Hildesheim, August 15, 2024:
Awarding the Civil Courage Prize 2024 at KSM

Looking into it instead of looking away: Two people from the district of Hildesheim were
awarded the Civil Courage Prize today. The award ceremony took place in the traineeworkshop of KSM Castings Group GmbH in Hildesheim – where the prize is manufactured.

The Civil Courage Prize honors fellow citizens from the Hildesheim region who have shown exceptional commitment to others. The annual selection is made by a jury consisting of the district administrator, police, mayors and artist Enrico Garbelmann, according to whose design and idea the prize is made. This year‘s selection was made from a total of ten suggestions submitted by the public to the Lower Saxony police via the e-mail addresspraevention@pi-hi.polizeiniedersachsen.de.

This year, Daniela Hagemann from Gronau and Malte Elias Liebmann from Adlum were selected. Malte Elias Liebmann noticed a strange couple in a wholesale store in Hildesheim: The woman was obviously unwell, but her companion didn‘t seem to care. He was 14 years old at the time. He approached her at the right moment and offered to help. Her behavior signaled to him that he was right with his assumption. Liebmann then turned to the store manager. With the help of the police, the woman was finally freed from her precarious situation. Liebmann‘s young age at the time of the event was the main reason he was awarded the first prize of 1000 euros along with the cast aluminum handprint.

The second prize of 500 euros went to Daniela Hagemann from Gronau. Initially, the employee of a clothing store in the pedestrian zone in Hildesheim had observed an elderly man fall and wanted to help him. At the same time, his bag was also stolen. Daniela Hagemann chased the thief through half of Hildesheim‘s city center and ultimately made his arrest possible.

“Civil courage doesn‘t just mean thwarting crimes, but also looking into it instead of looking away and ensuring that those in need receive help,” emphasized District Administrator Bernd Lynack at the award ceremony in the KSM Castings training workshop. Matthias Kaufmann, Managing Director of Kreiswohnbaugesellschaft kwg, also praised the exemplary actions of the prize winners. The kwg donates the annual prize money.

In addition to the prize money, the winners will also receive a special and very unique award: In the training workshop of the KSM Castings Group in Hildesheim, a cast of their hand is made, cast with an aluminum alloy and placed on a base. “Your own hand symbolizes civil courage in a very special way,” says artist Enrico Garbelmann.

Another handprint was presented to Gabriele Freier. As a police officer, she has been active in prevention for many years and has been involved in the Civil Courage Prize from the very beginning, among other things, she prepares the proposals for the Civil Courage Prize for the jury.

Picture 1: Matthias Kaufmann, Managing Director of kwg, Daniela Hagemann, Malte Elias Liebmann, Gabriele Freier, Landrat Bernd Lynnak; Picture 2: KSM training manager Jörg Gustke with Daniela Hagemann, Malte Elias Liebmann in the training workshop of theKSM Castings Group Hildesheim; Picture3: Civil courage prizes

Download press release