Düzen Tekkal and Michael Moritz receive Berlin tolerance award

The Jewish Museum Berlin honored Düzen Tekkal and Michael Moritz with its Award for Understanding and Tolerance at a gala on Saturday.

The ceremony also marked the museum’s 25th anniversary and was attended by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Tekkal is a journalist and human rights activist whose Kurdish-Yezidi parents fled persecution in Turkey for Germany in the 1970s.

Moritz, a British businessman and philanthropist, has family ties to Germany through relatives who fled Nazi rule.

Tekkal’s work supports Yezidi women and girls, while Moritz’s foundation backs education and cultural access for people without privileged backgrounds.

Steinmeier said antisemitism must be named clearly and that Jewish people should be able to live openly and safely in Germany.

The museum has given the award since 2002 to people who promote human dignity, understanding and peaceful coexistence.