Blog post - 06. Nov 2025

On Thursday the city of Zwickau was awarded the Saxon Prize for Democracy as a municipality. As long-standing cooperation partners, we were happy to travel to the Staatsschauspiel Dresden theater and congratulate them in person.

The nomination was submitted by the operators of Project 46. The project uses a shop premises provided by the city of Zwickau for non-profit socio-cultural use. The city was honored for this and for establishing the Municipal Prevention Unit and for its work in the Extremism and Conflict Prevention Working Group. At the festive award ceremony, Anja Dähne from Project 46, Isabell Reise, head of the Municipal Prevention Unit, and Mayor Constance Arndt accepted the plaque, certificate, and flowers on behalf of the numerous people involved in prevention work in Zwickau. In the jury’s statement, Stefan Vogt, managing director of the Freudenberg Foundation, emphasized: “Zwickau makes it clear that a municipality is not only an administrative actor, but can itself be a strong player in democratic culture—if those in positions of responsibility take a stand, the municipality builds structures, and civil society is taken seriously as a partner.”

All of this is evident in the commitment of the city of Zwickau. We agree and look forward to continuing our good and fruitful cooperation!

The Saxon Democracy Award is presented annually and sponsored by the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, the Sebastian Cobler Foundation, the Dirk Oelbermann Foundation, the Freudenberg Foundation, the Holger Koppe Foundation, and the Saxon State Ministry for Social Affairs, Health, and Social Cohesion.

(c) Photos: Ellen Isabell Richter