2012/02/05

Joseph Lieberman Awarded Twice

At what will be his last Security Conference in Munich as head of the US delegation, Senator Joseph Lieberman was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Federal Cross of Merit) and the Ewald von Kleist Award.

From left: Wolfgang Gerhardt, Joseph Lieberman and Martin Zeil

There is ample reason why US Senator Joseph Lieberman received a total of two prestigious awards this weekend. Mr. Lieberman, who has been leading the US delegations for many years, is what most attendees would probably call a “true friend” of the Munich Security Conference.

Ischinger: “A model transatlantic figure”

After Senator Lieberman had received the Great Cross of Merit with star at Hotel Bayerischer Hof on Friday night, he was presented with the Munich Security Conference’s Ewald von Kleist Award at Munich Residence on Saturday. Conference organizer Wolfgang Ischinger considers Lieberman a model transatlantic figure in every respect who, for a long time, has championed the relationship between the US and Germany.

“In the face of this own family, cultural and religious background, Senator Lieberman has, for years, worked towards strenghtening America’s trust in the role a reunified Germany can play in foreign policy,” Mr. Ischinger said about the awardee who, through his wife's family, can relate to Holocaust himself. His merits, Mr. Ischinger added, were also reflected in the quality of the delegations that Senator Leiberman had brought to Munich every year. This year’s conference saw, for the first time, a US Secretary of Defense and a US Secretary of State together on the podium. The 2009 US delegation included—also for the very first time—a US Vice President, Mr. Joe Biden. As Mr. Lieberman leaves the US Congress, it will be his last appearance at the helm of a US delegation.

Kleist, founder of the Conference

The Ewald von Kleist Award honors leading figures in foreign and security policy who have made an outstanding contribution to international peace and conflict management. The prize is named after Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist who, in 1962, founded the Munich Security Conference which was then called “Wehrkundetagung”. As a young officer, he was one of the conspirators who, on 20 July 1944, tried to kill Adolf Hitler.