German philosopher Habermas inducted into the German Order of Merit

BERLIN, June 11 (DPA/EP) –

93-year-old German philosopher Jürgen Habermas has been inducted into the German Order of Merit for Science and Arts during a ceremony today at the Konzerthaus in Berlin.

The British architect David Chipperfield (69), the German-Romanian physicist Stefan Hell (60) and the German conductor and musicologist Peter Gülke (89) have also become members of this body created in 1842 by King Frederick William IV. of Prussia and reinstated in 1952 by the President of the Federal Republic of Germany Theodor Heuss.

The Swiss oboist Heinz Holliger (84) and the American anthropologist Michael Tomasello (73), who could not be officially admitted until now due to the coronavirus epidemic, have also joined.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Claudia Roth, stressed that admission to the order was an exclusive decision of its members during the reception, held on Saturday night.

However, since the new members were all men, he wanted to highlight “that there are also so many wonderful, intelligent and creative women.” “The order, whose strength is diversity, could also continue to renew itself in diversity in this sense,” she pointed out.

Roth has emphasized the values ​​of freedom. “Freedom of expression, freedom of the press, artistic freedom, scientific freedom, a freedom that defends the rights of minorities, that wants to grant cultural and sexual self-determination”, he has highlighted.

A maximum of 40 prominent personalities of art or science in Germany and the same number from abroad enter the order.