FIR awarded Michel-Vanderborght Price

24. September 2013

Prix Michel Vanderborght

On an impressive ceremony at the second weekend of July the International Federation of Resistance Fighters (FIR) – Association of Anti-Fascists awarded the Michel Vanderborght Price in the ballroom of the Belgian Parliament in Brussels to eight personalities and initiatives. This prize, named after the Belgian Partisans and last president of the FIR, should honor those, which have been in accordance with the ideals of the anti-fascist resistance engaged for the preservation of historical memory, the social and political interests of the survivors and for the continuation of the anti-fascist legacy distinguished by special engagement against old and new Nazis.

At the opening of the ceremony spoke André Flahaut, President of the Belgian Parliament. He praised the merits of Michel Vanderborght and stressed how important today is the common democratic and anti-fascist resistance against extreme right and populist movements in various European countries. He stressed that the memory of the resistance was not only a historic task, but a responsibility to future generations to preserve the ideals of democracy, freedom and humanism.

After a short address by the President of the FIR Vilmos Hanti, who explained the intention of the price once again, the awards were given to the honorees. It was a Belgian national institution that has made a special contribution to the teaching of history, a Bulgarian historian who has made against the political mainstream preserving the memory of the resistance to the task for many years, a German initiative, that organizes financial and moral support for former forced laborers, a Greek painter, expressing in his pictures the experience of the anti-fascist struggle, an Israeli partisan who campained especially for the memory of the Jewish fighters, an anti-fascist committed journalist from Italy and – as a political feature – the representatives of the 13th Municipality of Budapest, oppose engaged the right mainstream of Fidesz and Jobbik in Hungary. In his acceptance speech, the mayor of the district underlined this recognition of the FIR as important to its actual political work.

By the Michel Vanderborght price of FIR these initiatives and volunteers were given thanks and appreciation of the international anti-fascist movement. In which tradition the organization and its award winners stands, documented the Institute of Vétérans and the FIR, presenting to the guests in the framework programm some exhibition boards of the first comprehensive exhibition about the anti-fascist resistance movement in Europe, which has been opened for the first time at the next day in the premises of the European Parliament.