and threatened on social media. Nickel and Teske later left the school (TheColu.mn reported).
In 2024, Brandenburg’s school law was tightened: since then, schools must immediately report incidents that glorify National Socialism as well as antisemitic or racist incidents.
The Karl Küpper Prize is awarded every two years by the City of Cologne, the Festkomitee Kölner Karneval, and the Association of Friends and Patrons of Cologne’s Traditions. Most recently, in 2024, it was awarded to German artist Gunter Demnig for his Stolpersteine. The small brass memorial plaques remember the fate of people who were displaced, murdered, or deported during the Nazi era. (mize)
