Mirjana Spoljaric Egger receives Görlitz Bridge Prize

The new Görlitz Bridge Prize winner Mirjana Spoljaric Egger has her name in the Golden Book of the city on the Neisse. The President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) signed the book of honor a few hours before the official award ceremony. In the evening, the Swiss woman will receive the award from the European City of Görlitz/Zgorzelec in the Görlitz Synagogue Cultural Forum. Gerda Hasselfeldt, President of the German Red Cross, will deliver the laudatory speech.

Awardee honored as a bridge builder between conflicting parties

Spoljaric Egger has "worked with extraordinary commitment and great skill as a bridge builder between conflicting parties, political camps, ideologies and religions", said the city of Görlitz in recognition of the award winner. In addition, she had made political and military actors aware of their duty to give top priority to the protection of the civilian population and called for humanitarian action.

The award winner has been working in various capacities for a decade and a half to prevent armed conflicts in crisis areas and to protect the civilian population, it said. She has been President of the ICRC since 2022. In this role, she has repeatedly drawn attention to the suffering of people and called for the protection of civil society and prisoners of war.

Bridge Prize honors commitment to understanding in Europe

Since 1993, the International Bridge Prize has been awarded to personalities who have rendered outstanding services to democratic development and understanding in Europe through their personal commitment. The prize is endowed with 2,500 euros. Previous winners include the writer Herta Müller and her colleague Günter Grass, the architect Daniel Liebeskind and the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.