Fromm Prize 2015

February 16, 2015

Awarding of the Erich-Fromm-Prize 2015 to Götz W. Werner

on Monday, March 23, 2015, 6 p.m. in the “White Hall” of the New Palace in Stuttgart

The founder of the >dm drugstores< Prof. Götz W. Werner received the Erich Fromm Prize on March 23, 2015 (Erich Fromm’s 115th birthday!) in Stuttgart’s New Palace for the corporate culture he has shaped and for his commitment to a >unconditional basic income<. Götz Werner himself gave the >Fromm Lecture< associated with the public award ceremony on the topic: “How do we create initiative-generating framework conditions?”
Most companies are committed to making people the benchmark for their business activities. However, Götz Werner has also implemented this guiding value in his company in a unique way. Based on the conviction that the working person is not a means, but an end, he has created a work organization, management and corporate culture “that gives work back its creative dimensions and human dignity” – according to the jury in its statement.
Werner’s entrepreneurial activities are guided by an image of man that corresponds to Erich Fromm’s being-oriented human being. The following applies to both: your own thoughts, feelings, intentions and decisions should find expression in your work. It is therefore necessary to create a framework for gainful employment that encourages personal initiative. With the >guaranteed income for all<, conceived 60 years ago by Erich Fromm, work also becomes an expression of a productive life orientation, independent of gainful employment. Götz Werner’s initiative for the >unconditional basic income< aims to make this possible for everyone.
The prize, which is awarded annually by the International Erich Fromm Society, honors people “who have made or are making outstanding contributions to the preservation or recovery of humanistic thought and action in the spirit of Erich Fromm.”

The laudatory speech was given by the founding president of Zeppelin University, Professor Stephan Jansen. Karl-Heinz Halder (trumpet) and Lars Jönsson (piano) provided the music for the ceremony.